How GEO Integrates into Broader Digital Marketing Strategies

This post is a bit of a test … but I also think it’s a topic worth exploring.

Why is it a test? Well, I did another post about how to come up with content ideas using Peec AI, and this topic came out of that research. I’m curious to know if this page will show up as a source in the future for the prompt I’m tracking.

And why is it a topic worth exploring? Well, GEO is a fairly new discussion point in marketing circles, but it’s quickly becoming a top priority for many brands and agencies.

So let’s explore it!

The first question: what is GEO?

GEO stands for generative engine optimization, an evolution on SEO (in my opinion) where instead of organic search rankings and traffic, the focus is on getting AI visibility (mentions, citations, and recommendations).

GEO has two fundamental components: a technical side and a content side.

On the technical side, you want to ensure your website is crawlable by AI bots (training, search, and user-query bots), like from Google and OpenAI.

You also want to make sure AI assistants can render your content if you’re using JavaScript, which means a server-side setup as opposed to a client-side setup.

Page speed is also important for being fetchable (and eventually chosen and synthesized in an answer).

On the content side, you have owned and earned media.

Owned content is what you produce on your own website, like your blog posts, service or product pages, or about page content.

I’d also lump social media and video (YouTube) content into this, since you control those channels.

Earned media is where others mention (or link to) you, and basically back up the claims you make about yourself.

One way I believe GEO is different from SEO is the focus on multimodal content and earned media.

Now the big question: how does GEO fit into a broader digital marketing strategy?

The first part of this answer harkens back to the emphasis on earned media from a moment ago.

The content that matters for your AI visibility isn’t just what the SEO team produces for your blog or other website pages.

It’s literally everything that an AI bot can crawl and understand to synthesize its answers with.

Those negative reviews about shipping delays?

Relevant.

Those blurry product images from five years ago?

Relevant.

That news story about your brand you thought no one would read?

Relevant.

That’s the simplest explanation of how GEO fits into a broader digital marketing strategy: because many of the assets produced by other channels besides the SEO team still play a role in influencing your AI visibility.

In short, it’s not just about marketing; it’s about your product/service’s reputation and overall brand presence.

SEOs are best equipped to handle GEO responsibilities, but that doesn’t mean they’re alone in that effort.

The product team, the digital PR team, the social and video teams, they all play sizable roles as well.

AI assistants look for consensus about a topic. That means you want to describe your brand consistently across all of the different platforms and sources where you’re mentioned. To accomplish this takes a true team effort.

My two cents, having worked for digital marketing agencies as well as in-house for brands, is to make GEO a company-wide priority.

Schedule regular meetings where the SEO team goes through their prompt-tracking tool of choice and discusses the AI visibility numbers with the rest of the digital marketing team (and beyond).

Go into topics like:

• Changes in mentions, citations, and recommendations
• Sources influencing AI answers
• Inaccurate or inconsistent brand descriptions
• Reputation problems
• Content gaps

Get aligned on what your brand is, what you sell, and how you want to describe yourself to the world. Then audit your third-party mentions to verify that that’s actually the case.

I’d argue the most important part of AI visibility isn’t what the tools currently track, meaning it’s not about mentions or citations, it’s about recommendations: are AI assistants actually recommending your brand to users.

A mention establishes awareness; a citation establishes source visibility; but a recommendation influences consideration and potentially revenue.

(For more on this topic, Slobodan Manic wrote a great piece in Search Engine Journal.)

In closing, GEO integrates into broader digital marketing strategies because your entire content ecosystem matters to your AI visibility.

AI visibility isn’t an SEO problem. It’s a company-wide initiative.

Treat it as such, and you’ll be better positioned to translate your mentions into recommendations that lead to sales or other conversions.

Now for the test results: will this page get used as a source or citation in my tracked prompt (which was “Assess the long-term value of integrating Generative Engine Optimization into a broader digital marketing strategy.”).

I’ll report back with that finding!

Update 7/23: It took 3 days, but my article was cited as a source for this prompt:

It appeared in AI Mode:

I guess the strategy can work!

Until next time, enjoy the vibes:

Thanks for reading. Happy optimizing!

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