Once again, something fundamental is changing in how people find information about your products or services. This time, chatbots such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude are shaking things up. I find this development fascinating, but it also raises big questions about how marketers can make sure their company, products and services are found online by their target audience.
The end of the blue links
In the old days, if you wanted to buy a new TV, you typed in a search term and clicked your way through a few general Google links. That process is changing completely. Instead of working through lists yourself, you ask an AI chatbot to interview you so it can find the perfect TV for you. Or you start an autonomous agent that does all the research for you. The search process has fundamentally changed.
Impact on your marketing strategy
For consumers who value convenience and trust AI chatbots, this is ideal. But as a company, organisation or brand, you are left watching it all unfold. You wonder whether—and if so, how—you need to adapt your marketing strategy yet again. The fact is that organic traffic is still the most important source of traffic for most websites. How do you maintain it now that search behaviour has become a one-to-one interaction between a chatbot and a potential customer?
From SEO to GEO
This is where the game changes and Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) becomes crucial. A traditional SEO strategy was based on search volumes and content marketing to help a broad audience find your product or service online. GEO addresses a different question: how do you get a chatbot to mention you when someone asks about your B2B product or service in a “private” conversation?
How do you get your brand into the answer?
That is exactly the challenge we face now. If a search engine becomes an advisory conversation partner, how do you get your brand into the answer? I want to find out, and I am going to investigate it actively over the coming months.
Starting from scratch
To find answers, I am starting Hands on GEO. The name has a double meaning: my first name is Hans, and I take a hands-on approach by diving into the tools myself. For now, it is still a black box to me. My ambition is to open it up—as far as possible. Nothing is as changeable and opaque as the algorithms of tech companies. But I believe we can find an opening and start to prise that black box apart.
In practical terms, that means building a website technically optimised for AI recognition, with structured data and a multilingual setup. I am developing a content strategy focused on sharing what I know and what I discover, finding and interpreting news, and reaching my audience: B2B marketers and marketing managers wondering how GEO can strengthen their marketing strategy. I will share everything I learn here—including the mistakes. Especially the mistakes, actually. Otherwise, it would be much less fun 😉
Also read: What is GEO?
This translation was made by AI.