SEO has always been about showing up where your audience looks. But with Google’s roll out of AI Overviews at the top of search pages, being “findable” no longer just means ranking high—it means being summarized accurately by AI, specifically LLMs (large language models).
This shift in organic search changes the rules of discoverability: brands must now design content that can be consistently interpreted, cited, and re-explained by AI systems, not just indexed by search engines.
What’s the difference? Let’s look at what makes SEO (search engine optimization) a different tool from GEO (generative engine optimization).
What’s the goal of SEO versus GEO?
SEO is designed to spur clickthroughs. You type in a word or phrase; say, “best technology for procurement,” and a list with links to relevant company websites appears, along with meta descriptions. You click on the web link, go to the website and read pages to inform yourself about each platform.
Here’s how it goes with GEO: When you type the same phrase into the Google search bar, Google returns an AI summary describing the features and benefits of strong procurement technology, and then lists the different criteria, and which platforms best position themselves against each criteria (e.g., the criteria could be AI-powered, end-to-end, etc).
The Google AI summary includes links to the source material, and a snippet from the source appears on the right side of the page. But now that you have your information, do you really need to go visit the site? Do you really need to click through?
Brands and marketers are finding that the answer is a resounding NO.
A Seer Interactive study found that when AI Overviews appear in search results, organic clickthrough rates dropped from 1.41% to 0.62% on average, a decline of more than 50% (Seer Interactive, 2024 AI Overview CTR Study).
Semantic clarity as findability strategy
[H3] How do definitions, taxonomies, and relationships shape AI interpretation?
With AI, there’s no room for ambiguity. Your content must be fully aligned and right to the point. LLMs are not going to do the parsing or interpretation; you need to serve it up crystal clear. For example, taxonomies (i.e., hierarchical structure) need to be logical. (Believe us, we’ve seen sites where pages are not structured in order of importance, or pages about key offerings are actually missing). Also, you should avoid words that could have two interpretations if not properly contextualized.
In this last case, we’re reminded of an anecdote from the long-running The New York Times bestseller. Eats, Shoots & Leaves. A panda walks into a cafe, orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air. Wondering why, the puzzled waiter refers to a panda manual and finds: “Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.”
Well, AI is a bit like the panda: it reads the manual, and can make a false assumption if not given proper cues and context.
In this new AI summary ecosystem, long-tail phrasing and pristine punctuation are your allies. So:
| Instead of this | Use this |
| AI models | AI models for [industry/use case] |
| Your platform | Your enterprise [procurement, ERP, etc] platform |
| Our solution delivers a lean inventory [depending on your POV, lean could mean cost-effective or potentially insufficient] | Our solution optimizes inventory |
If this sounds like best practices from SEO, you’re right. Except that the stakes are even higher now. We’re not talking about keyword stuffing; we are talking about making sure the specific use case, target persona, and intended meaning are baked into every phrase so there’s zero ambiguity.
Equally important: generative engines really like formatting devices that help “point” attention. As content developers for some of the world’s marquee brands, we’ve always followed this approach and have refined it even further.
- Having the first paragraph state the main point (“executive summary” approach)
- Subheads (H2, H3) that get directly to meaning, rather than exercises in creative puns
- Bullet pointed copy that’s crisp with bolded lead-ins that sum up the point
- Stat or quote call-outs from an authoritative source
- Emphasis markers like italics and bolding to guide users, ensuring the structure supports both skimmability and depth
So, how does this semantic clarity impact GEO? EEAT guidelines (2025) reward structured, skimmable content; poor organization cuts time-on-page by 25% (SEMrush).
How can content be refined for even more AI-driven discoverability?
While we like a good declarative sentence, GEO favors the query approach—that is, questions. Think about what you’ve put into ChatGPT, Grok, Claude, and so on. Most likely the phrase started with “what,” “how,” or “is.” Not only that, longer queries—10 to 15 words—are also becoming the norm. The query-oriented subhead for this section is 10 words.
So if you want to be discovered by LLMs, incorporate questions in your content—and then answer them in the first sentence. These questions can be peppered in the subheads or they can be in FAQ sections. LLMs love structured data and FAQs are one of the most structured formats there is for content.
How do you monitor web content for discoverability?
Content discoverability now depends on two criteria: 1) how well your content performs for SEO and 2) how well it performs for GEO. Yes, SEO still matters and for SEO, clickthrough rates still apply, as do SERP rankings. You still want to show up for the top links.
For GEO, you want to identify the top 5 or 10 queries people are asking chatbots. There are technology platforms (like Cloudflare) that can show which URLs are being crawled, which LLMs are hitting your site, and how many times they refer to your site. You may not be able to get top rankings on all chatbots—ChatGPT, GROK, Claude, etc—but one or two may serve you best. Find out which ones, and lean into those. It’s not unlike pinpointing which social media platforms are best suited for your business.
The future of search isn’t just ranking—it’s being accurately explained by machines
As AI layers absorb queries—and brands compete to be summarized accurately and cited consistently—semantic clarity becomes strategy. Yes, GEO has added another layer of complexity to creating content, AND it’s also created a new avenue for your content—and your business—to be discovered.
At MarketSmiths, we’re always on the cutting edge of content and technology trends. Because we work across industries and geographies, with some of the most well-known brands in the world, we’re immersed in best practices every day and drive for performance in everything we produce.
Our messaging says it all: Written by humans, refined by AI, built for business. To learn more about our approach to content development, download our one-sheet, or give us a call. One of our delightful humans will be glad to explain how our highly targeted copy and content can drive results for you.
