If you read Deb’s Desk regularly, you may be thinking, “Goodness me, Deb, can you write something other than the impact of AI?” And it is a fair question; however, as a digital marketing agency, we are responsible for keeping current and prospective clients informed and updated on everything we learn and helping them keep their digital presence relevant and visible.

To keep this article to the point, businesses, whether they operate in the B2B or B2C space, must prepare their digital footprint for Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO).

How do I prepare for GEO?

Your preparation and ongoing optimisation are underway if you are already a Brilliant Digital client. Clients who undertook a content strategy from the beginning are exceptionally well placed. While technical upgrades are required, they are not overwhelming; however, it is the consistent and relevant content schedule over time that returns on investment for our clients.

“Brands that have spent time crafting their SEO playbook, figuring out which keywords to include on product pages, blogs, and additional web content to show up in Google, are well-positioned as platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity are pulling and ranking information — oftentimes, in response to hyper-specific inquiries rather than one-word or two-word requests”. Digiday Sept 25th, 2025

Technically, the website does require upgrades.

• Schema markups & structured data
• FAQ’s and author bios
• Speed and mobile responsiveness
• Indexing and optimising URLs
• Fixing broken links and 404 errors
• Retiring out-of-date content

This requires technical and specialised attention and must be undertaken to ensure your website can compete in the online search world.

The role of content

While the technical upgrades are imperative, the content holds the key to long-term success in traditional and AI search. As I’ve consistently alluded, traditional search is still a significant traffic driver and cannot be ignored; however, AI search is increasing rapidly. AI’s appetite is firmly rooted in quality content that solves problems, answers questions and is 100% human-oriented.

As Erica Randerson, chief digital officer and GM of Edible Brands, says
“We are focused on long-term content that helps answer questions. We have found that tapping into the content our teams have already been creating, and having it be much more of a Q&A-type dialogue, really helps GEO optimisation.”

Brilliant Digital has been at the forefront of this strategy for the past 15 years. Building our clients’ digital success with quality content has been proven over the long term. As AI search influences consumer behaviour, the same strategy is proving its worth, albeit with a slight shift in direction.

“The future of SEO is not just about keyword ranking. The future of SEO is to come into GEO,” says Ranjeet Bhosale, VP of digital product management at Target, USA.

Brands cannot underestimate the value of their content. It must be delivered as a factual, truthful conversation and resonate with the audience and the search engines. It is a balancing act of keyword placement, structuring, length, and quality information focused on helping potential clients, not dazzling or bamboozling them.

Where to from here?

Modern businesses rely on the power of SEO (Google) and now GEO (AI search). The search world is growing in volume in traditional and AI-generated users; however, the ability to cut through and make an impact is shrinking. AI creates recommendations and seeks to answer the questions of its users, often in a short and targeted format, where Google provides a list and usually a long list of options for users to choose from. It is essential for any business to adapt and feed both engines to stay visible and relevant.

There are two primary elements that every business needs to be actively working on.

• Ensure your website is upgraded to meet the demands of GEO
• Implement and execute a professional content schedule that trains the AI and positions your business as the trusted source of truth in your market.

“If you’re not keeping an eye open and really understanding what’s happening in the GEO space, you are going to miss out,” Erica Randerson.

SEO remains a critical element, and most large businesses and industry leaders are continuing their investment in SEO; however, they are also preparing vigorously for the future, ensuring their digital marketing model includes GEO. As Ranjeet Bhosale, VP of digital product management at Target, USA, summarises, “Customers aren’t slowing down their use of tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini. And many are actually changing their behaviour. We are seeing guests adapting and using longer queries, being more conversational in that particular fashion”

Call us if you think your digital marketing strategy needs an upgrade or an overhaul. We are heavily invested in ensuring our clients are seen, heard and relevant in traditional and AI search.