Growthential"If your business is not showing up in AI-generated search answers, you are invisible to a growing segment of your market. Generative Engine Optimisation is how you fix that."
What Is GEO and Why Should B2B Companies Care?
Traditional SEO is about ranking on a search results page. GEO is about being cited in an AI-generated answer.
When a B2B buyer asks ChatGPT "What are the best approaches to APAC market expansion?" or asks Perplexity "How do I build a B2B demand generation strategy?", the AI synthesises information from across the web and presents a curated answer. The sources it cites get the traffic, the credibility, and, ultimately, the business.
This is not a hypothetical future. It is happening now:
- 73% of B2B buyers say they would spend $50,000 or more through digital self-service channels (McKinsey B2B Pulse Survey, 2024)
- 70% of the buying journey is complete before a buyer contacts a vendor, increasingly through AI-powered research that is reshaping how B2B buyers evaluate vendors (6sense, 2025)
- Gartner predicts that by 2028, 90% of B2B buying will be AI agent intermediated (Gartner Strategic Predictions, 2025)
The question is not whether your buyers are using AI to research vendors. The question is whether AI is recommending you.
How AI Search Engines Decide What to Cite
Understanding how these systems work is essential to optimising for them. AI search engines do not "rank" content the way Google traditionally does. They evaluate content on several dimensions:
1. Authority and Expertise
AI models are trained to recognise expertise signals. Content from named individuals with demonstrable experience in a topic is weighted more heavily than generic corporate content. This is why the "E" in Google's E-E-A-T framework (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust) matters even more for GEO.
What this means for you: Publish content under the name of a real person with real credentials. "By Guye Lord, who has built B2B sales operations across 5 APAC countries" carries more weight than "By the Marketing Team."
2. Specificity and Data
AI models prefer content that includes specific numbers, statistics, and concrete examples. Vague generalities ("many companies struggle with...") are less likely to be cited than precise claims ("companies entering APAC without local hires take an average of 9 months longer to reach first revenue").
What this means for you: Include data in every piece of content you publish. Original data and first-hand observations are particularly valuable because AI models recognise that this information cannot be found elsewhere.
3. Structured, Comprehensive Answers
AI search tools are looking for content that directly and comprehensively answers a question. Content structured with clear headings, logical flow, and explicit answers to common questions is more likely to be selected as a source.
What this means for you: Structure your content around the questions your buyers ask. Use H2 and H3 headings that mirror natural language queries. Include a TLDR or summary at the top of every article.
4. Freshness and Relevance
AI models weigh recency, particularly for topics where the landscape is changing quickly (which, in B2B, is most topics). Content published in 2024 about "B2B sales trends" is less likely to be cited than content published in 2026 with current data.
What this means for you: Update your cornerstone content regularly. Add new data points, refresh examples, and update the publication date when you make substantive changes.
A GEO Strategy for B2B Companies
This is the practical framework I recommend for B2B companies that want to be found by AI-powered search.
Step 1: Identify Your Citation-Worthy Topics
Start by mapping the questions your ideal clients ask during their research and buying process. These fall into three categories:
- Problem-aware queries: "Why is my B2B pipeline stalling?" or "What causes sales team underperformance?"
- Solution-aware queries: "How do I build a demand generation strategy?" or "What is the best approach to APAC expansion?"
- Vendor-aware queries: "Who are the top B2B sales consultants in Australia?" or "Best APAC market entry advisors"
You want content that answers all three categories. The first two build authority; the third converts that authority into business. This mapping exercise aligns closely with building a full-funnel demand generation framework that serves buyers at every stage.
Step 2: Create Depth, Not Volume
This is where GEO diverges most sharply from traditional content marketing. The old SEO playbook, publish as much as possible, target every keyword variation, does not work for GEO. AI models can distinguish between comprehensive expertise and thin content at scale.
The GEO content formula:
- One definitive article per topic rather than ten superficial ones
- 2,000-3,000 words minimum for cornerstone content (this article is an example)
- Original insights and first-hand experience that cannot be found in competitor content
- Specific frameworks, models, and step-by-step processes that AI can extract and cite
Step 3: Optimise Your Content Structure
AI models parse content structurally. To make your content easy for them to process:
Start with a TLDR. Put your key answer in the first 200 words. AI tools often cite the introduction of an article, so make it count.
Use descriptive headings. Instead of "Our Approach," write "How to Build a B2B Sales Team from Scratch in 5 Steps." The heading itself should answer a query.
Include data tables and lists. Structured data is easier for AI to extract and cite. When you have statistics, frameworks, or comparisons, present them in a structured format.
Add FAQ sections. Explicitly formatted question-and-answer sections at the end of articles are highly citation-friendly. Frame them as the questions your buyers ask.
Step 4: Build Technical Foundations
The technical side of GEO overlaps with traditional SEO, but with some additions:
Schema markup. Implement Article, FAQ, Person, and Organisation structured data (JSON-LD) on your blog posts. This helps AI understand the context and authority of your content.
Sitemap and crawlability. Ensure AI crawlers can access your content. Some AI tools use their own crawlers separate from Googlebot. Review your robots.txt to ensure you are not blocking them unintentionally.
Page speed and accessibility. AI crawlers, like search engine crawlers, favour content that loads quickly and is well-structured in the HTML.
Canonical URLs. If your content appears in multiple places (syndicated articles, guest posts), use canonical tags to point AI to the authoritative version.
Step 5: Build Off-Site Authority
AI models do not just look at your website. They assess your authority based on mentions, citations, and references across the web.
Guest publications. Write for industry publications, contribute to research reports, and participate in expert roundups. Each external mention reinforces your authority on a topic.
Social proof. LinkedIn posts, podcast appearances, and speaking engagements that generate online content all contribute to the authority signal that AI models recognise.
Earned media. Being quoted in industry reports, news articles, and analyst briefings is perhaps the strongest authority signal for AI citation.
Measuring GEO Performance
This is the honest part: measuring GEO is harder than measuring traditional SEO. There is no "AI search console" that shows you exactly when and where you have been cited. But there are proxies:
- Direct traffic trends. Increases in direct traffic often correlate with AI citation, as users click through from AI-generated answers.
- Brand search volume. If AI is recommending your business by name, brand searches will increase.
- Manual testing. Regularly search for your target queries in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. Note when your content is cited and which articles are being referenced.
- Referral traffic from AI platforms. Some AI tools (particularly Perplexity) pass referral data. Monitor this in your analytics.
GEO and SEO: Complementary, Not Competing
A common misconception is that GEO replaces SEO. It does not. The fundamentals of good content, relevance, depth, authority, and technical quality, serve both traditional search and AI-powered search.
Think of GEO as an additional lens on your content strategy. The same article that ranks well in Google should also be citation-worthy for AI tools, provided it meets the specificity and authority criteria I have outlined above.
The B2B companies that will dominate their categories in 2026 and beyond are the ones that optimise for both. They create content that ranks, gets cited, and, most importantly, earns the trust of buyers who are doing their research before they ever speak to a salesperson.
Getting Started
If you have not thought about GEO yet, you are not too late, but the window is narrowing. Early movers are establishing authority positions that will be difficult to displace once AI models have trained on their content.
Start with one topic where you have genuine expertise. Create the definitive piece of content on that topic. Optimise it using the framework above. Then expand from there.
If you want to discuss how GEO fits into your broader B2B marketing and sales strategy, get in touch. This is a space I am actively investing in and am happy to share what is working.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is GEO? Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is the practice of creating and optimising content so that it is cited by AI-powered search tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews when users ask relevant questions.
How is GEO different from SEO? SEO focuses on ranking in traditional search results pages. GEO focuses on being cited in AI-generated answers. The fundamentals overlap, but GEO places greater emphasis on authority signals, content specificity, and structured formatting.
Does GEO replace SEO? No. GEO is complementary to SEO. Content that performs well for GEO typically also performs well in traditional search. B2B companies should optimise for both.
How do I know if AI is citing my content? Manually test your target queries in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. Monitor direct traffic, brand search volume, and referral traffic from AI platforms as proxy metrics.
How long does GEO take to show results? Like SEO, GEO is a long-term investment. Expect 3-6 months before seeing meaningful citation frequency, though individual pieces of high-quality content can get picked up more quickly.