How to know if your GEO is working

Why generative engine optimization isn’t SEO with a new hat — and how to measure what really matters

Generative engine optimization (GEO) isn’t a rebrand of SEO. It’s brand marketing adapted to a world where AI models decide what gets recommended. To know if your GEO is working, you don’t look at rankings or keywords — you track share of search, buyer intent, prompt visibility, and how your brand performs inside generative systems.

Key takeaways

• GEO is not SEO: It’s about influencing AI-driven discovery, not tweaking metadata or publishing more “helpful” content.
• The key metric: share of search: Rising branded search volume signals brand strength — and is the clearest indicator that your GEO efforts are creating demand.
• Two diagnostic lenses: Track both brand demand (how many people search for you) and buyer intent (how much of your traffic is commercial vs. informational).
• Category entry points (CEPs): Map the real-world triggers and situations behind prompts; GEO succeeds when your brand shows up at those moments.
• Prompt visibility matters: Benchmark how often AI models recommend your brand for each CEP — and improve it with PR, credible case studies, and distinctive assets.
• Measure conversational traffic: In Google Search Console, track long, natural-language queries that mirror AI prompts to see if curiosity is turning into clicks and conversions.
• Informational content is losing value: If most of your clicks come from “how-to” queries with no buyer intent, you’re feeding the LLMs, not your funnel.

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