We’ve been skirting around the subject for a while now, about this very specific SEO question- what do we call the art and science of optimising your website for the AI Overviews in Google Search?
I wrote an article for the digital marketing agency I worked for at the time and I didn’t know either. But I latched on to one term and published it in that agency’s digital marketing blog and it stemmed from the service Google revealed at its IO event in 2023 – the Search Generative Experience (SGE). So, with an ear to the ground, I used the term GEO for Generative Engine Optimisation and staked my reputation and that of the agency in the ground.
However, I wasn’t 100% comfortable with Generative Search Optimisation, not being as familiar as Search Engine Optimisation, even though the acronym GEO was so close to SEO.
But then other terms were bandied about in the SEO community:
- Generative Search Optimisation,
- Search Journey Optimisation,
- AI Optimisation,
- Answer Engine Optimisation and even
- Conversational Search Optimisation!
Admittedly, I was guilty of potentially trying to “ride the wave” and, if my bet was successful, I would have potentially been one of the pioneering band to push a “GEO Agency”.
Was SEO Dead Then?
No, it wasn’t. There were a lot of reanimated headlines and articles titled “SEO Is Dead” and “SEO is Dead – Again”. Most of us were still doing SEO but keeping an eye out for how our efforts also performed in AI Overviews. That’s not just natural but commendable – and moreover, commercial too. In fact some people took their eye off the SEO and focused massively on the generative AI.
Every time there’s a new thing in town, in the digital world, there’s a gold rush of prospectors looking for those nuggets and to sell as many on to the public as possible. Thereby positioning themselves as experts on the subject.
We’ve seen this behaviour throughout the history of the world wide web, with SEO itself, Google AdWords, as it was called back then, social media, Twitter, Bluesky, and more recently ChatGPT, alongside a raft of other AI tools. There’s been no end of people trying to set themselves up as the latest gurus, with cheat sheets, prompt engineering, and producing content at scale, just to name a few of the wares we’ve seen recently.
And the same happened with SEO in the age of AI – so many individuals and organisations were so hell-bent on being seen as the new AI overloads that we were all sucked up into their vortex. Who knows the latest info, what’s the best technique, etc.
Realising that we were still doing SEO, with AI in mind, I called it AI SEO. Once again, I pegged the colours to my mast. Why? Because SEO is not dead, it has merely evolved, albeit quite drastically, and so it’s AI SEO.
Or so I thought…
And Google Just Said…?
I was perusing the Google Discover channel on Chrome on my iPhone whilst I waiting in a queue earlier today when a great piece by Roger Montti of Search Engine Journal showed up in my feed.
“Google Says You Don’t Need AEO Or GEO To Rank In AI Overviews”
And the subtitle reads:
“Google’s Gary Illyes confirmed that AEO or GEO is not necessary. Standard SEO is all you need to rank in AI Search.”
Well how about that when you need some clarification and, indeed, some validation?
OK, OK, so it’s not AI SEO, it’s still SEO. SEO is NOT Dead. Again.
Now Large Language Models (LLMs) are the technology behind recent AI-powered search. And before the acronym LLM was even popular, we had BERT and MUM from Google. BERT was the Bidirectional Encoding of Reverse Transformers, and basically that was the model used in Google’s Natural Language Processing (NLP) that I got into around 2018/2019. Transformers look at the relationship of words, or rather entities, to one another. It’s how search engines “understand” text.
And this is what Google’s Webmaster Trends Analyst Gary Illyes is saying in Roger’s article – that AI is everywhere, even when it’s not overt. BERT and MUM worked in the background of search. AI Overviews are the front-and-centre embodiment of generative AI powered results. In fact, I just said so much in my keep calm and carry on post a couple of weeks ago.
Conclusion
I’m not going to repeat what’s in Roger’s article, you can go and read it for yourself, it’s packed full of brilliant analysis.
But the takeaways are that:
- You should keep on doing SEO. AI SEO, GEO, and all that jazz, are just a distraction. Allegedly.
- AI is everywhere anyway.
- Quality content still rules, and Google supposedly doesn’t mind how you generate it, just make it good (I’m thinking E-E-A-T and helpful content here)
There’s still an elephant in the room though – impressions are sky high and clicks are suppressed. How do we break out of AIOs eating ~33% of clicks, or more?
If you need an experienced SEO consultant, then speak with Paul Mackenzie Ross in Farnborough. I do WordPress SEO, and blog writing services in Hampshire.
So call me on 01252 692 765 or leave a message on my contact page.