By Sally Anderson-Wai of Write Wai PR & Copywriting Services
It’s still early days, but the way people search for businesses is changing. Until recently, businesses competed to get to the top of Google to drive traffic to their websites and convert leads.
For decades, business owners have poured money, time and energy into digital marketing, using keywords for their industry, creating meta tags and building backlinks, so their content would be found by the search engines and be ranked highly.
If you were successful and ranked at the top of page one, you were rewarded with clicks, leads and sales.
But search behaviour is changing and people are slowly noticing, which is why being ahead of the game could work in your favour.
As a former journalist, a content creator, social media consultant, copywriter and PR, I became aware of changes in digital marketing about a year ago and started to investigate for the benefit of my clients. Now I share that information in blogs and on my social media platforms.
How Search Is Changing
You may have noticed yourself that more and more people are now using AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Claude or Perplexity to ask questions, get recommendations and learn what is available. The new aim to be visible online is to not only to be found and ranked by search engines, but you also need to be cited by AI in its answers to buyers’ questions.
If your business isn’t referenced as a source to an answer, the user will know nothing about you. Being found and recommended by AI is quickly becoming just as critical as being found on Google. Even Google has its own AI that answers your questions now.
To make it easier to understand what’s happening, let me explain simply. Traditional search engines act like librarians. You ask for something, and they point you to the shelves where you might find the answer. Whereas AI search engines act like researchers. They go out, read the books for you, synthesise the information, and hand you a neat summary.
This shift from “Search Engine Optimisation” (SEO) to “Generative Engine Optimisation” (GEO) means the mechanics of visibility have completely transformed. The goal is no longer just ranking for a specific phrase; it is about training AI models to recognise you as the ultimate authority in your niche.
According to Gartner’s predictions, traditional search will drop by 25% in 2026, while Semrush is forecasting that AI will overtake traditional organic search by 2028, so take note of what I am saying.
What AI Looks For
AI engines are not impressed by fancy web tricks or keyword stuffing that used to work in the past. AI look for data they can trust. Specifically, they crawl the web looking for:
• Third-party validation: Mentions across trusted news sites, authoritative blogs, and industry publications.
• Entities and relationships: Clear connections between your name, your business name, your location, and your specific area of expertise.
• Structured facts: Clear, un-fluffy data that answers who you are, what you do, and who you have helped.
For AI to recommend you in its answers, you need to demonstrate your expertise, authority, consistency and clarity.
Why Original Content Matters
You’ve probably noticed how the web is being flooded with generic, AI-generated filler text right now. But that doesn’t satisfy AI. It doesn’t want to regurgitate AI content in a recommendation.
These engines are hungry for original human insight. Case studies, unique local insights, thought leadership pieces, and real stories carry immense weight right now. When you share an original deep dive into a real-world project, you are providing the fresh, original data that AI engines need to back up their answers.
How Your Blogs, PR And Social Media Can Help You
AI learns about you and your business not only from your website, but from your whole digital footprint, as I describe in my blog: https://www.writewai.com/blog/how-geo-acts-like-a-spider-on-a-web-and-your-content-is-the-structure/
- PR and Press Releases: Getting featured in regional or industry media provides a high-authority backlink and AI uses it to verify you.
- Blogs: Regularly updating your blog with niche topics and specific user questions will help you to be treated as a prime source for long-tail conversational AI queries.
- Social Media: Consistent activity on platforms like LinkedIn or Facebook signals to web crawlers that your business is active, relevant, and engaging with a real audience right now.
Be human
Don’t be afraid to be yourself and be human even if you reveal your mistakes. It may sound paradoxical, but the best way to be found by advanced artificial intelligence is to be unapologetically human.
AI models are looking for clear, helpful, trustworthy information written by real experts who know their craft. If you focus too hard on trying to be cited by AI, your content will sound robotic and hollow.
Write for your clients first. Share your genuine stories, showcase your real successes, and speak with your true voice. When you write something that genuinely helps a person, the algorithms (both old and new) will naturally follow you.
I have created a scorecard, which is like a checklist, to help you to go through your digital marketing to see how you can improve it for GEO. If you would like a copy, get in touch via my website www.writewai.com
Do you need help making your business visible in the age of AI? From strategic copywriting and SEO/GEO-driven blogs to press coverage, Write Wai PR & Copywriting Services helps brands stand out to both human audiences and search engines. Get in touch today to elevate your online profile.