GEO is already fueling a new market of promises and supposedly essential methods. Meanwhile, Google reiterates that fundamentals remain the strongest strategy.
For several months, GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) has gradually established itself in discussions around SEO. Alongside it already appear AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), AI Search Optimization and a multitude of new approaches supposed to allow companies to improve their visibility with artificial intelligence.
The phenomenon is almost fascinating. These new uses have barely begun to emerge when the first commercial promises are already appearing. LinkedIn publications are multiplying, training courses are flourishing, some mention essential technical files, others present methods capable of attracting conversational engines. As is often the case in digital technology, a new market is being built at an impressive speed.
However, Google today adopts a much more measured discourse. The company officially recommends continuing to prioritize good SEO practices rather than chasing artificial optimizations or “GEO hacks” whose effectiveness remains largely speculative.
This discrepancy is particularly revealing. On the one hand, an ecosystem that is already trying to establish new rules, new acronyms and sometimes even new certainties. On the other, the company which develops the most used search engine in the world and which reminds us that the proven principles remain today the best benchmarks for navigating this new evolution.
Basically, this situation goes far beyond SEO. It tells a story that digital marketing has known for more than twenty years: each technological revolution gives birth to its market of promises. Each time, some announce that everything will change. Each time, others remind us that the fundamentals often resist fads much better than miracle recipes.
GEO is already creating its own market
The story is almost always the same. An innovation appears, the first uses develop and companies naturally seek to understand what is changing. This observation phase is perfectly normal. No manager wants to see his company lose visibility because he ignored a major digital development.
Very quickly, however, a second phenomenon takes place. Specialists emerge, methods begin to be presented as essential and the first commercial offers appear. Social networks naturally amplify this movement. Everyone shares their observations, their tests, their convictions and sometimes their certainties. In a few weeks, a new market can practically be born before our eyes.
GEO is no exception to this mechanism. For several months, content explaining how to “optimize” a site for artificial intelligence has been increasing. Some talk about ideal editorial structures, others talk about technical files that are supposed to become essential, while a few already claim to know the criteria that would allow them to be cited more by conversational engines.
The problem is obviously not experimenting. On the contrary, research and testing help advance an entire profession. What merits more caution, however, is the speed with which certain hypotheses are sometimes transformed into established truths. L’artificial intelligence applied to research is still evolving extremely quickly. Models change, interfaces are transformed and uses themselves continue to be constructed.
Google prefers to talk about fundamentals
It is precisely for this reason that Google’s recent communication deserves to be observed carefully. While some are already seeking to build a new discipline based on supposedly new rules, Google is adopting a much more sober posture. His message essentially consists of saying that today there is no reason to abandon the good practices that have underpinned natural referencing for years.
The company continues to recommend producing useful, reliable content designed above all for users. She also emphasizes the importance of demonstrating real expertise, clearly answering Internet users’ questions and gradually building lasting credibility. In other words, Google does not present GEO as a total break with SEO, but rather as an evolution that continues to rely on the same foundations.
This position may seem less attractive than speeches promising new revolutionary recipes. However, it has a considerable advantage: it is part of a long-term logic. Technologies change, interfaces evolve, and engines become more sophisticated, but truly useful content generally retains its value regardless of how it is displayed.
On closer inspection, Google’s speech is almost counterintuitive in a world where each innovation is often presented as a total break with what existed before. The company is not saying that you should not be interested in GEO. It simply reminds us that before seeking to optimize content for artificial intelligence, it is still necessary to produce content that is sufficiently relevant to deserve to be recommended.
Technological revolutions always produce their gurus
SEO is not the first sector to experience this phenomenon. Social media has had its self-proclaimed experts. The metaverse has known its prophets. NFTs have seen the emergence of a multitude of specialists in a few months. More recently, generative artificial intelligence has also given rise to a considerable market for training, methods and recipes intended to guarantee better results.
This observation does not mean that all these professionals are illegitimate. Many experiment seriously, publish their observations and really participate in advancing knowledge in the sector. The problem appears when commercial discourse takes precedence over intellectual prudence. A hypothesis becomes a method. A test becomes a certainty. An intuition turns into a general truth.
GEO now seems to be going through this phase. There are many experiments, which is excellent news. On the other hand, no one yet has the necessary perspective to say with certainty what the truly determining criteria will be in two, three or five years. Conversational engines evolve almost every month, models change rapidly and Internet users’ uses also continue to transform.
This lack of certainty should naturally invite more nuance. However, in a competitive market, nuance often sells less well than promises. Stating that we are still trying to understand a phenomenon rarely attracts as much attention as claiming to already hold its secrets.
Artificial intelligence will likely reward the same qualities
Ultimately, the real question may not be whether GEO will ever replace SEO. Rather, it consists of understanding what artificial intelligences are really looking for when they construct a response. Their objective remains to provide relevant, reliable and understandable information. To achieve this, they need to rely on quality content.
By this logic, companies that have long invested in their expertise, in the quality of their publications and in their credibility are probably not starting from scratch. Conversational engines can change the way answers are presented, but they don’t artificially create expertise that doesn’t exist. They build on what is already available, already credible and already useful.
Perhaps this is why Google places so much emphasis on the fundamentals. Behind this recommendation lies a simple idea: technological developments change the tools, but they do not necessarily change what makes content valuable. Solid analysis, clear reasoning, verified information or recognized expertise remain of interest, whether they are read directly on a site or taken up by artificial intelligence.
GEO will naturally continue to evolve. New best practices will appear, some will be validated, others will disappear. This is the normal functioning of all innovation. In the meantime, the most reasonable strategy is undoubtedly to listen to the main search engine when it reminds us that fundamentals remain the best investment today. GEO gurus will likely continue to invent new acronyms. Google prefers to talk about fundamentals. And for now, this is probably the strongest advice to remember.
