By end of 2025, 30% of all searches will be answered without a click. Welcome to the era of GEO: Generative Engine Optimization.
Deni Khachukaev
Author
By end of 2025, 30% of all search queries will be answered directly by AI - without clicking on a website. According to Gartner, organic search traffic will decline by 25% by 2026.
The big question: Is SEO dead? No - but it is no longer enough. Welcome to the era of GEO: Generative Engine Optimization.
GEO refers to optimizing content to be cited in AI-generated search results. While traditional SEO aims for ranking in SERPs, GEO focuses on being pulled as a source by AI systems like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity.
Traditional SEO:
Generative Engine Optimization:
Commonalities: Quality content, E-E-A-T, technically sound website, structured data.
The AI Search Funnel works in five steps:
Your opportunity: Become the cited source!
From base to top of the GEO pyramid:
Bad (not quotable): "Website costs can vary greatly and depend on many factors that need to be considered individually."
Good (quotable): "A professional SME website in Austria costs between β¬3,000 and β¬15,000. The average is β¬7,500 for a 5-page business website with CMS."
AI can use the second version directly as an answer!
The most important platforms in 2025:
Check for every article:
No, SEO remains the foundation. GEO builds on top of it. Without a solid SEO base, GEO does not work either. Both strategies complement each other.
New metrics: AI Mentions (via brand monitoring), Brand Search Volume, citations in Perplexity/ChatGPT (manually checkable), traffic from AI referrers.
Yes! Niche expertise is often preferred. A specialized blog can be cited more frequently in its topic area than large generic portals.
3-6 months for first mentions. AI models are updated periodically. Consistency is more important than one-time optimization.
As Rand Fishkin says: "Companies that invest in GEO today will be market leaders in 3 years. It is like SEO in 2010 - early movers win."
The key lies in the combination: Solid SEO fundamentals + GEO optimization for AI visibility. Companies that master both will be the winners of the new search era.
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