Move Over, SEO. GEO Is the New Sheriff in Town.

During World War II, one of the many unique ways that the Allied powers used to communicate with each other was “poem code,” a British encryption method that enabled agents to bury hidden messages within communications. Utilized by the Special Operations Executive, this encryption method relied on the use of pre-selected words from a specific poem memorized by the sender, with the positioning of the letters used as a key. However, poem code wasn’t used for long, as enemy code breakers were able to identify poems that were commonly used.The banking industry is currently learning a bit about code-breaking and the need to stay on top of ever-changing methods of gleaning information. In addition to the struggle to keep marketing efforts aligned with each new version of the algorithms at the heart of search engine optimization (SEO), financial institutions now must be equally focused on aligning themselves with the generative engine optimization (GEO) that powers artificial intelligence (AI) search platforms. By now, most people are familiar with SEO and understand that it is the intentional use of techniques such as keywords or phrases within online content that cause online search engines to rank something highly on a search engine results page. The problem is, as AI is more widely used, SEO is sharing space with the algorithm behind AI-based search results. While SEO is far from obsolete and is something that businesses need to continue focusing on when marketing themselves online, GEO is a larger factor in determining the results that people receive when relying on AI searches or answer engines. So, what is GEO? The Basics of GEO

Quite simply, GEO is the next generation of SEO. It encompasses the steps that organizations take to ensure that their content and websites rank as high as possible in AI searches. Instead of ranking search results based primarily on keywords, the algorithms behind GEO strive to provide people with more comprehensive and accurate results by aggregating information from multiple sources into a readable summary. In addition to searching based on keywords, GEO seeks to provide more refined results by structuring content in a way that it can easily be searched and summarized by AI. Not only does GEO incorporate rankings and keyword standings, but it also analyzes everything from topics to the structure of content and even citation patterns and incorporates the ways that different AI platforms display and prioritize content. As consumers have quickly overcome their initial apprehension of generative AI, technologies such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity are growing by leaps and bounds as people embrace such platforms for everything from assistance with crafting emails to help managing their personal finances. ChatGPT now boasts close to 181MM active monthly users, while Perplexity AI, which launched less than three years ago, has seen its usage rise 858% over the last year, to roughly 10MM active users each month.

Why GEO Is Important for Digital Marketing

As more people bypass traditional search engines like Google in favor of AI searches, or the AI summaries that many search engines now provide, community financial institutions (CFIs) need to be as focused on creating GEO-friendly content as they are on tailoring content to SEO algorithms. According to Gartner, 70% of people already trust the results of generative AI searches, and 79% of consumers will likely use AI-backed search over the next year. As a result, Gartner predicts that by 2026, organic search activity will decline by more than 50%, and traditional search volume is likely to drop roughly 25%. Failing to incorporate GEO into websites and marketing materials could result in CFIs being completely left out of the search results people rely on to identify banking products and services. Best Practices for Implementing GEOFortunately for CFIs, there is a lot of overlap between the way that organizations should approach both SEO and GEO. One of the first things that CFIs should do is to audit their organization’s AI search results to determine how easily their existing website content is understood and aggregated by tools such as ChatGPT and Perplexity. Cleaning up data, filling out missing data, and ensuring existing data is simple and standardized are critical for GEO. It is also important to clarify your business strategy and exactly what your organization is hoping to achieve before experimenting with GEO and the ways it can support your goals. Once you do begin exploring GEO, a few things to keep in mind include the need to keep your system continuously updated and operating at its fastest possible speed, the importance of ensuring that data and language are structured so that they resonate well both online and with mobile devices, and the need to stay updated on improvements to both SEO and GEO. Finally, ensure that any content you create, including advertisements, will work not just for AI-backed search engines, but for traditional online search engines as well.

Following are a few things to consider when crafting content that is GEO friendly:

Adoption of AI-backed searches is rising rapidly and will only continue to gain traction, particularly among younger generations. Failing to actively incorporate GEO into your organization’s online content could prove costly down the road.