What Is GEO: An Expert Interview on Generative Engine Optimisation

Search is changing. Not in a "wait a few years and see" way — in a "it's already happening beneath most businesses' radar" way.

When someone asks ChatGPT, Gemini, or Google's AI Overviews for a recommendation, they're not getting a list of blue links. They're getting a direct answer. Two or three names. Reasoning. Confidence.

And if your business isn't one of those names, it simply didn't happen — for that customer.

This is the world Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) was built for. But despite the hype, most businesses still don't understand what GEO actually involves, why the mechanics differ fundamentally from traditional SEO, or what they need to do about it right now.

So rather than write another surface-level explainer, we sat down with Cristian Savulescu — Generativ's Generative Engine Optimisation specialist — for a deep, no-bullshit conversation on what GEO is, how AI search actually works, and what businesses need to change before the window closes.

If you want to understand where search is going and how to position your business for the next decade of discovery, this is the interview to read.

What Is Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)?

At its simplest, Generative Engine Optimisation — or GEO — is the practice of ensuring your business shows up when people ask AI-powered search tools a question about your market, service, or industry.

"Right, so GEO, Generative Engine Optimisation, is really just about ensuring your business shows up when people ask AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Google's AI Overviews a question," Cristian explains.

"Think about how you used to find a plumber or an accountant. You'd Google it, scroll through ten results, click a few, make your mind up. That's changing fast. Now people are asking ChatGPT — 'who's a good accountant for a small e-commerce business?' — and getting a direct answer with two or three names."

"GEO is the work that goes into making sure your business is one of those names. It's about helping AI systems understand who you are, what you do, and why you're worth recommending."

Put simply: if traditional SEO is about ranking high on a page, GEO is about being chosen by the machine that answers.

How AI Search Actually Works (It's Not What Most People Think)

There's a pervasive myth that AI models like ChatGPT "know everything on the internet" and just pick names out of thin air when asked for recommendations. That's not how it works at all.

"There's a misconception that AI just 'has access to everything on the internet.' It doesn't really work like that," Cristian says.

"What actually happens is there's a retrieval step first. The AI system goes out and pulls in a handful of sources it thinks are relevant, based on things like authority, structure, and how well the content matches the question semantically. Then it uses those sources to write an answer."

This two-stage process — retrieve, then generate — is the foundation of GEO.

"GEO is really about two things. One: being eligible to be retrieved in the first place. Two: being clear and structured enough that when the AI reads you, it actually understands you. If your content is vague or messy, the AI might pull it in but not be confident enough to cite you. If it's clear, structured, and authoritative, you become the source it leans on."

How Is GEO Different from Traditional SEO?

This is the question every business owner asks — and the answer tells you more about what to do next than most guides ever mention.

"SEO was about getting to the top of the rankings. Get to the top of page one, get the clicks. Ranked keywords, backlinks, click-through rate," Cristian says.

GEO is about being understood and trusted by a machine that's going to summarise you to a human.

The shift in objective is fundamental:

SEO asks: "Can I rank number one?" | GEO asks: "Can an AI confidently explain and recommend my business?" SEO optimises: Keyword density & backlinks | GEO optimises: Clarity, structure & topical authority SEO measures: Click-through rate | GEO measures: Citation rate & trust score SEO prioritises: Volume of content | GEO prioritises: Depth and specificity of content

"The questions are different," Cristian adds. "That changes what you prioritise. You start caring more about clear definitions, structured information, topical depth, and authority. Less about chasing keyword volume, more about being the clearest expert on a specific thing."

And here's the opportunity most businesses are missing:

"The good news for small businesses is that this actually levels the playing field a bit. You don't need a massive backlink profile to be the clearest answer to a specific question. You just need to find out what your ideal customers are asking most and provide a clear, well-structured, factual answer to that question."

Why Do Businesses Still Misunderstand GEO?

According to Cristian, there are three reasons GEO still gets brushed off or badly misunderstood:

1. People Think It's a Future Problem

"A lot of people still think AI search is a future problem. It isn't. It's happening now. Younger users especially are starting their research in ChatGPT before they ever touch Google."

2. People Confuse GEO with Repackaged SEO

"There's a tendency to think GEO is just SEO with a fresh coat of paint. It isn't. The mechanics underneath are genuinely different — retrieval works differently, ranking signals work differently, the way content gets surfaced is different."

"The biggest misconception is 'GEO is just SEO with AI keywords sprinkled in.' It really isn't. GEO is fundamentally about machine understanding: how systems retrieve, parse, and trust your content. Stuffing 'AI' into your title tags isn't going to help."

3. People Fall Into the AI Content Trap

"Loads of businesses are pumping out AI-written articles thinking volume equals visibility. The businesses that win aren't the ones publishing the most — they're the ones publishing the clearest, most useful, most specific content."

We'll come back to this point, because it's where businesses make the most expensive mistakes right now.

The Shift in How People Discover Businesses Online

The customer journey is being compressed. Radically.

"Folks aren't browsing the way they used to. They're not opening ten tabs and comparing," Cristian observes.

"They're asking proper, specific questions. Stuff like 'who's the best plumber in Bawtry for Baxi boilers?' or 'what's the best CRM for a small law firm with five staff?' And they're getting direct answers — sometimes with reasoning — or two or three recommendations."

"What that means for small businesses is that the discovery moment has shifted. By the time someone lands on your website, they've often already been told you're a credible option. That's powerful — but only if you're the one being recommended in the first place. If you're not, that business has likely already been lost."

AI recommendation → brand-name search → website → enquiry

"Leads coming through these days are different," Cristian notes. "They land more educated, more specific, often using terminology they wouldn't have known six months ago. They've done their research, but they've done it with an AI sat next to them."

"We're also seeing more direct branded searches. Someone hears about you in a ChatGPT conversation, then Googles your name to verify. Traditional SEO traffic on broad informational queries is softening, but high-intent traffic is getting better quality."

Which Industries Are Most Exposed If They Ignore GEO?

Short answer: if your customer does research before buying, you're exposed.

"Agencies, consultants, accountants, solicitors, financial advisors, training providers, B2B services, software businesses," Cristian lists. "Basically anyone selling expertise or trust rather than impulse purchases."

"If your customer journey starts with someone asking a question, and AI systems are increasingly answering those questions, you need to be visible inside that answer. If you're not, you're unlikely to be considered at all."

Industries where GEO is becoming especially critical include:

Legal — complex questions, high trust threshold

Financial services — people want recommendations, not lists

Healthcare — AI-assisted research is growing fast

B2B consulting — expertise-driven decisions

Education — comparison and evaluation searches

AI services themselves — meta, but real

"Closer to home: there are loads of small businesses round Doncaster, Sheffield, South Yorkshire in those sectors who've barely thought about this yet," Cristian says. "Which is genuinely an opportunity, because the local competition probably isn't doing it either."

What Makes Content Easy for AI to Retrieve, Understand, and Cite?

Here's where the practical work begins. According to Cristian, there are three pillars:

Clarity. Structure. Depth. In that order.

"Practically, that means clear headings that signal what each section is about. Concise definitions — especially near the top of pages. FAQs that answer real questions in plain English. Comparison content where it makes sense. Specifics: names, numbers, examples, case studies. And consistency across your site about who you are and what you do."

And the most common failure point?

"Vague marketing fluff. 'We deliver bespoke synergistic solutions' tells a machine absolutely nothing useful. 'We build Google Ads campaigns for UK law firms with budgets between £2k and £20k a month' — that tells it everything."

The AI Content Trap: Why Volume Doesn't Win Anymore

This is the mistake that will cost businesses the most in 2026–2027.

"The biggest mistake is using AI as a publishing machine instead of a thinking partner," Cristian says flatly.

"People are generating loads of generic, surface-level articles that say nothing nobody hasn't already said. No expertise, no examples, no actual point of view. This is why LLMs are increasingly relying on human answers from sites like Reddit."

The businesses that will win are the ones using AI differently:

"AI is brilliant when paired with real expertise or real statistics. If you've got operational knowledge — what works, what doesn't, what you've learned from real clients — or a new set of data, AI helps you publish that faster and clearer. But if you're just asking AI to write content about a topic you don't really know, it shows. The output sounds plausible but it's surface-level with no actionable insights."

And on whether search engines can detect AI content:

"Probably to some degree, but I think it's the wrong question. Whether AI was involved doesn't really matter. What matters is whether the content is useful, specific, and adds something to the conversation. Bad AI content fails not because a machine wrote it, but because it lacks expertise and originality. Good content holds up regardless of how it was produced — as long as a real human with real knowledge has shaped it and signed off on it."

What Separates Authoritative Content from Generic AI Content?

"Specifics. Always specifics," Cristian answers, without hesitation.

"Generic content says 'email marketing is important.' Authoritative content says 'we ran an email campaign for a vegan chocolate brand and saw a 22% open rate at this subject line, but the conversion only kicked in once we segmented by purchase frequency.'"

"Authoritative content explains what works and what fails. The tradeoffs. The bits that didn't go to plan. The implementation details that you only know if you've actually done it. That's the stuff AI can't fake. And the stuff AI systems are increasingly looking for."

The Role of FAQs, Schema, Internal Linking, and Case Studies

If clarity, structure, and depth are the pillars, these four tactics are the plumbing:

FAQs

"FAQs surface direct answers to real questions. Exactly what AI systems are looking for."

Schema Markup

"Schema is essentially a way of telling machines: 'this is a service page, this is a person, this is a review, this is an organisation.' It removes guesswork."

Internal Linking

"Internal linking builds topical relationships. It shows the AI that your blog post about Google Ads is related to your service page about paid media, which is related to your case study with that law firm. Not random links — deliberate ones."

Case Studies

"Case studies do something none of the others can. They prove you've actually done the thing. Real businesses, real outcomes, real evidence. One properly written case study about a real client outcome is worth more than fifty generic blog posts."

Starting GEO Today: Where to Begin

If you're a small business looking to build GEO into your strategy right now, Cristian's advice is focused:

"Don't try to do everything. Start with foundations."

Define your core expertise clearly. What specifically are you the expert in?

Make your homepage and about page crystal clear on who you are, who you serve, and what you do.

Pick three or four topics you genuinely have authority on, and go deep.

Add FAQs to your key service pages.

Get your basic schema markup in place.

"Most small businesses don't need 200 articles. They need ten brilliant ones, structured properly, that an AI can actually understand and cite."

If You Rebuilt a Website Entirely for AI Search Today…

Cristian walked us through exactly how he'd approach it:

"I'd start with structure, not content. First, get the topical clusters right. What are the three or four things this business is genuinely the expert in? Build proper hubs around those, with clear parent pages and supporting content."

"Then proper schema across the whole site — organisation, services, people, FAQs, case studies, articles. Make it machine-readable end to end. Then internal linking that reinforces topical relationships. Then content that prioritises specificity over polish: real case studies, real numbers, real implementation detail."

"Most small business sites are built for humans browsing. The next generation needs to be built for both: humans browsing, and machines understanding."

What Will the Future "Winning" Websites Look Like?

"Smaller, sharper, deeper," Cristian says.

"Less content overall, but every page genuinely useful. Properly structured. Strong internal linking. Real expertise on the page. Schema in place. FAQs that answer real questions. Case studies that prove the work."

"The winning sites will combine human expertise with AI-assisted workflows. They use AI to publish faster, but never let it dilute what's actually being said. They feel less like content farms and more like trusted reference points in their niche."

Will GEO replace SEO entirely?

"I think they'll merge, honestly. SEO isn't going away because AI systems still rely heavily on the same retrieval infrastructure underneath. But the goalpost is shifting. It's less about 'which page ranks first' and more about 'which source does the AI trust enough to cite?' So I wouldn't frame it as GEO replacing SEO. I'd frame it as visibility itself getting redefined. Either way, the businesses that adapt early are going to have a real advantage."

The Biggest Opportunity for Small Businesses Right Now

Let's close with the most powerful point Cristian made — and the one that should reframe how every small business thinks about AI search.

"For years, small businesses have been outgunned by bigger competitors on SEO. More budget, more content, more backlinks, bigger domains. Hard to compete," he says.

"AI search changes the dynamic. It rewards clarity, expertise, and specificity — not just size. A small consultancy with deep expertise in one specific niche can absolutely outrank a big generalist agency in AI answers, because the AI is looking for the clearest answer, not necessarily the biggest brand."

"If you genuinely know your stuff and you structure your website to show it, you can compete with much bigger players. That's a real shift. And the businesses that move on it now will have a serious head start."

Your Next Move

The businesses that start their GEO strategy today — while most competitors still think it's a future problem — will have an advantage that compounds over the next two to three years.

At Generativ, we specialise in Generative Engine Optimisation for service businesses across the UK. From AI-powered content systems to schema-structured websites and outbound AI strategy, we build the foundations that make your business citable, recommendable, and visible in the AI search era.

Book a strategy call

to see how Generative Engine Optimisation can work for your business. Or

read more about our GEO services

to understand the full picture.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and flow. All quotes are attributed to Cristian Savulescu, GEO Specialist at Generativ.