Why do SEO and GEO need to co-exist ?

Introduction

Search Engine Optimization (e.g. Google, Bing) has long been a mandatory staple in the digital marketing toolkit. Millions use search engines to find information, compare products, get directions, etc. every day. In 2024 there were approximately 16 billion searches per day on Google and 900 million per day on Bing, and 50 million per month on Perplexity AI (1 in 4 users are based in Indonesia). While the rise of GenAI has seen a shift in some users’ search behaviour, such as asking complex questions, it should remain top-of-mind that the GenAI engines source their material from places such as Google, Wikipedia, Quora, brand websites, and other free internet knowledge bases. As such, it is necessary to begin to optimize for both the traditional brand keywords and also for queries looking for up-front summaries vs. clicks into a website. Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) fulfills the role of indexing (schema) to provide relevant content based on users perceived or expressed needs from the Search Engine Optimized (SEO) website.

Complete Optimization

The comprehensiveness of combining traditional search engine optimization (keywords/ phrases, metadata, and linking strategies) with generative engine optimization (schema/ structured data, predictive content) provides a company website with a competitive advantage in the ever changing digital space. Utilizing a strategic approach to generating predictive content to answer users’ more complex queries enable a company to appear within AI summaries in search engine results, as well as being included in engines such as ChatGPT in response to questions posed.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)

The essence of GEO lies in the use of predictive analysis and enhanced website markups (schema/ structured data). All GEO content requires a search engine to crawl the web page first before it is available for Generative Engines to access properly. Without a direct partnership with a GE all content flows through a SE first and is parsed into the engine from that point. Every page can be tagged with the relevant information such as: article, book review, Q&A, products, etc.

Example – Location: If you mark up the relevant geo-targeted on your site, the next time Google crawls your site the localization data will be available for rich snippets on search results pages.

Rich snippets are the summary response displayed at the top of results on Google (Gemini) and Bing (Copilot). Rich snippets typically appear in response to a user question (“What is the difference between SEO and GEO”) vs. a regular intent based search (“Hair salon near me”). Crafting the appropriate questions for a specific business persona or industry requires input from internal sources and external research.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

While the search engines are moving to summarize data from multiple sources and provide more comprehensive information within their engine, SEO remains the only way for the crawlers to discover content. Using keywords, phrases, and metadata (Title, description, etc) provides the engine crawler with the proper context for your business. Without these items being clearly defined and integrated a website will not be treated as an authority and GEO unable to function correctly, or at all. Regardless of the GEO aspect, the engines, and human learned behavior will continue to focus on standard results (listings), which if there is no GEO data, will appear at the top of the page vs. after the “Rich Results”.

Conclusion

While the digital knowledge space continues to evolve at a rapid pace, with new platforms, technologies, and algorithms emerging constantly, certain foundational elements remain critical. Chief among these are standard structural and business rules that govern how information is organized, accessed, and prioritized across the web. Regardless of trends, these principles continue to shape visibility and discoverability.

In this environment, being fully prepared for both SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is not just an advantage—it’s a business imperative, especially for organizations operating in niche or highly specialized industries. These sectors often face unique challenges in reaching target audiences, making strategic optimization even more essential.

Adopting fully structured data early positions businesses to capitalize on the semantic web, where context, relationships, and meaning matter just as much as keywords. Structured data helps search engines better understand and categorize content, directly influencing how and where results appear in search results—from standard listings to featured snippets, knowledge panels, and localized maps.

Early adopters of structured data not only benefit from increased visibility, but they also help shape the digital landscape for their sector. By setting the standards for how content is interpreted, they can influence the narrative, dominate search contexts, and create lasting competitive advantages in both organic and local search results.

1 Exploding Topics – How Many Google Searches Are There Per Day? (March 2025)
2 Demand Sage – 31 Bing Statistics 2025
3 Exploding Topics – The latest Perplexity AI Stats (2024)

 
Tamera Dunn Kremer is a seasoned digital and brand marketer based in Toronto, Ontario. She has experience with Fortune 100 companies, SMB, and start-ups. For more on GEO, please contact ny@3cubed.ai