According to Malcolm Peters, Head of Organic Search at Incubeta, unlike conventional SEO and SEM, which prioritise visibility in search results and paid ads, Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is about ensuring brands and content are discoverable and, most importantly, trusted, by the new generation of AI-driven platforms powering search, chatbots, and interactive assistance.
Tech analyst firm, Gartner, has predicted that by 2028, organic search traffic will drop by 50% or more as consumers embrace generative AI-powered search. And, as AI platforms like ChatGPT provide in-platform buying options, brands must ensure that platforms and bots can find them, cite them, and up-rank them, making GEO a vital addition to existing SEO and SEM efforts.
In South Africa, awareness of GEO is still fairly low, but is definitely on the rise. Just a year ago, few marketers or business leaders were asking about it. However, marketing leaders have started noticing the effect of GEO in monthly reports and subtle shifts in web traffic and user engagement.
Getting Your Content Placed Inside Search Answers
GEO leverages the best practices of technical SEO (including well-structured sites, speedy load times, and a secure infrastructure), to ensure AI platforms can access and understand your content. But its real power lies in rewarding the originality, quality, and authenticity of content.
Original content created by subject matter experts, thought leaders, and industry insiders, gives AI platforms something unique to reference and cite.
GEO shouldn’t be seen as a replacement for traditional SEO or SEM, but rather as an essential new layer, expanding the reach and authority of those brands that invest in real expertise and creativity.
EEAT Becomes Even More Important
Organisations likely to see the most benefits from adopting GEO strategies are those in the knowledge-intensive sectors such as the medical, financial, legal, technical, and other fields where experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (EEAT) are critical. These sectors are expected to deliver accurate, well-vetted content, making them prime candidates for AI citations and GEO visibility.
Fact-based and data-driven businesses that consistently produce original, factual, and authoritative content, like banks, insurance providers, and information services, will also be favoured in AI search results, ensuring quick returns on early GEO efforts.
That said, as AI tools expand into ecommerce and lifestyle content, retailers with detailed, authentic product content and consumer advice will also have a distinct advantage.
Having The Right Tools Becomes Critical
Like anything in a data-driven world, if you can’t measure it, you can’t improve on it. Measuring GEO’s impact goes beyond clicks and keyword rankings. It involves tracking how often your original content is cited by AI, its presence in AI-generated summaries, and the visibility your brand achieves across new search experiences and platforms.
Tools like Google Analytics 4, SEMrush, and enterprise platforms such as Profound are becoming essential in mapping this influence and tying it back to real-world business outcomes. Ensuring your analytics are set up to recognise and quantify the value delivered by unique content is critical for demonstrating true ROI.
Ethics Become More Important Than Ever
Of course, navigating the world of GEO comes with its share of challenges. One of the most pressing is the risk of AI hallucination, where generative models spin inaccurate or misleading information.
The safeguard against this is the creation and constant updating of robust, human-generated, original content. Human oversight, including fact-checking, nuanced editing, and vigilant updating, also ensures your brand’s digital footprint remains accurate and authoritative, limiting the risk to your brand’s reputation.
Ethical and privacy concerns also take centre stage and brands must adopt rigorous standards to ensure they minimise data collection, secure explicit user consent, anonymise sensitive information, and practice complete transparency in their data policies. This is especially important for brands operating in regulated industries, where a breach doesn’t just mean legal risk and potential fines, but also erodes long-standing trust.
First-Mover Advantage
Looking ahead, GEO will only grow in importance. Especially as AI systems move toward multimodal capabilities, integrating text, voice, video, and interactive content.
South African brands committed to sustained, original content creation will have the depth and diversity needed to stay visible. This will become more urgent as agentic AI is deployed and we have AI agents booking appointments, recommending products, or solving customer service issues. Investing in trustworthy, original content will do far more than just ‘feed the machine’. it will help your brand build trust in an environment where scepticism is likely to become the consumers’ default setting.
INCUBETA
www.incubeta.com
