In this op-ed, head of digital experience Liam Challoner, at marketing agency Alpha Digital, explains why he believes brands need to rethink how they approach online discovery. With AI-powered search increasingly providing answers without sending users to websites, traditional SEO is no longer enough. Challoner argues that brands must now focus on Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) to ensure they remain visible, trusted, and relevant in a world where algorithms, not clicks, increasingly determine which content gets seen.
You may have noticed a drop in website traffic of late. You’re not alone.
Gartner forecasts a drop of 25 per cent in traditional search volume by the end of 2026.
Globally, Google search traffic to publishers dropped by a third in the year to November 2025, according to Chartbeat data published in the Reuters Institute’s Journalism and Technology Trends report.
AI Overviews now appear in up to 39 per cent of Australian searches, according to industry analysis, which is well above the global average. Pew Research Centre found people are twice as likely to click on a link when there is no AI summary available. In fact almost two in three searches on a traditional engine now end without a click.
Now a lot will depend on the query as to whether zero-click attribution is to blame.
Search evolution
While in the 90’s we relied on Yahoo/Ask Jeeves for our ‘basic keyword search’. Google evolved a smarter algorithm to understand context and not just our words. This decade we’re seeing the Generative AI Leap, with Large Language Models (LLMs) predicting our intent and making search more conversational.
Consumers have quicker access to complex queries, but for brands and publishers, there needs to be a shift in how we approach our content. In a future where people aren’t landed on your site, but gain access to your content, how can you ensure you show up in the right way. Or at all!
It’s a topic I tackled recently to a packed room at Powerhouse in Brisbane, in front of 650 brand marketers and content creators, at Content Summit Australia.
The rise of GEO
Generative Engine Optimisation is the practice of optimising brand/content signals so they are discoverable, interpretable and able to be referenced within AI‑powered search systems and large language models. In simple terms, GEO is about making sure your brand shows up in AI answers (LLM visibility).
LLMs break down prompts by rewriting your query, into clearer, search-friendly versions to bridge how humans ask, and how system retrieve information.
So the query: “where should I stay for the content summit conference?”
Becomes: “hotels near Brisbane Powerhouse available at the end of March?”
Large questions are split into smaller intent-based questions (around price, specs, reviews, comparisons, etc).
Those subqueries are then run in parallel across multiple sources (web pages, knowledge graphs, video, shopping, databases – scraping reviews/forums/booking sites/hotel sites along the way).
If you take away one thing about how GEOs operate, let it be this slide for the positioning how things have changed:
The shift in balance between SEO and GEO has been swift. But this doesn’t mean your brand has to suffer the long-term implications. There is a way to evolve your approach, which can help to negate some of the impact to your brand.
Core Pillars of GEO strategy
There are three core pillars for a successful GEO strategy, and they focus around how your brand shows up and how trusted it is as to whether you will be the content that is chosen for specific search queries.
Brand Trust
Challenge:
AI will reward brands that are seen as credible and authoritative. This means that those with a strong reputation, a bank of positive reviews, and who are perceived as a trusted source will be the brands likely to be recommended.
Playbook:
Focus on building positive reviews online if you’re brand is suited to them
Even if you are a B2B brand Google reviews are one of us strongest indicators of brand trust
Use your internal expertise to create helpful content that delivers value for your end customer. Leverage your 1st party data to create that valuable content that will maximise dwell time for those still visiting your site and increase your chances of rising to the top of an AI crawl.
Invest in digital PR and collaborations with trusted publications with high Domain authority to boost how you are perceived by the algorithm.
Content Coverage
Challenge:
Brands that demonstrate expertise across relevant topics, will also be rewarded by AI. The aim is to show the depth and breadth of knowledge in your category making it easier for AI to surface your brand as the go-to resource.
Playbook:
By creating content that covers a topic holistically, across a range of formats and all intent types, you can continue to show up in AI search queries. Some examples of what that might look like include: buying guides, explainers, comparisons and FAQ’s.
Ensure that you structure content to be skimmable (crawler friendly) and readable at a glance – with almost half (46 per cent) of internet traffic in Australia now via mobile devices. Experiment with new content formats to test and learn what works for your brand specifically.
Readability & Extraction
Challenge:
AI relies on websites it can easily crawl, understand, and extract information from. The idea is to provide clear and accessible content to make it simple for LLMs to read your pages and feature your brand in answers and recommendations
Playbook:
Optimise structured data and schema.
Ensure key elements can load without javascript.
Invest in Technical SEO excellence.
Optimisie product feeds.
Prepare store capabilities for Agenetic Commerce.
Create and maintain an LLM info page.
Continuous improvement
Start with an honest audit. Ask an AI tool about your brand, your category, your competitors. See who gets cited and who gets ignored. That gap is your GEO brief.
If you implement all of the recommendations above, they should help to boost your brand’s AI visibility. Algorithms change. So while these are a good starting point, it’s worth staying up to date on GEO strategies by visiting the likes of Search Engine Land, SEM Rush as well as B&T. Or ask your media agency for best practice, it’s a topic we’ve been discussing for a while now at Alpha Digital and we’re partnering with brands to focus on their GEO strategy.
The shift in balance between SEO and GEO doesn’t need to negatively impact your brand, if you take action to ensure your brand strategy is aligned with the focus of AI platform algorithms and you stay abreast of how your brand shows up in AI search queries. The brands that will continue to top answer queries, will be the ones AI trusts enough. Google used to send you visitors. Now it sends them answers.
The question is whether those answers mention your brand?
