GEO vs. SEO: What Innovative Growth Companies Need to Know
As artificial intelligence reshapes how people search for and discover products, one thing is clear: traditional SEO is no longer the only game in town. Today, Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is emerging as a critical strategy, especially for innovative growth companies looking to get ahead of competitors in the new AI-driven internet.
In this insights piece, we’ll break down the differences between SEO and GEO, how each works, why GEO is rapidly rising in importance, and what your innovative growth company can do right now to win in both.
What Is SEO?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the long-standing practice of improving your website and your content to appear higher in search engine results, primarily Google.
Core tactics include:
Keyword targeting
On-page optimization
Backlink building
Technical SEO
Content creation
SEO helps you capture demand by improving visibility in response to topics for which users are already searching.
What Is GEO?
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the emerging field of optimizing your digital presence for generative AI models like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Copilot. These tools don’t just retrieve links, they synthesize and present information conversationally.
Key differences:
LLMs rely on training data, citations, and context, not just links and keywords.
Credibility, factual clarity, and brand visibility in trusted sources play a much bigger role.
GEO is about being included in the answer, not just linked in a list.
How GEO and SEO Work Differently
Traditional SEO is built around web crawling, indexing, and ranking algorithms. Its core goal is to help your site appear higher in search engine results—primarily Google—through keyword targeting, backlinks, and technical optimizations. GEO, or Generative Engine Optimization, takes a different approach. It’s based on how large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT or Claude infer answers from training data and live sources. Instead of just aiming to rank, GEO seeks to ensure your brand is included directly in AI-generated responses.
The optimization tactics differ, too. While SEO emphasizes keywords, links, and meta tags, GEO focuses on factual clarity, structured data, and mentions in trusted sources. Both care about content formatting, but for GEO, structure and summarization are essential since LLMs prefer clean, easy-to-parse information.
Why GEO Matters for Innovative Growth Companies
LLM adoption is exploding. Generative engines are rapidly becoming the first point of research for buyers, especially in B2B.
High-intent queries are shifting. Questions like “best customer onboarding tool” or “alternatives to [competitor]” are increasingly answered by LLMs, not Google.
Early movers can shape what the models say. Unlike SEO, where you're competing with millions of pages, GEO is less saturated, for now.
Buyers trust conversational answers. If your growth-stage company is referenced positively in ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Claude, you're already ahead in the credibility game.
Tactical Comparison: GEO vs. SEO
SEO still prioritizes keyword targeting and backlinks highly, whereas GEO places greater emphasis on structured data, factual accuracy, and third-party brand mentions. For example, backlinks are mission-critical in SEO but only moderately helpful in GEO. Meanwhile, branded content on external sites—often optional in SEO—is a high-impact strategy for GEO. Similarly, factual clarity, which is only somewhat important for SEO, becomes vital when optimizing for AI-generated results.
What Should Growth-Stage Companies Do Differently?
As you scale marketing, here’s how to integrate GEO into your strategy alongside SEO:
Audit Your LLM Presence
Search for your company/product in ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini.
Note whether you’re being mentioned, what sources are cited, and how you’re described.
Target Citation-Worthy Sources
Get listed in high-authority third-party lists, review sites, and roundups.
Publish fact-based blog content that could be used as a reference by LLMs.
Format for Summarization
Use clear headers, concise claims, and structured bullet points.
Label key facts (e.g., "Founded in...", "Used by X companies", etc.)
Build Brand Mentions
Engage in public conversations (e.g., Reddit, Quora, Medium).
Contribute to communities and sites where LLMs gather data.
Ensure Your Website Contains Structured Data
Structured data is a standardized format for providing information about a webpage so that search engines (and LLMs) can better understand its content. It uses schema markup to describe elements like articles, products, events, videos, and more. This enables enhanced search features—known as rich results—such as star ratings, breadcrumbs, and video previews.
Test each page of your website to ensure the code follows the guidelines of structured data so that it is parsed by Google Rich Results.
Think Beyond Google
GEO isn't about ranking higher, it's about being included in responses.
Prioritize credibility and clarity over clickbait or keyword stuffing.
Tools for Monitoring and Execution
SEO Tools: Google Search Console, Ahrefs, SEMrush
Citation & Mention Monitoring: Feedly, Brand24, Mention, SparkToro
AI Audit & GEO Readiness Tools: MarketMuse, Clearscope, Surfer SEO (emerging)
Test prompts like:
“What are the best [your category] tools?”
“Who are the top alternatives to [competitor]?”
“What does [your company] do?”
These will help you see how you're positioned in LLMs now and guide your optimization efforts.
GEO and SEO Are Better Together
If SEO helps you get found, GEO helps you get trusted. Innovative growth companies that invest in both are best positioned to:
Capture demand through search
Influence early research in LLM conversations
Build trust through high-quality, fact-rich content
And stay top of mind during AI-powered discovery
In the AI age, it’s not just about ranking first. It’s about being remembered.
At Marion Street Capital, we understand the nuanced needs of high-growth companies navigating RevOps challenges. Our RevOps solutions are purpose-built to help you scale smarter, raise faster, and exit stronger.
If you’re looking to optimize for GEO, explore our RevOps Solutions.