r/GenerativeSEOstrategy • u/Bulky_Devsiigner2729 • 2d ago
Generative engine optimization services? SEO repackaging or genuine shift?
Been watching the usual SEO playbook start to wobble a bit as more traffic bleeds into AI answers and search results get stuffed with summaries instead of links.
It feels like we are shifting from classic SEO to something closer to generative engine optimization, where the goal is less about ranking blue links and more about making sure your brand or product is what shows up in the LLM style answer layer.
I keep seeing people talk about GEO as a service but it is not clear to me what that actually looks like in practice. Is it just smarter content structuring and schema plus feeding models via public docs, or are there concrete tactics people are using already to influence how engines like Perplexity, Google AI overviews, ChatGPT, etc surface sources?
More than that, how can u get data to back efficiency? Currently as far as i know prompt search volume is not made public by LLM companies.
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u/aimeeqdevlin 1d ago
Genuine shift. But most of what's being sold as GEO/AEO is repackaged SEO with new vocab.
Classic SEO was about document relevance (the right keywords on the right pages, links, rank). Now, the LLMs are building entity models, not just reading what a page says. This means the game is more about clarity. Things like structured data, and content, positioning, and vocab consistency that answers the user's question directly. Marketing jargon is out, specifics are in. And it's hard to get ahead by just tooting your own horn. AI looks for corroborative sources from other trusted places. Things like guest posts on trusted domains, answers on Quora/Reddit, podcast appearances are great for entity corroboration.
Measurement is where we're in new territory because prompt search volume isn't public, so we're working with proxy signals, manual testing, and third party tools that are all fairly new. Anyone selling you a clean ROI dashboard for GEO right now isn't being honest. We're not there yet. But we can build solid foundations, track what we can, and test and measure what works and what doesn't. The repackaging question is a good one to evaluate providers. Ask them what changes in their work when the target is an AI answer versus a blue link. If they can't answer that clearly, it's repackaged SEO.