Changing focus following shift in search
WARC’s annual Marketer’s Toolkit reveals that 24% of web marketers plan to shift their primary focus from SEO to GEO (generative engine optimisation) in 2026. With nearly 30% already seeing the impact of generative AI on search results, that transition is likely to accelerate.
GEO is the practice of optimising content to appear within AI-generated answers: Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity and similar tools. Where SEO was about ranking in a list of links, GEO is about being included in the answer itself.
The structural shift is already visible.
Research from Bain & Company shows that around 80% of search users rely on AI summaries for at least 40% of their searches, and that roughly 60% of searches on traditional engines now end without a click. The goal is no longer just traffic; it’s influence over what AI systems surface and recommend.
For those looking to build a working understanding of GEO,
Shane H. Tepper’s white paper is a solid starting point. It combines research, practical experiments and a clear guide to the fundamentals.
