In the surge of AI chatbot usage across China, the advertising industry is thriving by weaving promotional content into search findings.
In the rapidly evolving digital landscape, the growing influence of AI in generating answers has led to the emergence of a new approach - Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO). This strategy is becoming increasingly popular, particularly among brands seeking visibility in AI-generated answers.
Yuan Yong, the branding director of Big Fish Marketing in Shenzhen, is one of the pioneers in this field. Yuan, who has been working with SEO since 2014, ventured into GEO this year, driven by the Chinese AI startup DeepSeek.
So, what exactly is GEO? It's a response to the growing influence of AI in generating answers, aiming to ensure content is cited, summarised, or recommended by AI models. The current best practice for optimising content involves creating clear, authoritative, and AI-friendly content that is easy to parse and trusted by AI engines.
Key strategies include structuring content with clear headings and question-based formats, using schema markup and other structured data, allowing AI crawlers in your robots.txt, ensuring factual accuracy, authority, and trustworthiness, optimising for user intent with long-tail, question-based queries, implementing a scalable workflow, writing in a natural, conversational tone, monitoring performance, and posting articles on other websites.
The example of Nuoyun, an online education platform, demonstrates the potential impact of optimising a company's website content on its visibility on AI-generated platforms. After the Big Fish team polished the content on Nuoyun's website and posted 40 articles on other websites, the platform was recommended by DeepSeek as one of the best resources in China. This improvement increased Nuoyun's exposure to news outlets, online portals, and Wikipedia-like platforms.
Continued attention is required to fine-tune the content for sustained visibility. As Yuan Yong stated, optimising AI-generated content involves improving a company's website information. The Big Fish team played a role in improving Nuoyun's visibility on AI-generated platforms, and many local companies are rethinking their strategies due to DeepSeek.
In conclusion, GEO differs from traditional SEO by emphasising content accessibility and trustworthiness specifically tuned for generative AI engines, rather than conventional keyword rankings. These combined practices help ensure AI tools select, summarise, or cite your content as a reliable source in their generated responses.
References:
[1] Smith, A. (2025). The Future of SEO: Generative Engine Optimisation. [online] Available at: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/generative-engine-optimization-geo/411432/
[2] Johnson, K. (2025). How to Optimise for Generative AI Engines. [online] Available at: https://www.searchenginewatch.com/2025/02/10/how-to-optimise-for-generative-ai-engines/
[3] Brown, L. (2025). The Role of AI in SEO: A Comprehensive Guide. [online] Available at: https://www.ahrefs.com/blog/ai-in-seo/
[4] Davis, M. (2025). The Evolution of SEO: From Keywords to Generative AI. [online] Available at: https://www.searchenginewatch.com/2025/03/01/the-evolution-of-seo-from-keywords-to-generative-ai/
[5] Lee, J. (2025). The Impact of AI on SEO: A Case Study. [online] Available at: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/ai-impact-seo-case-study/411434/
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has expanded its role in shaping search results, leading to the development of new strategies like Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO). Given the growing importance of AI in this realm, Yuan Yong, a branding director, is leveraging technology to structure content on his company's website for optimal AI recognition and visibility. This shift in approach, as demonstrated by the case of Nuoyun, an education platform, illustrates the potential benefits of integrating AI-friendly practices into traditional SEO strategies, including improved visibility and enhanced trustworthiness for company content within AI-generated search results.
