GEO vs. SEO: Evolving to AI-Powered Search in 2025

In 2025, the landscape of search has changed dramatically, with classic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) going up against the emergent Generative Engine Optimization (GEO).

SEO, founded for more than twenty years, maximizes websites for engines such as Google and Bing by keyword targeting, backlinks, and technical adjustments to win high rankings and receive clicks. GEO, which was coined in 2023 but is taking off in popularity, optimizes content for AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity, with the aim of being referenced in synthesized, natural-language-style responses instead of link lists.

As AI summaries are now utilized by 80% of customers for a minimum of 40% of searches, classic traffic has fallen by as much as 25%, prompting companies to converge both methods.

Major Differences and Parallels

SEO focuses on accuracy: keyword research, meta tags, speed of site, and E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) to make it to the SERPs.

GEO turns to language-based strategies, rewarding well-structured, data-rich content with facts, quotations, and easy-to-parse formats for AI parsing. SEO quantifies success through traffic and CTR, while GEO monitors AI citations, sentiment, and “reference rates” through tools such as Profound or Semrush’s AI kits.

Overlaps are E-E-A-T bases and good content; GEO reinvents SEO, does not replace SEO, as AI questions average 23 words compared to SEO’s four, requiring richer, individualized answers.

Recent advances capture GEO’s momentum: Suites such as Safari incorporate LLMs, and tools allow for synthetic query probing for brand visibility. Issues remain, such as AI hallucinations and zero-click searching, but GEO increases visibility by 30-40% in answers. Legal changes, such as publisher-AI collaborations (e.g., The Guardian and OpenAI), allow attribution, while litigation by outlets such as The New York Times determines content usage.

How News Sites Can Use Both Effectively

News websites, in view of traffic deterioration due to AI summaries, have to hybridize SEO and GEO. For SEO, keep crawl budgets, mobile-friendliness, and NewsArticle schema to dominate Google News and Top Stories. Practice keyword clusters for breaking news and evergreen content, providing quick loads and internal linking.

GEO requires overhauling: Insert TL;DR summaries, FAQs, bullet points, and stats for scannability by AI.

Cite sources with URLs, take authoritative voices, and add exclusive insights to increase citations. Use Reddit/Quora threads for UGC sources, fill citation gaps by offering exclusives, and craft “X vs. Y” comparisons (e.g., policy breakdowns).

Update content regularly with dates, permit AI spiders through robots.txt, and steer clear of JavaScript-intensive pages.

Track AI mentions using platforms such as Ziptie.dev, try questions in Perplexity, and widen to multi-platforms such as X and LinkedIn for wider exposure. For instance, update refresh policy explainers with “as of 2025” updates so that they remain current in AI overviews.

Integrate by testing for AI-friendliness, combining conversational long-tail search queries with SEO keywords, and measuring hybrid KPIs such as referrals from AI platforms, which recently increased 800%. This reduces risk while leveraging AI’s expansion.

While AI redefines search to answer engines, news websites embracing GEO in addition to SEO will maintain relevance, revenue, and readers’ trust in an era of multi-engines.