Podcast: GEO tips with Luke Proctor
For the second episode of the Wildfire podcast, I spoke to Luke Proctor, our AI lead, about one of the biggest shifts currently happening in search and digital communications: GEO.
As AI tools like ChatGPT increasingly influence how people discover brands, marketers and PR teams are trying to understand what makes companies visible in AI-generated responses.
In this episode, we discussed how AI search actually works, why earned media matters more than ever, whether GEO is drastically different from SEO, and what brands should focus on if they want to improve their visibility in AI responses.
Podcast Highlights
What is GEO and why does it matter for brands?
Alex: For anyone hearing the term for the first time, what actually is GEO?
Luke: GEO stands for generative engine optimisation. It’s similar in principle to SEO, but instead of focusing on how brands appear in search engine rankings, GEO is about how brands appear in responses generated by AI tools like ChatGPT.
When someone asks an AI platform for the best cybersecurity vendor, MarTech platform, or software provider, the model pulls together information from multiple sources and decides which brands to mention. GEO is about improving how your brand appears in those responses.
Alex: There are lots of different terms floating around as well — AEO, AI SEO, and others. Is GEO the one that is likely to stick?
Luke: We are still in a bit of a Wild West period when it comes to terminology, but GEO is the term most people seem to have settled on. I suspect it will still be the dominant term in a few years.
How do AI tools like ChatGPT decide which brands to recommend?
Alex: One of the biggest questions brands are asking right now is: why is AI not recommending my company?
Luke: There is no single formula or guaranteed way to force an AI model to recommend your brand. But what AI systems are looking for is consistency.
When platforms like ChatGPT answer a query, they break the question down into multiple smaller searches — what is often called a “fan-out query”. That means they are looking across lots of different sources for signals.
For example, if someone asks for the best cybersecurity vendors, the AI model might look at:
News coverage and earned media
Company websites and owned content
Analyst commentary
Social media conversations
Industry publications
The brands that perform best tend to be the ones communicating clearly and consistently across all of those channels.
Can you game GEO or trick AI search algorithms?
Alex: There are already lots of people selling GEO hacks and AI visibility tricks online. Can you actually game the system?
Luke: No. And if someone claims they have a guaranteed GEO hack, they are probably wrong.
This is not like the very early days of SEO where keyword stuffing could temporarily manipulate search rankings. AI systems evolve too quickly for simple shortcuts to work for very long.
Even if someone found a temporary workaround, the platforms would adapt rapidly. The best long-term approach is still the same as it has always been: communicate clearly, consistently, and usefully.
Why is earned media so important for GEO?
Alex: What role does PR and earned media actually play in GEO?
Luke: Earned media is hugely important.
AI platforms prioritise information from credible, established sources because their goal is to provide trustworthy answers to users. Research shows that a significant percentage of AI-generated responses are influenced by editorial coverage and earned media.
That means coverage in respected national, business, and trade publications can play a major role in whether your brand appears in AI-generated answers.
AI tools are effectively trying to evaluate credibility in the same way a human would. They prioritise established publishers because those publications already have authority and trust.
Which media publications matter most in AI search?
Alex: There was a period where everyone seemed obsessed with Forbes because it was constantly being cited by AI tools. Why does that happen?
Luke: Some publishers appear more frequently because they are highly established brands that feature heavily in AI training data.
Forbes is a good example because it has existed for decades and has huge visibility online. But respected trade publications are important too.
A publication like Computer Weekly may not have mainstream reach on the same scale, but within technology and cybersecurity it carries authority. That makes it influential in AI-generated responses for those sectors.
Do press release wires help with GEO?
Alex: Some companies are suddenly asking whether they should start flooding newswires with press releases again. Does that actually help with GEO?
Luke: There is a theory that if brands generate enough online mentions through syndicated press release content, AI models will absorb those mentions into their training data.
Personally, I do not think there is strong evidence for that approach.
There is a risk that brands simply become noisy and spammy without creating genuinely useful content. AI systems are still trying to prioritise quality and credibility.
So while press releases still have value in the right context, simply publishing huge volumes of wire content is unlikely to be an effective GEO strategy.
Why is owned content still important for GEO?
Alex: We have talked a lot internally about the importance of owned content and website newsrooms. How important are those for AI visibility?
Luke: Owned content and newsrooms are extremely important for GEO.
If an AI model is trying to understand your company, one of the first places it will look is your own website. AI systems often cross-reference what they find externally with information on your site.
That means your newsroom, blog, and resources section all matter. Your website should reinforce the same messaging and positioning that appears in your earned media coverage.
How should brands structure content for GEO?
Alex: Are there specific ways brands should structure content if they want it to perform better in AI search?
Luke: Accessibility and clarity are really important.
AI systems are not looking at websites in the same way humans do. They are often parsing raw HTML and extracting information directly from the page structure.
If a website is overloaded with unnecessary code, ads, or clutter before the actual content begins, it becomes harder for AI systems to extract useful information.
In terms of content itself, formats like:
FAQs
Comparison pages
Clear question-and-answer structures
Highly specific educational content
…all tend to work well because they are easy for AI systems to interpret.
Ultimately, though, the core principle is still usefulness. The clearer and more audience-focused your content is, the more likely it is to surface.
For brands looking to improve their AI visibility, we’ve also put together a more detailed guide on how to write GEO-friendly content.
Is GEO really different from good SEO and PR?
Alex: The more we talk about GEO, the more it sounds like good SEO, good PR, and good copywriting rather than a completely new discipline.
Luke: In many ways, that is exactly what it is.
The principles of effective communication have not changed. You still need clear writing, useful information, relevant messaging, and audience focus.
The difference is that AI models are now acting as intermediaries between brands and audiences. But fundamentally, if your content is useful to humans, it is usually more useful to AI systems too.
Do LinkedIn posts help with GEO?
Alex: What about LinkedIn? Should B2B brands be changing how they approach LinkedIn content?
Luke: LinkedIn is more restricted because most content sits behind a login and is not fully accessible to AI systems.
The exception is LinkedIn Articles. Those are public, indexable, and much easier for AI systems to access. So if AI visibility is one of your goals, it makes sense to include LinkedIn Articles as part of your strategy.
What is the biggest GEO mistake brands should avoid?
Alex: If there was one piece of advice you would give comms teams and B2B tech marketers right now, what would it be?
Luke: Do not panic. There is a danger that companies completely rip up their existing marketing and communications strategies because AI feels like the latest shiny new thing.
But it’s important to remember the fundamentals.
You still need to be:
Clear
Consistent
Useful
Audience-focused
The brands that succeed in GEO will usually be the brands already doing strong PR, strong content marketing, and strong communications.
AI does change the landscape, and it is something companies should absolutely think about. But it is not a reason to throw away everything that already works.
Our full guide to GEO is now available here: https://www.wildfirepr.com/guide-to-geo-in-pr
FAQs
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GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimisation. It refers to the process of improving how companies appear in AI-generated search responses.
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SEO focuses on improving visibility in traditional search engine rankings, while GEO focuses on how AI systems understand, reference, and recommend companies in generated responses.
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More people are using AI tools to research products, vendors, and services. That means brands need to think about how they appear in AI-generated answers, not just Google search results.
You can read more about the impact that GEO and AI search will have for tech brands in our ‘(Almost everything) you need to know about GEO’ guide.
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There is no guaranteed formula, but brands can improve their visibility by maintaining clear, credible, and consistent messaging across earned, owned, and social channels.
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Yes. Earned media is increasingly important because AI systems often prioritise trusted editorial sources and established publications when generating responses.
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Standard LinkedIn posts are more difficult for AI systems to access, but LinkedIn Articles are public and indexable, making them more useful for GEO strategies.
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Overreacting. The fundamentals of good tech PR, SEO, and content marketing still apply. Brands should focus on being clear, useful, and audience-focused rather than chasing quick fixes.
