Of all the established technologies that generative AI (genAI) is poised to upend, search engines may be among the most disrupted. The writing is on the wall for traditional search: Why comb through a list of context-free links in pursuit of a meaningful answer when you can have an AI do the sorting and parsing for you?
GenAI-augmented search represents a shift in how people seek and access information: Ask a question, get an answer in natural language that provides context and analysis along with links to relevant material. However, AI-driven searches often end without users clicking through to cited websites, reducing organic traffic. As such, the convenience of AI-driven search is displacing traditional search and supplanting SEO with generative engine optimization, or GEO.
Google, the company most synonymous with search, says its AI Overviews drive more and higher-quality click-throughs to content featured in answers.1 Yet SEO expert Ahrefs found AI Overviews actually depress click-through rates for top-ranked pages by more than a third.2 That’s in line with Gartner forecasts for search engine traffic to fall 25% by 2026 as nearly four in five consumers will use AI-enhanced search in the next year.3
What does this mean for marketers, now that AI is the new middleman between search users and content? With clicks at a higher premium, the challenge (and goal of GEO) becomes improving content visibility in AI-driven results. GEO amplifies the value of domain authority and keyword strategy, providing a strong incentive for brands to increase their investments in high-quality owned media.
GEO Rankings and Risks
When genAI models respond to search queries, they don’t rank content sources exactly as traditional SEO does. However, domain authority and brand value still carry substantial weight as trust signals. AI-driven search and GEO rankings are also influenced by content that is statistically more represented in online traffic, which benefits better-known brands with a higher share of voice. Brands with high domain authority and content quality are more likely to be cited in search summaries, underscoring the importance of clear, authoritative, brand-aligned content.
Content fragmentation is a risk for brands of all sizes. As generative AI extracts bits of information from various sources and weaves them together into a synthesized response to a search query, the resulting outputs may mischaracterize or fail to cite the source material. Ensuring that brand content isn’t just scraped but surfaced and cited in the proper context calls for a combination of differentiated thought leadership, distinctive brand voice, and AI-friendly structure.
Owned Media as Strategic Marketing Response
As genAI overviews become more prevalent in search, marketers must evolve beyond SEO as they’ve known it to drive visibility and traffic. That’s where owned media—such as blogs, whitepapers, case studies, and company websites—comes in. Owned media gives brands the most control over how they present information, ensuring their messaging and voice remain intact and on point. Unlike GEO (or paid media or third-party mentions), owned media drives long-term value, supporting the full customer journey throughout sales and marketing funnels.
To meet the realities of genAI-driven search, marketers can supplement their SEO planning by treating GEO as part of a broader awareness strategy. SEO and GEO share the same underlying principles and focus on high-authority, high-quality evergreen content that clearly answers common user questions. For stronger GEO rankings, content should be structured for easy scanning and parsing by LLMs, with plain language, concise explanations, and clear formatting.
As in the development of customer personas, the key to effective GEO lies in leveraging consumer intent and insights to inform content creation. Organizations that develop their own useful, relevant content are better positioned to protect their brand equity and digital footprint.
Owned Media as Strategic Marketing Response
GenAI-driven search is a tectonic shift in how people find and interact with information, moving beyond static keyword matches to dynamic responses amalgamated from multiple sources.
To stay relevant, brands must exercise greater control of their digital presence. Investing in an owned media strategy that positions your content and voice at the center of the online conversations can pay ongoing dividends, as search strategies and underlying technologies transform and evolve.
- Reid, Elizabeth. Google. “Generative AI in Search: Let Google do the searching for you.” May 2024.
- Law, Ryan. Ahrefs. “AI Overviews Reduce Clicks by 34.5%.” Apr 2025.
- Gartner. “Gartner Predicts Search Engine Volume Will Drop 25% by 2026, Due to AI Chatbots and Other Virtual Agents.” Feb 2024.
