SEO isn’t going away in 2026 — it’s evolving. As AI-powered search experiences like Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity become part of how people research and compare options, brands must think beyond rankings alone. Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) builds on traditional SEO by helping AI systems understand, trust, and reference your content in summaries and conversational answers. The strongest strategies combine solid SEO fundamentals with GEO best practices, ensuring your brand is visible during early discovery and ready to convert high-intent visitors once they reach your website.

Search optimization is changing fast, but not yet in the dramatic way some headlines suggest “SEO is dead”. SEO isn’t disappearing in 2026. However, what is changing is how people find or search for information, how search engines present it, and how brands earn visibility and trust along the way.

AI-powered search experiences, such as Google’s AI overviews and generative assistants like ChatGPT and Perplexity, are now influencing how users research, compare and make buying decisions. These tools are becoming part of the early discovery process, especially for complex or high consideration purchases.

For marketers, this doesn’t mean ignoring SEO, it means expanding it.  SEO must evolve beyond rankings alone and expand into Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). GEO is the practice of making your content visible, understandable and credible/trusted by AI-driven search experiences (engines).

SEO Isn’t Going Away. It’s Becoming the Foundation For GEO

A common misconception is that AI-driven search will replace SEO. However, AI systems rely on the same SEO fundamentals we’ve always optimized for. High quality, well-structured, authoritative and unique content is still important – like it always has been.

What is changing is how search results are delivered and consumed.

With AI-driven search (GEO) optimization:

1. The results are displayed as summaries, overviews and conversational responses

2. AI systems evaluate clarity and context – and not just relevance or rankings 

3. Users may get the information they need, without having to click any links – this could result in less traffic to your site (at least initially)

4. Authoritative mentions from reputable sources matter even more – they've always mattered for SEO but GEO looks for more than backlinks – it places more emphasis on context and understanding searcher intent

Why You Should Add GEO to Your SEO Strategy ASAP

Gartner predicts that traditional search engine traffic will decline by 25% by 2026 as AI assistants are being used more and more for early-stage research. That shift can impact raw traffic numbers – but traffic alone is not a great measure of success, anyway. Traffic with buying intent is.

The real opportunity for marketers is to be visible where decision making now often starts – with the AI assistants. If mentions of your brand drop off because you are not optimized for GEO, you are out of the game before it even starts.  

GEO Practices to Add to Your Search Strategy

In addition to solid SEO practices, these additional GEO recommendations should help make meaningful impact to your search strategy in no time:

1. Write content that answers the questions your buyers are asking.

a. Structure pages to include FAQs or question/answer type content

b. Use clear headings, subheads and plain language

c. Include summaries or overviews in addition to more detailed content – especially if that overview can help an AI assistant understand context of what you are trying to say in the detailed content

2. Become an expert on topics that will interest your audience.

a. In addition to optimizing pages, look at creating authority around topic clusters

b. Connect pages with a common theme through internal linking

c. Create summaries where it makes sense to provide quick context of content

3. Use schema structure and markup that AI can understand. 

a. Proper tagging and heading hierarchy (H1, H2, etc.) 

b. Add more schema markup than you thought you needed for SEO (go beyond the basics and markup articles, authors, FAQs, news, services, etc.)

4. Build authority on and off the website

a. Backlinks matter more than they did in traditional SEO because AI places more emphasis on who is talking about you, why, and where.

b. Get mentions of your brand in articles, forums, ratings, reviews and other places that prove your authority/connection to the market and to your customers.

Also, don’t forget to take a hard look at your website’s content. If AI absorbs more top of funnel discovery, then users who eventually land on your website likely have good intent. What path have you carved for them to take action or to complete their transaction with you?

The bottom line is that SEO isn’t being replaced in 2026 - it’s becoming more important than ever. GEO doesn’t compete with SEO, it builds on it. The brands that win will be the ones that maintain strong SEO fundamentals while also adapting their content and authority to show up in AI-driven discovery experiences. AI assistants can’t recommend or reference your brand if they don’t understand it, trust it, or see it as relevant.

By investing in an SEO + GEO strategy now, you can ensure your brand is visible at the moment research begins. Then, when buyers with real intent land on your website, make sure that experience is designed to convert that interest into action.