If you’re trying to figure out how to build a GEO strategy from scratch, you’ve probably already noticed something: what once worked for website optimization doesn’t anymore.
If so, you’re probably seeing this play out in a few clear ways, including:
- Not appearing in AI-generated answers, including large language models (LLMs) on ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.
- Your rivals are starting to dominate these very same citations instead – and getting the visibility (and customers) from it.
- Not knowing where to start with GEO digital marketing, or how to make an impact on AI search.
The problem is, the longer you leave it, the larger the gap will grow between where your audience is searching and where you actually appear.
In this guide, we’ll walk through a clearer way to approach GEO strategy with actions you can take in one day to lay down AI-visible foundations. We’ve also gathered the thoughts of experts, who know what it takes to show up in the places where people now search for answers.
We’ll cover:
- What Is GEO? (And Why It Matters Now)
- How to Build a GEO Strategy From Scratch: The 1-Day Framework (The Actionable Guide)
- Start Building Your AI Visibility Layer Right Now With Mint Position
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What is GEO? (And Why It Matters Now)
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the practice of making your brand show up in AI answers, instead of just search results.
The days of your customers clicking through Google Search’s blue links are numbered. Now, they’re using the sites that Google’s AI Overviews recommend, or asking ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools to do the thinking for them.
Semrush estimates that LLM web traffic will surpass that of organic search by 2029, so the time to start optimizing for these engines is now.
How LLMs Are Set to Surpass Traditional Search
Source: Semrush
Great GEO will help you appear in these AI-generated answers and summaries.
Yet, here’s the key distinction: GEO is not replacing traditional search engine optimization(SEO). Excellent keyword research, backlinks, and technical SEO (including schema markup and site speed) still matter and will help you rank in LLM results, but they’re no longer enough to make you visible.
“GEO won’t replace SEO, because models still drink from the same crawlable web,” says Jason Hennessey, CEO at SEO experts Hennessey Digital. “The shift is from ranking pages to earning citations and summaries. We treat AI answers as a second SERP (search engine results page) with different incentives. That changes how authority, clarity, and freshness show up.”
Simply put, you now need a content marketing strategy that goes beyond search ranking and gets you cited by AI. To neglect this “second SERP”, as Jason puts it, means you start to drain noticeability.
At Mint Position, we refer to this hybrid approach as SEO 2.0 – an extension of the old SEO world – with GEO acting as the visibility layer that determines whether you show up in these AI answers, not just buried somewhere deep in the Google and Bing search results.
How to Build a GEO Strategy From Scratch: The 1-Day Framework (The Actionable Guide)
Knowing how to build a GEO strategy from scratch doesn’t mean overhauling your whole marketing approach.
AI visibility starts with a baseline. See how AI views your business today, then build the signals that improve it.
The aim within the first 24 hours is to get your house in order, so AI tools can understand you, rather than a fully honed GEO strategy.
Let’s take a closer look at this with six simple steps you can take right now.
1. Audit how AI sees your brand
The first step is to hold up a mirror and see how AI reflects your brand back.
Use AI or a specialist AI-powered tool to convert your transactional keywords into relevant LLM search prompts.
Then run these prompts in ChatGPT, Claude, and Google AI, and catalog what appears. Are you mentioned? If not, who is?
These results will also bring patterns to light. You’ll see the competitors who keep showing up and how they’re getting there. These are sources AI currently trusts, so you must study which content formats they publish and which third-party domains mention them.
This simple exercise will tell you what you need to do to fill these gaps in brand visibility.
Do This Today
Convert your 10 to 12 highest-value keywords into prompts, then put them in ChatGPT and Google AI. Note who appears, who doesn’t, and what content formats keep showing up.
2. Make your website AI-readable
It’s tempting to go chasing backlinks and social media mentions to appear in the places you identified above, but you should first fix your foundation.
AI tools (and their underlying search algorithms) seek structured data to understand what you do – without it, they’ll simply ignore you.
Make sure your pages answer these questions at a glance:
- What do you do?
- Who are your products and services for?
- How do your products work, and how do they improve user experience?
Explain this without jargon and include strong headings, short summaries, and FAQs. The goal is to make your business as crystal clear and impossible to misread.
“Ranking is about being found, but AI citation is about being parsable”, says Scott Kasun, founder of digital marketing agency ForeFront Web. “For example, shifting from generic fluff to hyper-specific answers will improve your chances of being the definitive source AI pulls when answering nuanced, long-tail user queries.”
Remember, clarity beats cleverness in the AI world. If a bot can’t parse it quickly, it won’t use it.
Do This Today
Pick your top three most valuable webpages for generating leads and ask yourself: do they clearly answer what you do, who it’s for, and how it works? If not, rewrite the intro and add an FAQ.
3. Plan content that AI will actually cite
A smart GEO content strategy sits at the core of AI search optimization, because it gives AI systems clear, credible answers they can cite.
Your content must do this by directly answering real search queries – that is, the natural-language questions that your customers are typing into LLMs, which heavily favors those at the bottom of the funnel. Semrush research puts this at an average of 23 words, compared to just a few words for a Google search.
When AI has access to real-time information (with SearchGPT turned on), prompts get shorter and more direct. Users trust the model to fill in the gaps, rather than spelling everything out themselves.
How Activating Search GPT Affects Prompt Size
Source: Semrush
The takeaway? Whether prompts are long or short, AI favors content that is easy to extract: clear, structured, and straight to the point.
You’ll also want to ensure that the prompts you study have bottom-of-the-funnel intent, which is most likely to mention your brand or a competitor’s.
Vague blog posts won’t cut it here. Instead, focus on explainers, comparisons, and listicles that fully cover a topic.
This is also where many miss a key lever: data. Including credible numbers, sources, and citations is one of the best practices for GEO performance because they act as trust signals that AI engines seek.
Mint Position’s Journalistic SEO approach ticks all of the boxes here. We use credible and structured data to create the answer-first content that AI systems trust and use.
Do This Today
Write one explainer or comparison piece that directly answers a question your customers are already asking AI, ideally bottom-of-funnel, like ‘which are the best [product type] in [region]? Keep it structured, specific, and data-backed.
4. Build signals beyond your website
Even the best content won’t get picked up if it only lives on your site. AI models pull from a wider ecosystem – think editorials, forums, LinkedIn, and other third-party platforms.
“You want your brand name included in media citations that train generative models, and in comprehensive content clusters that demonstrate topical authority,” says Sheraz Ali, Founder at HARO Link Building Agency. “If your brand ranks fifth on Google and is included in five high-authority media citations, you will beat a brand that ranks first on Google and has limited media citations.
Start by identifying where your competitors are being mentioned, then aim to show up in the same places. This could mean guest posts, digital PR, or simply contributing useful insights in industry forums.
These external signals (brand mentions, citations, and backlinks) help build trust. And in GEO, trustworthiness is what gets you included.
Do This Today
Find two or three industry publications or forums where your competitors are mentioned, but you aren’t. Add them to a target list for guest posts or commentary and note the editor or submission process for each.
5. Make sure your brand signals match
Many companies promote themselves across the web, but their messaging doesn’t always match. This creates a credibility gap that quietly kills their chances of being cited: AI can’t confidently summarize a brand that can’t summarize itself.
If your social media says “AI-powered payments” and your website says “smart payment infrastructure,” AI sees two different companies. Unlike section 4, which is about where you show up, this is about what those appearances say when you get there.
AI doesn’t just need to know your brand exists. It needs to understand what your brand stands for.
Do This Today
Google your brand name and audit the top results. Check that your website, LinkedIn, and any third-party profiles (like forums) all describe you the same way.
6. Keep track of your results – and tweak
Tracking metrics can be daunting, especially with all the complex tools that are on the market, but you only need to keep track of the basics. We recommend doing this every month.
Ask yourself these two simple questions:
- Are we showing up more often in AI answers?
- Which sources are our competitors still dominating for our key search terms?
Use the answers to determine what you do next. If you’re getting more visible, then double down on what you’re doing. If not, then go back to Step 1 and refine your approach.
GEO can be powerful, but it’s an ongoing mechanism that you’ll need to keep on top of.
Do This Today
Set a process to re-run your key prompts in ChatGPT and other LLMs, or use a tool that helps you automate this process. Are you appearing more? Less? Let the answer drive your next move.
Follow these six steps, and you’re well on your way to true multi-engine optimization.
Start Building Your AI Visibility Layer Right Now With Mint Position
Most SEO strategies are now outdated. They still assume that people will click through Google’s first page to get their information.
This is not the case. They now ask generative AI instead and go with one of the options that shows up. If your brand isn’t there, then you won’t be in the conversation.
The upside? If you’re figuring out how to build a GEO strategy from scratch, you don’t need a lot of time – you simply need to start building momentum.
As a GEO agency built for this search shift, Mint Position is perfectly placed to give you this early-mover advantage. Already, we’ve helped businesses feature in ChatGPT and Gemini answers by combining advanced SEO with a citation-driven generative AI strategy – we call this approach SEO 2.0.
SEO got you into traditional search engines. GEO gets you into the AI answer. Get both with Mint Position.
Ready to see how SEO 2.0 can help your brand grow? Sign up for Mint Position’s GEO Audit and take the first step toward appearing in AI search results.
