SEO Expert: Great SEO Is Good Business, But Many Are Missing It
▼ Summary
– Great SEO and good GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) are fundamentally the same if done well, as both require content that addresses user intent and builds topical authority.
– A key difference is that LLMs evaluate and extract specific, self-contained passages of content, whereas traditional Google ranking more holistically considers entire pages and sites.
– To be cited by an LLM, content must represent a verifiable consensus and also contain uniquely attributable “golden knowledge,” such as original data or proof-backed opinions.
– A common SEO mistake is creating pages with unclear topical focus or “drift,” which dilutes meaning and makes content less citable for both search engines and AI systems.
– The recommended strategy is to prioritize excellent, foundational SEO practices, like creating authoritative, data-driven content, which naturally prepares a site for future GEO success.
The core principles of exceptional search engine optimization naturally align with the demands of generative engine optimization. The fundamental goal remains connecting a user’s intent with the content that best satisfies it, whether the answer comes from a traditional search results page or an AI-generated summary. This alignment means that strategies built on genuine authority and value are more resilient than ever. To explore the nuances between SEO and GEO, we spoke with industry veteran Grant Simmons, who brings over three decades of experience in building brand growth through meaning and topical authority.
Simmons emphasizes that the overlap is significant for those executing strategy correctly. “Great SEO was always about building topical authority,” he notes. Both search engines and large language models must grasp the underlying meaning of content to serve the best possible answer to a query or prompt. The divergence lies in content evaluation. While Google historically ranks entire pages and sites, LLMs often operate at a more granular, passage-based level, seeking easily extractable, semantically valuable information. Simmons also stresses that a holistic marketing approach, encompassing social media, public relations, and consistent brand messaging, is crucial. This comprehensive visibility directly influences how AI systems perceive and represent a brand.
A key to appearing in AI-generated responses lies in understanding how these systems vet information. Simmons points to Google’s patents describing two interconnected systems. The first is a response confidence engine that checks for consensus, determining if information is corroborated across multiple sources. “The consensus generally wins out,” Simmons explains. The second, a linkifying engine, then decides if a specific, verifiable “chunklet” of information within that passage can be linked to a source. Earning a citation requires your content to be both part of the established consensus and uniquely attributable.
The type of content that achieves this is what Simmons calls “golden knowledge.” This is unique, data-driven content backed by original research, proof, or a well-supported opinion. However, a critical balance must be struck. The insight must be distinctive enough to stand out, yet still align with broader consensus so other sources can validate it. Content that merely repeats common knowledge won’t gain traction, while wildly unsupported claims won’t pass the confidence threshold. The winning formula combines originality with verifiable credibility.
A common strategic error Simmons observes is a lack of topical focus. Many SEOs inherit sites and tweak surface elements like titles and headers without addressing core “drift”, where a page unintentionally covers too many topics. “Cleaning out those outliers… is essentially diffusing what the page means,” he states. A page designed to satisfy a specific intent has a clear “path to satisfaction” for the user. This sharp focus is not just good SEO; it makes content more citable for AI systems looking for self-contained, authoritative passages.
Looking ahead, Simmons advises a pragmatic, foundational approach. “LLM traffic is so small today that optimizing for LLMs is important for the future but not for today’s metrics,” he recommends. The immediate strategy should be to double down on achieving great SEO, improving content quality, building topical authority, and employing data-driven digital PR. By excelling in these areas, you inherently build the assets that perform well in both traditional search and emerging AI interfaces. The ultimate goal is to create content of such high caliber that it becomes indispensable.
(Source: Search Engine Journal)
