0:00
/ 0:00
Your website isn't broken. It's invisible.
If your content management system (CMS) can't speak to machines, your content won't just rank lower - it will disappear entirely from the digital conversation.
Psst! Get an early invite for an exclusive GEO webinar announcement.
Your audience isn't clicking - they're copy-pasting answers from AI
The way people search has changed. We've moved beyond the ten blue links on a search result page. People aren't scrolling results, but are trusting AI to give them the full answer.
At Optimizely, we have over 9,000 customers globally, and we’re watching this shift happen in real- time across industries and regions. Human traffic is steadily declining. For many sites, sessions are dropping anywhere between 10-30% YOY.
If you haven’t seen the dip in your Google Analytics yet, brace yourself - it’s coming. And while some referral sources are still holding strong, the trend line is clear: Your website has a new job. Fewer people are browsing your site the way they used to.
If your content isn't surfaced in that answer, you're not just missing clicks. You're missing your audience.
The traffic drop you can't explain
Your traffic tanked. Your rankings didn’t. So, what changed? The clicks are still out there. They're just not reaching your site. This isn't a dip in performance. It's a shift in control.
Here's what's really going on
-
You're still showing up...but not in the answer box.
-
AI tools are skipping your site and serving up your content without credit.
-
Your content is getting scraped and summarized before anyone ever clicks.
-
CTRs are down. Conversions are down. And it's not because your content isn't working.
Search used to lead to your site.
Now it ends with an AI summary.
If you’re not part of the summary, you’re not part of the decision.
GEO vs SEO: What's the difference?
SEOSearch engine optimization |
|
GEOGenerative engine optimization | |
Goal | Rank on traditional Search engine results pages (SERPs) | → | Appear as a trusted source in AI-generated answers (e.g. ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews) |
Metrics | Click through rate (CTR), keyword ranksings, organic sessions | → | Inclusion in AI summaries, brand citations in generative responses |
Optimization targets | Keywords, backlinks, metadata, page speed, UX | → | Structured content, brand trust signals, context clarity |
Typical formats | Long-form articles, landing pages, glossary articles, videos optimized for search | → | Structured Q&A, entity rich content, schema markup, knwoledge graphs |
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) can help your brand
-
Get seen by AI
-
Get scraped with proper structure
-
Get surfaced in summaries that drive decisions
Helpful GEO signals
-
Structured content
Schema, sections and markup built for LLMs -
Context-rich value
Answers that get picked up and cited -
Trust signals
Your brand name stays in the result, not stripped from it
How top brands are getting seen by AI
What smart digital leaders are doing, today
- Auditing key content assets to determine AI readiness
Reviewing top content to ensure it's structured, focused and easily understood by AI models - Rebuilding content structure with LLM-readability in mind
Breaking down content into clear, modular sections that AI can easily summarize and reuse. - Updating CMS strategy to feed the new AI discovery layer
Adapting CMS workflows to prioritize structured content, internal linking and semantic markup for AI visibility.
Why does this matter? In the era of generative search, visiblity isn't just about ranking - it's about being referenced, summarized and trusted by AI.
AI has fundamentally changed how people discover and engage with content. Our digital strategy, and how we measure success, has evolved just as quickly. We’re no longer just optimizing for clicks; we’re optimizing for visibility in the AI-driven world.
Michiel Dorjee
Director of Digital Experience, Optimizely
Trusted by 9,000+ businesses and millions of happy customers
So what's next?
You can’t out-hack the algorithm. But you can design for how AI thinks. Stop chasing clicks. Start owning AI. The clicks haven’t disappeared. They’ve just stopped going to websites that haven’t evolved.
Be where your audience is – inside the answer.