I keep seeing discussions on Twitter and LinkedIn about GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) like it is some brand new discipline that requires throwing out everything we knew about SEO. People are creating frameworks and courses and acting like the entire game changed overnight. The reality is simpler than that—the core is still SEO, and if you understand the fundamentals you already have most of what you need.
The actual change since the release of ChatGPT in late 2022 is the way that Google processes and delivers information. With each update, the algorithm is growing increasingly more machine, increasingly AI-integrated. However, the basics of on-page optimization, the speed of the site, the ability to be crawled and the quality of the content all the same is just as it used to be. The river is now running somewhat in another direction and I am going to run with it instead of going against it.
Google Is Not Going Anywhere
By now, I have heard the argument of Google is dying at least a hundred times, and there is something obvious that is missing. And what did they base their browser on when OpenAI finally released their browser product? Chromium. It is the open-source browser project by Google. It is still supplying the underlying infrastructure upon which competitors construct their companies that everyone keeps saying is going to be replaced.
Google has dominated the search, the browsers market, the most commonly used mobile operating system, and now they are even embedding AI into the search ranking. You like it or you hate it, but the thing is that this is the field we have to play anyway. You can go paid or you can go organic and then, by going organic, it means SEO, whatever people would like to prepend it this year.
What Visibility Actually Depends On Now
This subject becomes tricky too soon due to the fact that there are several aspects of visibility that can differ when it comes to a running informational site, an offline business, an online store, and so on. However, I have been observing some things that are apparently more important than they were before, and some things which people say are dying which certainly are not.
Topical Authority Is No Longer an Option
To be competitive in anything, you must prove that you know your content and not just write one article that uses a keyword. The algorithm used by Google has become more effective in assessing the level of true knowledge of a subject by the web site or just the superficial information posted to appeal to search traffic.
This is applicable to the informational sites, but also the business sites, which would like to be ranked with anything in their industry. A plumbing firm with extensive guides on water heaters, pipe materials, local building code, maintenance seasonal- that site develops topical authority which competitors with service-only sites cannot have.
The algorithm is no longer examining your content as a single page vying with the page against specific keywords.
Link Building Is Not Dead (Don’t Believe anybody who tells you so)
Someone can write a post at a time that states that link building is no longer important and it can be spread like water within a few months as the ark. Personally I believe that those who say this are mostly making an attempt to save money or the person simply never learned how to create links in the efficient way to start with.
My motto has never been any different since SEO is the car and links are the fuel. It is possible to have the most optimized site, which has amazing content but lacks authority cues to it, you are fighting with one hand behind your back.
The only change is the kind of links that move the needle. The former method of acquiring guest posts on unrelated blogs with perfectly matching anchor text forced into the body of the post- that still works to a certain extent but the gains are dwindling. What it is more effective now is mentioning the brands and making contextual references which make sense in the context.
The following is an illustration of what I am talking about. Imagine you are a dermatologist in Los Angeles and you need to develop authority. The traditional way would involve securing a guest blogging spot in some health blog with anchor text such as best dermatologist Los Angeles back to your site. That is precisely what it is a manufactured link to promote SEO.
Some of the publications having the new approach mentioned include an article on skincare trends published in the LA Times in which the journalist mentions you as an expert source. Presumably, they will be linked to your site, presumably, they simply mention the name and practice. Anyhow, that mention is not empty since it is a local publication, a legitimate one at that, which mentions you as a part of a natural editorial. The algorithm created at Google is able to distinguish between the artificial creation of link building and the presence of the brand being mentioned by the authoritative sources.
This does not imply that you give up on building links. It entails moving away to gain the mentions that appear as genuine references instead of SEO gambit.
Google Business Profile Is More than Ever
GMB (which it is now called Google Business Profile) was never irrelevant to local businesses, which is why I am now finding it to have greater direct ranking impact than previously. The relationship between your GBP indicators and your organic visibility appears to be getting closer by the day.
Reviews, response rate, frequency of posting, posting photos, Q and A activity all these engagement metrics on your profile feed directly translate into Google considering your local relevance and credibility. Companies that consider GBP as a second thought to be updated only when they feel like it are losing rankings.
Reddit Is Already Directly Switching Search Results
This was a big surprise to many SEOs, although the statistics cannot be denied at this stage. According to Lily Ray, an SEO strategist, the recent increase in the SEO visibility of Reddit.com has not been documented in the history of Google Search before, as Lily Ray mentioned that she had never witnessed this level of growth in SEO rankings, traffic, and visibility of a site within such a brief time span.
By April 2025 its traffic to 1.4 billion monthly visits and 450% more AI cites, increasing between March and June 2025. Some of this is due to Google entering into a $60 million deal per year contract with Reddit that gives Google the freedom to use the content of forums to train its AI products (Gemini).
Practically what it means is that you should be hitting the iron when it is hot. I listen to that opportunity when I encounter Reddit threads ranking on the queries that are in my niche. It does not imply flooding subreddits with advertisements – that will result in your being banned and hurting your brand. It entails being part in communities where you can be useful and bringing actual value and allowing such visibility to multiply over time.
When you have your brand mentioned in these discussions, or, more importantly, participating in them, then you are likely to be mentioned in a AI reply. That is one more visibility layer that you cannot overlook.
YouTube Is Becoming Everywhere Cited
YouTube, as a trending channel, needs to be your priority at the moment, in case you have a video content team or can create one. The gains in terms of visibility are high and the information supports this.
The most mentioned area of AI Overviews is YouTube with almost 30 percent of all cites as a study by BrightEdge found. At their Executive Growth Summit, Google itself stated that two of the most used sources in AI overviews were YouTube and Reddit.
Since January 2024, there has been a 25% increase in YouTube citations within AI Overviews. This growth is concentrated in specific content types:
- Instructional content is up 35.6% with how-to queries leading
- Visual demonstrations are up 32.5% for queries about techniques and style guides
- Verification and examples are up 22.5% for product comparisons and visual proof
The idea here is simple, make videos using keywords that you are aiming at in the title and optimize the descriptions and tags. YouTube is under Google ownership, and it is evident that Google will favor the use of its platform in AI-generated answers. Unless you are creating the video content that will answer the same queries that your written content is answering, you are not getting the visibility that will be consumed by your competitors instead.
Connection of Visibility and Reputation
Visibility without trust stalls out, and trust without visibility never gets discovered, which is why the importance of reputation and search performance rise together in real campaigns.
When your pages earn prominent placements — whether in traditional blue links, enhanced snippets, or AI summaries — users get a condensed first impression that either confirms confidence or raises questions. That impression is shaped by:
- The consistency of facts across your site and profiles
- The presence of credible sources that mention you
- The speed and clarity of your pages
- The quality of the reviews that users can scan
There’s also a practical measurement layer that binds reputation to reach. Modern reporting doesn’t stop at rankings and clicks; it watches where and how your brand appears inside synthesized answers, knowledge panels, and conversational results. That’s where AI results tracking fits into day-to-day work. It helps monitor AI-generated answer citations, check whether your content is being summarized correctly, and spot gaps where a stronger source, clearer schema, or better evidence could earn inclusion next time. Tools like aimodetracker.com make this kind of visibility tracking more accessible and actionable across emerging AI search interfaces.
The New Links are Brand Mentions
I find myself returning to this argument over and over again since it forms the largest change in my approach to the idea of gaining authority. The algorithm has become advanced to know about the mentions of a brand even when no hyperlink has been included.
As the crawlers of Google read the internet and discover that your business has been referenced in the local news sources, industry magazines, discussion forums, review sites, and social dialogues, that data is injected into what the algorithm perceives about your reputation and relevance. The more these mentions are invariably positive, the more Google considers you to be a valid answer to pertinent questions.
That is why I advise clients to cease thinking in terms of links only and begin to think about brand presence in the web. References in a topical context by an authoritative source are weighty with or without a link. It goes without saying that links are still useful, but the mention itself has become valuable now in a manner it could not be five years ago.
The AI Overview Reality
The percentage of AI Overviews presented in the search results increased and reached more than 50% by October 2025, starting with the appearance of 6.49%. That is an enormous change in the way Google provides information and this influences the click-through rates of traditional organic results.
However, I do not view this as something tragic to the majority of businesses. Wikipedia, YouTube, properties of Google itself, Reddit, and Amazon, with a resultant 38 percent of all citations, are the domains most often cited in AI Overviews. You are at an advantage of being mentioned or referred on these platforms as your brand has the visibility in the responses of AI.
Reddit accounts for 21% of AI citations with its discussions and up-to-date insights. YouTube contributes 18.8% through tutorials, reviews, and user-shared videos.
The winning strategy is not fighting against AI Overviews but positioning yourself to be cited within them. That means:
- Building presence on platforms that AI systems pull from (Reddit, YouTube, authoritative industry sites)
- Creating content that answers questions directly and comprehensively
- Earning brand mentions from sources the algorithm trusts
- Maintaining strong reputation signals that make you a credible source
What I Actually Focus On Now
If I had to summarize my current approach to SEO visibility, it comes down to a few priorities:
- Topical depth over keyword targeting. I would rather have 30 articles that comprehensively cover a topic than 100 thin articles each targeting a different long-tail keyword. The algorithm rewards demonstrated expertise.
- Brand mentions everywhere. Getting talked about on platforms Google trusts matters more than ever. This includes earning press coverage, participating in relevant Reddit communities, getting cited by industry publications, and building genuine word-of-mouth reputation.
- YouTube for any visual or instructional content. If a topic can be explained in video format, it probably should be. The AI citation rates for YouTube are too significant to ignore.
- GBP as a core channel for local businesses. Not an afterthought, not something you update quarterly, but an active channel that receives consistent attention and engagement.
- Links still matter but context matters more. A brand mention from LA Times without a link probably helps more than a followed link from a random guest post site nobody has heard of. Quality and relevance over raw link counts.
The fundamentals have not changed as much as the GEO crowd wants you to believe. What has changed is that Google can now evaluate reputation and authority with much more sophistication than before. If you build genuine expertise, earn real mentions, and create content people actually find valuable, the algorithm will figure that out. If you try to game the system with manufactured signals, the algorithm is getting better at figuring that out too.
