GEO Is Just SEO: How Brands Really Get Into AI Answers
SEO expert Sedat Pehlivantürk proves through live testing that AI search visibility still relies on traditional SEO and entity optimization.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is fundamentally traditional SEO in disguise.
- AI assistants must perform a live search before generating any user answers.
- Building a robust entity layer is essential for brands to be correctly recommended.
Over the past year, generative engine optimization has been marketed as an entirely revolutionary discipline, complete with new file formats and hidden tricks designed to convince artificial intelligence systems. However, looking at the landscape from an SEO perspective reveals a different reality: AI assistants execute a standard search query prior to drafting any response, meaning visibility within a searchable ecosystem still heavily depends on search engine optimization.
This perspective is backed by official guidance published by Google, which explicitly states that optimizing for generative AI search remains fundamentally tied to SEO. This article explores the underlying mechanisms through a personal test conducted by the author, focusing on the critical layer that ultimately determines the outcome: the entity layer.
Language models can comprehend a brand through strictly limited pathways. A common question among creators is whether chatting directly with a chatbot about a brand will lead to automatic recommendations for other users. The answer is negative, as conversational inputs remain siloed within individual chat sessions and are never transmitted outward to other users.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
For emerging or smaller brands, the sole realistic pathway to visibility relies on live search mechanisms. Prior to generating a response, AI assistants execute search queries mirroring human behavior. Google has openly confirmed that features like AI Overviews and AI Mode are anchored in its core ranking systems, breaking complex inquiries down into smaller background searches through a process known as query fan-out.
Query fan-out presents a strategic opportunity for marketers, shifting the focus away from dominating primary high-volume keywords toward capturing niche sub-queries where smaller brands can still earn citations from AI systems.
Being discovered alone is insufficient for brand recommendation; the AI system must accurately identify the entity in question. The author tested this dynamic using his own name following the launch of his personal website, querying three distinct AI assistants to identify Sedat Pehlivantürk.
"Leaving the door open is not enough; the bot has to come in and add you to its index."
Sedat Pehlivantürk
The experiment yielded stark differences. Perplexity suffered from entity confusion due to prominent social media profiles misaligning with his identity, whereas ChatGPT and Gemini successfully cross-referenced his site with professional association contributions. Cloudflare crawler reports confirmed that sites welcoming bots into their index achieved accurate entity recognition, reinforcing that classic discoverability and link-building remain paramount.
Ultimately, achieving visibility and securing recommendations remain exercises in SEO and entity establishment. While autonomous agents interacting with websites represent a separate technical frontier, foundational optimization ensures that modern AI systems can successfully discover and recognize your brand.
Source: Dev.to
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