How to Optimize for GEO in 5 Steps

This Week

I’m heading out soon for a three-week trip, and for months now, every time I pack, I’ve had the same annoying thought: I still haven’t replaced that charger.

It was one of those small, perfect gadgets that charged all my devices — phone, watch, headphones — from a single outlet and zipped up into the tiniest portable case. I lost it ages ago and haven’t been able to track down the same one since.

I’ve looked on Amazon, Instagram. I was desperate enough to try Temu. Nothing was the same. They were all too bulky, had the wrong ports, or shipped in six weeks from a warehouse that might not exist.

Then this week, while working on this newsletter, I remembered something.
I have access to ChatGPT’s Agent Mode.

So I gave it a task: Find a charger that matches the one I lost.

And then I forgot about it.

Thirty minutes later, it dropped five options in the chat with prices, links, pros and cons, and photos. One of them was perfect. I ordered it. Done.

Instead of spending hours scrolling through product listings my AI agent did the work for me.

That’s what this week’s issue is about:

• What Google’s AI Mode means for brands

• What happens when humans stop searching the web

• A checklist to get your content into AI answers

• A 20-minute SEO audit that will save you thousands

• And why we’ve entered the age of AI wizards

Read on.

The Age of AI Wizards is Here

AI is getting better, but your control over it isn’t.

That’s the tension Wharton professor, Ethan Mollick explores in his latest post. He argues that we’ve entered a new phase: one where AI produces remarkable results from vague prompts, but gives you no visibility into how it got there.

It’s not collaboration anymore. It’s conjuring.

Mollick puts it this way, “We’re shifting from being collaborators who shape the process to being supplicants who receive the output.”

So how do we work with systems we no longer fully understand?

Mollick suggests three things:

1. Know when to summon the wizard.
   Some tasks still benefit from a human touch. Others work best with a collaborative back-and-forth. But increasingly, there are moments when it’s smarter to just trust what the AI gives you and move on.
   

2. Become a connoisseur of output.
   Forget how it was made and focus on how to judge it. With enough experience, you start to develop a feel for what’s right, what’s off, and what’s worth using.
   

3. Embrace provisional trust.
   Don’t ask, “Is this perfect?” Ask, “Is this useful enough for this purpose?” That’s the mindset shift we’ll need as verification becomes harder and speed becomes the advantage.

The more advanced these tools get, the less we’ll be able to trace their steps, but if we learn when to use them (and how to trust what they give us) the magic is worth a little mystery.

Welcome to the age of wizards.

You can read Mollick’s full blog post here.

What Google’s AI Mode Means for Travel Brands

Travelers aren’t searching the way they used to.

A new study from Propellic and its partners reveals just how much has changed and how Google’s AI Mode is changing the entire decision-making process.

Here’s what they uncovered:

• Owner-direct bookings are gaining ground as OTAs get bypassed.

• Google Business Profiles are now the first stop, functioning like storefronts above the fold.

• Travelers spend 3x more time planning than booking, which changes when and where decisions get made.

• Inline links dominate attention, pushing traditional SEO tactics to the margins.

• AI answers are trusted, and that trust flows directly to brands.

• Keywords are fading, as AI conversations take their place.

And this doesn’t just apply to travel brands. If you’re trying to drive traffic to your website, then all of these trends will impact the way buyers find you. 

If you want to see how people are using AI to make travel decisions you can check out the webinar on demand or read the full report here. It’s well worth a read.

Can ChatGPT Replace Your SEO Team? I Tested It.

Can AI really replace a full SEO audit?

I decided to find out. I used ChatGPT’s Deep Research to run a complete site audit from start to finish, in under 20 minutes. The results were on par with what I’d expect from a consultant or agency.

So I turned it into a full walkthrough video. In it, you’ll see:

• The prompt I used to run the audit

• A side-by-side comparison of ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini’s Deep Research

• Where each tool delivered and where they didn’t

• Quick SEO wins you can implement immediately

• How to improve your chances of ranking in LLMs like ChatGPT

If you want to optimize your site without burning a weekend or hiring an agency, this is a solid starting point.

👉 Watch the full video on YouTube

And if you want the prompt I used, just hit reply — I’ll send it your way.

How to Optimize for GEO in 5 Steps

If your brand isn’t showing up in AI-generated answers, here’s what might be going on.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is starting to matter just as much as traditional SEO but it plays by different rules.

Large Language Models like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini don’t rely on metadata the way Google Search does. Instead, they surface content that’s public, well-structured, and frequently referenced.

So if you want your brand to appear in AI responses, you’ll need to optimize for how these models retrieve and rank information.

Here’s a quick 15-minute audit to see how your brand is doing:

1. Search for your brand in LLMs
Ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini a question your customer might ask. Is your brand mentioned in the response? Is it cited or linked? If not, your content either isn’t being picked up, or isn’t trusted enough to appear.

To fix it:

• Publish public, useful content on high-authority domains (your site, Medium, YouTube, etc.)

• Use your brand name in content that clearly connects it to a category or solution

• Get mentioned by other credible sources — more on that below

2. Check if your content answers real questions
Review your site and blog content. Does it answer the kinds of questions a potential customer would search?

Think beyond product features, focus on decision-making questions like:

• “What’s the best [solution] for [specific need]?”

• “How does [product type] compare to [alternative]?”

• “What should I know before booking [type of service]?”

Your answers should be direct, written in plain English, and backed by details. Prioritize clarity over copywriting.

3. Review your brand’s presence outside your own site
Search your brand name in Google News, Reddit, Quora, and relevant industry forums.

If there’s no mention of your brand outside your owned channels, LLMs may not trust or surface it.

To fix it:

• Pitch stories to niche blogs, podcasts, or newsletters

• Publish helpful comments or answers in Reddit threads and forums

• Collaborate with others in your space to create content that links across domains

4. Update your Google Business Profile (GBP)
If your business has a physical location or serves specific regions, your Google Business Profile matters. Make sure it includes:

• High-quality, recent photos

• Keyword-rich, descriptive reviews

• A clear, complete business description

• Up-to-date hours and location info

LLMs often pull from GBP listings when answering local queries.

5. Use schema and structured data
Add schema markup to your site’s most important pages, such as FAQs, product pages, service descriptions, reviews.

This helps both search engines and LLMs understand your content more precisely and extract usable information.

Want a checklist tailored to your business?

Drop this prompt into your LLM of choice:

"Act as an SEO strategist. Create a GEO audit checklist for a business in [insert your industry] that wants to show up in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other LLMs. Include action items across content, third-party citations, structured data, and local visibility."

The Web is Still Being Searched, Just Not by People

Need a new pair of running shoes?

Instead of scrolling through ads and clicking around, you’ll just tell your AI agent what you want. It’ll compare reviews, scan prices, check return policies, and order them, all without you lifting a finger.

Earlier this year, OpenAI launched Operator, its first autonomous agent and now paid users can access it right in the chat window. It can search the web, compare options, and place orders from a single prompt. Other platforms like Perplexity and Google are building toward the same thing. Which means the way people find products and make decisions online is changing. 

As AI takes over more of the early-stage research, people will visit fewer websites. Instead, their agent becomes the filter — curating a shortlist of trusted, relevant options.

Welcome to the Agent Attention Economy.

“The agentic Web is going to change everything,” says Jun Wang, a professor of computer science at University College London. He predicts we’ll rely on agents to navigate the web for us and brands will be competing to get their content in front of those agents, not just people.

When AI is the one doing the browsing, your website schema needs to be buttoned up (think site speed, structured data and clean content architecture). That’s what determines whether your brand makes it into the agent’s context window… or gets ignored.

And with ChatGPT’s user agent activity doubling in just the last two months, that window is getting more competitive by the day.

If your site is slow-loading or poorly structured, it means you might never make it past your prospect’s AI filter.

Want to Level Up Your AI Game?

If your team is ready for a hands-on AI strategy session, my custom-designed workshops are built to uncover the workflows that can save you hours every week.

Prefer to start small? My YouTube channel is packed with quick, practical “how-to” videos that show you exactly how I use AI tools for marketing, content, and automation.

Planning an event or conference? I deliver high-energy AI sessions that engage audiences and leave them with actionable strategies they’ll talk about long after the event. Book me for your event here.