If you’re in charge of your business website, have you noticed a decrease in site visits? We have. Chatting with our development team, I learned we are not alone. Other sites, including Wikipedia and Microsoft, are also seeing huge dropoffs in site visitors – and they are major players. What’s behind this radical shift in behavior? If you said AI, you’re on the right track. It’s Generative Engine Optimization, GEO. Most of us have spent time learning about Search Engine Optimization (SEO), but the new piece of the puzzle—GEO—is just as important. Knowing the difference, and using both effectively, is how you hold onto your audience and keep your business growing.
What’s the difference between SEO and GEO, and why should you—someone running a recruitment firm—care about it?
Is SEO still needed for visibility?
Most of us are familiar with SEO and its ability to organically improve our search results. That has not changed and is still needed. We’ve spent time figuring out the keywords and phrases that people associate with our businesses and have incorporated those into on-page content to help ensure that our sites show up near the top of search engine results.
At its core, SEO is about showing Google (and all the other search engines) that your website deserves to be front and center when people are searching for these bigger, often national keywords. I’m talking about being seen as trustworthy and knowledgeable—like the expert you are. To get that recognition, you need a solid SEO game plan, which looks like this:
- Keyword research: This just means figuring out what words and phrases your ideal clients and candidates are actually typing into Google. These are the terms you want your site to be associated with.
- On-page optimization: Adding those keywords to your website content naturally—whether it’s your main service pages or that latest blog post. The goal is to make sure your site answers the questions people are asking.
- Technical SEO: Here, you want your website to run smoothly—pages load fast, everything looks good on mobile, and there aren’t any confusing dead-ends. Search engines appreciate a site that works as well as it looks.
With a strong SEO foundation, you’re setting yourself up to be seen by a much wider audience—people searching for your expertise no matter where they are.
How can recruitment firms stand out in the age of GEO?
The rules of online visibility are changing fast, and Generative Engine Optimization is quickly becoming a game-changer. Instead of just thinking about how you show up on Google’s traditional search results, GEO is all about making sure your content is surfaced by generative AI engines, like the ones powering ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Microsoft Copilot. These platforms don’t just show links; they generate answers, recommendations, and summaries for users—pulling from a wide range of online content. This is the content that you see “generated” as an “AI summary” at the top of Google. A lot of AI summaries don’t include *any* reference to a particular website, so even if it using YOUR content to create the summary, the user doesn’t know that and doesn’t have a way to find your site. Some summaries *do* include a link, but if the summary is detailed enough, users still may not click through. It’s a bit of a double-edged sword at the moment.
For recruitment firms, this means you need to optimize your web content so it’s easy for these AI systems to understand, trust, and reference. Here’s what that looks like in practice:
- Clear, Authoritative Content: Write content that answers common conversational questions candidates and clients are asking—think, “What should I look for in a top sales recruiter?” or “How do I prepare for a tech interview?” The more helpful and direct your answers, the more likely generative engines are to pull from your content. Create question-and-answer based content.
- Structured Data: Make sure your website uses headers, FAQs, and clear formatting. AI models love well-organized information, as it helps them quickly pinpoint relevant details.
- Credibility Signals: Highlight client testimonials, industry certifications, and real-world success stories. Generative engines value trusted sources, so anything that boosts your reputation should be front and center.
- Consistent Updates: AI platforms prioritize fresh information. Keep your blog, FAQ, and service pages up to date so your expertise remains front of mind—for both users and the engines themselves.
GEO is how you ensure your firm is part of the digital conversation as search habits evolve. You’re not just relying on being found in a list of links; you’re aiming to have your content featured in the actual answers and recommendations these AI tools provide. That’s how you stay relevant, trusted, and top-of-mind for both candidates and clients as the web continues to change.
What’s the best way to improve generative engine optimization?
I know enough about GEO to be dangerous, but not enough to feel confident about where to get the most reward for my efforts. I asked Microsoft Copilot to help me figure out where to start, and here are the three areas that I can focus on in the short-term with existing resources:
- Ensure new content is built in Q&A format, with clear steps, FAQs, etc.
- Revisit existing content from top-performing pages to apply those same principles
- Create a strong corporate presence on sites like Google Business
GEO is about making content easy to understand, trustworthy, and quotable so that AI engines will reference that content in the summaries they generate. Combining this focus with a strong SEO foundation will be the key to consistent audience reach moving forward.