AI search has grown at a faster rate than any other technology in history. It took two months for ChatGPT to reach 100 million users. For comparison, it took TikTok nine months and Instagram 2.5 years to reach the same milestone. Adoption of ChatGPT outpaces the rate of consumer adoption of smartphones and 5G mobile networks; both considered table stakes in everyday life for many countries today.
However, traditional search is still the dominant form of search despite AI search’s impressive and explosive growth. While the true “share of search” numbers vary depending on the study and how “search” is defined, it is generally agreed that Google Search still makes up 80%+ of digital queries today. The remaining 20% consists of ChatGPT (~9% and growing fast), other search engines and AI-driven platforms, YouTube, TikTok, and Reddit. Google processes roughly 14 billion searches per day versus ChatGPT’s ~66 million “search-like” prompts per day.
Enter the debate around SEO vs. GEO: do you need both? Do you only need GEO? Is SEO dead?
The Case for SEO and GEO
TLDR - Yes, you need both. No, GEO isn’t the only search-driven optimization brands need. And no, SEO is not dead.
First and foremost, GEO needs to be a priority for brands going forward. This is something the marketing and communications industry can agree on. There needs to be strategy, monitoring, optimization, and measurement in place to make the most of this channel. But this shouldn’t be at the expense of SEO. The focus of each of these search platforms is different, and complementary, within the marketing and communications ecosystem.
• SEO is fundamentally about being found.
• GEO is fundamentally about being referenced.
SEO catches intent. GEO shapes it. Brands need both pathways working in tandem because users move fluidly between search modes depending on what they need in the moment.
Why SEO Still Matters
While it’s true that the rise of zero-click search has caused organic search traffic to plummet, being found in search results is still business-critical for driving traffic that leads to conversions. Even if fewer clicks happen during the discovery phase, high intent moments still rely heavily on organic visibility. AI overviews will minimize the organic clicks that occur during a user’s discovery phase, but when users are ready to narrow their consideration set and make final decisions on products and services, SEO will help brands ensure they are found in that moment. SEO will continue to focus on driving traffic, especially during high-intent-to-convert moments.
In short, SEO is even more important than ever before at the bottom of the funnel. Without it, brands will miss opportunities to convert users, especially in highly competitive categories.
In the current environment, LLMs are using search engines as one way to source information quickly. If you’re not showing up in traditional search results, you run the risk of not being pulled into LLM answers. It’s also worth noting that AI companies want to reduce dependency on traditional search engine results in LLMs, so this is a trend to watch overtime.
SEO is still the backbone of discoverability, even in an AI-first ecosystem.
Why GEO is Rising in Importance
Search has historically been one of the most trusted channels for consumers and has consistently shown up across Edelman’s trust work over the years. GEO shifts the search focus from traffic as the end goal to trust as the end goal. GEO is concept-focused, not keyword-focused. Sixty percent of searches end without a click, and 73% of consumers globally trust content created by generative AI (Source: Bain & Company; Gartner, 2025). As a result, LLMs have a unique (and sometimes unchecked) ability to shape user opinions and perceptions about any given topic or product with a single answer to a prompt.
The aggregation of information across many sources creates a cultural consensus that acts as a proxy for trust and confidence in an LLM-provided answer. Brands have an opportunity to shape their own narrative by doing two things consistently:
- Publishing credible, high-quality owned content
- Earning frequent mentions in authoritative and trusted third-party publications (e.g., being recommended by name from a 3rd party or being cited through evidence based content)
Building this credibility loop between a brand’s owned content and its presence in third-party content ultimately fuels the trust and credibility required to raise visibility in LLMs. Where brands can be more visible in LLMs, they can better control reputation, influence perception, remain culturally relevant, and generate more opportunities to drive preference.
The New Path from Search to Sale
All forms of search (i.e., traditional search, AI search, even social search) strategically remain key sales-driving channels for brands. Shopping integrations into searchable channels (Google shopping, TikTok Shop, Instagram Shop, Product Pins on Pinterest) aren’t new and are a natural progression for LLMs.
As it stands today, ChatGPT leads the way in ecommerce integration into LLM answers. You can ask for the best cake recipe and you’ll first receive the recipe in the first part of the answer, then as the LLM thinks further, a second part of the answer will populate with product suggestions and retailer landing page links to purchase (or if you’re Etsy or a built-in app, you can check out right in ChatGPT).
GEO is still about trust over traffic, even in a sales or high-intent-to-convert moment. There are two parts to the ecommerce answers today–the first is the answer to your prompted question, the second is the product listing and recommendation. While actual algorithmic decisions in ChatGPT are not known because they are proprietary, it appears in many cases LLMs are using the information from the first part of the answer to find and recommend the products that appear in the second part of the answer. That said, being referenced by highly credible, trusted sources is a key foundational component to getting the coveted product spot in the second portion of the answer. It all connects back to the content that is seen as the trusted authority for the original question.
Steps for Navigating AI Search
PR and communications will matter more than ever for brand visibility. Generative engines pull from trusted, authoritative sources, so getting mentioned in solid news, trade, or analyst outlets becomes a real advantage. Every credible quote or mention helps models learn who you are and why you’re an expert, making sure your brand shows up in the right conversations.
And interestingly, that also means PR now has a new kind of impact on sales in LLM-driven environments. The way to get referenced or recommended in LLM ecommerce answers (at least as it stands today) is through credibility and authority, which is exactly what PR and comms are built to deliver.
Amidst continuously evolving models there are a few grounding principles:
- No one has it 100% figured out; be comfortable with that. The pace at which updates to LLM algorithms occur is unprecedented. Once you figure something out, a new update comes out and pivots what you thought you knew.
- Pattern over perfection (for now). LLMs reward repetition. Consistency seems to have a stronger link to credibility than factual accuracy does (for better or worse). Consistency in publishing factually accurate information to shape the narrative will be important.
- Don’t spam the algorithms. There’s a growing wave of “AI visibility hacks” promising guaranteed LLM mentions. They’ll fade as models get smarter.
- Build trust to win visibility. Scaling trust can be slow, but the authoritative impact is worth it. The brands winning today didn’t hack their way in; they earned authority through clarity, transparency, and real expertise.
- Like SEO, technical markup is still a key driver. The need for strong technical foundation is still key to discovery. Algorithm readability and content formats that are easy to decipher are still part of the visibility game.
- Be willing to invest in pilots and testing. You don’t know until you try. Brands willing to experiment and pursue educated trial and error will succeed faster than those who do nothing hope for the best.
The brands that build durable signals of trust will rise above the noise.
Bringing it All Together
In the end, GEO hasn’t replaced SEO. It has expanded what it means to be discoverable.
GEO builds trust; SEO builds traffic. One earns belief that can turn to action. The other captures intent and drives it forward. Both are critical, and neither should operate in isolation.
The most forward-thinking brands won’t see GEO and SEO as competing priorities. They’ll treat them as interconnected levers of visibility, working together to help people find, believe and choose them.
As LLMs reshape how people search and grow in importance, brands need to actively audit, monitor, and test their LLM search strategies or risk falling behind. At the same time, traditional search remains essential to driving business results, and in many cases, these approaches are now intertwined. Google, for example, is increasingly blending LLM-powered and traditional search elements in a single experience. At its core, the next era of search belongs to brands that master both visibility and credibility. Being found still matters. Being trusted matters even more. The strongest strategies do both.
Meredith Nelson is an Executive Vice President, Performance Intelligence at Edelman Data & Intelligence (DXI).
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