AI is quickly changing the way people find and interpret information. Buyers are no longer relying only on search engines, websites, analyst reports or peer recommendations to understand a market. Increasingly, they are asking AI tools to explain categories, compare vendors, summarise options and make sense of complex technology decisions.
For CMOs, this creates a new visibility challenge. A brand may rank well in search and have a clear message on its own website, but still be missed, misunderstood or misrepresented when buyers ask AI tools about the problems it solves.
Generative Engine Optimisation, or GEO, is therefore starting to earn its place in marketing conversations. However, treating it as the new SEO limits its value. GEO is about brand clarity, credibility and consistency across the sources AI systems use to build their answers.
AI changes where influence happens
B2B buyers rarely form an opinion from one source. They take signals from peers, analysts, media coverage, vendor websites and the wider way a category is discussed. AI brings many of these signals together, which means it can shape how a brand is understood.
That influence can begin long before a buyer reaches a company website. If a brand is missing from AI-generated answers, described poorly or placed in the wrong category, the company may never know that an opportunity was lost. It simply fails to make the shortlist.
Marketing teams need to look beyond campaign performance alone. They need to understand how their market is being represented, which competitors are appearing, and whether their brand is being connected to the right problems, proof points and capabilities.
Consistency becomes harder to ignore
AI systems draw on more than a company website. They use public information, media coverage, third-party references, structured data, reviews, executive profiles and the language other people use to describe a business.
This is where earned influence has a clear role to play. Media coverage, analyst commentary, executive visibility and third-party validation help shape how a market talks about a company. If those signals are weak, inconsistent or out of date, AI tools have less reliable information to draw from.
If a company explains its value in one way on its website, appears differently in media coverage and uses inconsistent messaging across content, AI tools have less clarity to work with. This can lead to confusion, outdated positioning or competitor comparisons that do not reflect the company’s current strategy.
For marketers, GEO should therefore sit close to brand, content, PR and demand generation. It is a practical way to test whether the market can understand the brand quickly and whether there is enough credible evidence to support the story the business wants to tell.
Marketers need to ask better questions
A useful starting point is to look at what AI tools already say. Does the brand appear when buyers ask about the category? Is it described accurately? Which competitors are mentioned more often? What proof points are repeated? Which sources appear to influence the answer?
These questions can show where the brand is strong, where it is invisible and where the market may be forming an opinion that does not match the company’s ambition. They can also help marketers identify where sharper thought leadership, clearer website content, stronger media coverage or more consistent executive messaging is needed.
The brands that perform well in AI-shaped buying journeys will not necessarily be those with the most content. They will be the ones that buyers can understand quickly, verify easily and trust enough to consider. GEO is becoming a practical test of that visibility.
For CMOs, the opportunity is to look now, while the discipline is still forming. AI is already changing how buyers learn, compare and shortlist. The priority is making sure it tells the right story about the brand.
For PR and communications teams, this is a reminder that visibility is no longer only about being seen in the right places. It is about building the market signals that help a brand be recognised, understood and trusted wherever buyers turn for answers. The stronger and more consistent those signals are, the more likely AI is to reflect the story the business wants to tell.
If you want to understand how your brand stacks up in GEO, get in touch and we can help you see what AI is already saying.