What’s the deal with GEO?
Think about the last time you needed an answer to something. What did you do?
Did you Google it, and pick the best looking blue link? Or did you open a GPT, ask a question, and get a single perfect answer? If you did the latter, you're not alone. You're just early. By 2026, it’s predicted that global traditional search activity will have dropped by a quarter as people increasingly shift to GPT use over traditional search.
Not much of a difference though, right? Wrong. Big difference, huge. To try and understand what that difference means to you, it’s probably easiest to put it in the context of a direct comparison.
GEO vs SEO
If you used a traditional search engine, SEO helped decide what answers to show you, then it handed control right back to you.
If you used a GPT, GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) told you the answer. Not a few different thoughts. Not some paid-for placements. Not 1,045,673 results in 0.45 seconds. One answer in about 12 seconds. The answer.
SEO was about getting you onto a list. GEO is about becoming the answer.
SEO was all about backlinks, domain authority, canonicals, crawlability, web vitals. Yes, we agree. Total snoozefest.
GEO is about meaning. It’s about authority. It’s about trust. It’s about narrative.
GEO, isn’t that just a fancy term for SEO?
No it’s not. If it was, we wouldn’t care. We’re called Story Shop, not Borey Shop (Snorey Shop also works here).
With SEO, if you were lucky enough to get a link to position three on Google, you still had a chance. With GEO, there is no position three. There is only, the answer.
GEO doesn’t just give searchers information, it forms their opinion. It delivers your brand’s first impression in a single paragraph. If you don’t control and own that paragraph, you’ve lost control of your brand’s first impression.
This isn’t about a technical race for clicks. It’s a strategic battle for influence.
What should my PR agency be doing about it?
Fantastic question, Jamie. Again, a comparison is probably the easiest way to think about it.
Your SEO agency should still be obsessed with technicals. They’re not trained to build a narrative.
Your digital agency should still be obsessed with view-through rates and ad spend. They aren’t trained to build trust.
Your PR agency, however, should be grabbing the GEO bull by the horns. Running at it. Launching themselves two-footed into it. When it comes to narrative, authority, conversation-joining, it’s what they are all about. It’s actually what they’re built for.
That’s what Story Shop is doing anyway. Last week, we hosted a special Talking Shop breakfast seminar on GEO and it went down a treat with some of our clients and industry friends.
We see trends, fads, and acronyms come and go all the time. But this isn’t that. It’s a game changer for the entire industry. It’s a fundamental change in the way the world finds information. It’s the single biggest opportunity (and threat ☠️) to your brand in the next decade. It’s time to take action.
What now?
Ask your agency what they are doing for your GEO. If you don’t like their answer, we’re here on hello@wearestoryshop.com.
