From SEO to GEO: When ChatGPT Replaces Google — How Businesses Can Get AI to Recommend Them

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1. A Paris Moment That Changed Everything

Summer 2024, Paris Olympics — Mack McConnell’s parents, without prior coordination, both opened ChatGPT to plan a one-day trip to Paris.

AI provided specific recommendations for tour operators, restaurants, and attractions — showcasing businesses that had already learned how to win this new visibility lottery.

What shocked McConnell most was that the AI interface felt equally intuitive for both older and younger users.

> “I could clearly see that businesses were now being recommended in an entirely new way,”

> — Mack McConnell, in an exclusive VentureBeat interview

This moment became the inspiration behind Geostar — a Pear VC–backed startup helping businesses adapt to the largest shift in online discovery since Google’s launch.

Key highlights:

• Fastest-growing company in latest PearX batch
• Closed in on $1M ARR in just four months
• Achieved this with two founders and no employees
• Global AI search engine market projected to grow from $43.63B in 2025 to $108.88B in 2032

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2. The Approaching 25% Traffic Cliff

If you rely solely on traditional SEO, be warned: Gartner predicts a 25% drop in traditional search engine traffic by 2026.

The primary cause? The rise of generative AI chatbots.

Evidence:

• Google AI Overview now appears billions of times monthly
• Princeton study: optimizing for AI can boost visibility by up to 40%

> “Search used to mean you had to please Google,” McConnell noted.

> “Now you have to optimize for multiple interfaces—traditional search, AI mode, Gemini, AI Overview—plus ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity, all with different rules.”

The fragmentation problem:

• 95% of B2B buyers plan to use generative AI in purchasing decisions (Forrester)
• Most companies are woefully unprepared

CTO Cihan Tas warns:

> “Some law firms now get 50% of their clients from ChatGPT. Failing to act means missing out.”

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3. When AI Learns to “Read” the Web

Welcome to Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) — a new discipline replacing traditional SEO.

Old SEO rules: keyword density, backlinks

New GEO rules: understanding how AI models read, comprehend, and synthesize information like humans

How different platforms “read” content:

• Google → uses traditional search index
• ChatGPT → prefers structured data and clear content formats
• Perplexity → favors Wikipedia and authoritative, academic-style sources

Tas explains:

> “Be clear, concise, and directly answer questions — that’s exactly what AI is looking for.”

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4. AI Content Monetization Meets GEO

AI recommendation systems and GEO skills overlap with new tools for publishing and monetizing AI content.

Example:

AiToEarn官网 offers open-source infrastructure for multi-channel publishing and monetization — spanning Douyin, Bilibili, WeChat, LinkedIn, YouTube, and X (Twitter).

Features include:

• AI content generation
• Cross-platform publishing
• Analytics and model ranking

Takeaway: To be AI-recommended, you must both master GEO and use advanced publishing tools — turning disruption into an opportunity.

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5. Schema Markup — A Practical GEO Tactic

What is it?

Schema markup is structured data that helps AI understand webpage content.

Why it matters:

• Proper markup boosts chances of appearing in AI summaries by 36%
• Only 30% of websites fully implement schema markup

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6. Letting AI Agents Do the Work

Geostar uses “environment agents” — AI workers embedded in client websites.

Capabilities:

• Continuous content optimization
• Technical adjustments
• Automatic page creation
• Shared learning across clients

Results:

• For RedSift: +27% AI mentions in 3 months
• Ranking for “best DMARC vendors” on Google & ChatGPT in just 4 days

> “We act like a $10k/month agency, priced at $1k–$3k/month,” McConnell says.

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7. Brand Mentions Without Links — Now More Valuable Than Gold

In the AI era, unlinked brand mentions influence AI recommendations.

Why?

AI analyzes massive datasets for sentiment and context — making Reddit threads, news name-drops, and social comments meaningful.

Risk:

AI often trusts third-party sources more than a brand’s own site — meaning casual comments can outweigh official messaging.

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8. The New AI Visibility Race

The SEO industry is scrambling:

• New entrants: Brandlight, Profound, Goodie
• Giants like Semrush and Ahrefs are adding AI tracking features

Geostar’s edge:

Founders previously built and sold Monto (YC-backed). Unlike dashboard-only competitors, Geostar implements optimizations directly via agents.

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9. The Future — Multimodal AI Search Everywhere

McConnell predicts:

> “Soon, search will be in our eyes, in our ears… The rules will change again.”

Expect search to embed into:

• Productivity tools
• Smartwatches
• AR glasses
• Vehicles

This introduces new ethical risks:

• Manipulation
• Fairness
• Transparency
• Currently, GEO is an unregulated Wild West.

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10. Survival of the Fittest — Are You Ready?

Optimizing only for Google is obsolete. Success in AI search depends on:

• Understanding how models think and rank answers
• Acting fast to adapt to new rules

McConnell’s parents didn’t Google Paris travel companies — they asked ChatGPT.

AI decided which businesses deserved their time and money.

In the AI discovery economy, winners are those AI chooses to recommend.

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11. Global Implications — Including China

The shift is worldwide. In China:

• Baidu → Simple Search
• ByteDance → Doubao
• Alibaba → Tongyi Qianwen

Companies must prepare for AI-first discovery.

Tools like AiToEarn官网 can:

• Generate and publish AI content
• Distribute across Douyin, Kwai, Bilibili, Xiaohongshu, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, YouTube, Pinterest, X (Twitter)
• Track analytics & monetize outputs

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