Search is no longer just about keywords and blue links. In 2025, people are asking questions—and getting summarized answers—from AI engines like ChatGPT, Google’s SGE, and Perplexity.
That shift is giving rise to a new kind of SEO: Generative Engine Optimization, or GEO.
At 45/RPM, we’re helping brands get ahead of the curve by rethinking how content is created, structured, and distributed—not just to rank, but to be referenced, quoted, and summarized by generative engines.
Let’s break down what this means for your marketing strategy.
Generative Engine Optimization is the process of optimizing your content to be picked up by AI models that generate answers—rather than traditional search engines that return lists of links.
Instead of aiming for the top spot in Google search results, you’re now trying to:
Get quoted in ChatGPT answers
Show up in Perplexity’s citations
Be included in Google’s AI summaries in SGE
This changes how you approach content—from what you say to how it’s structured.
People are spending less time scrolling search results and more time reading summaries. That means brands who aren’t part of those summaries are invisible.
Here’s the catch: AI engines don’t always pull from the top-ranking site. They pull from sources that are clear, well-structured, and authoritative. That opens the door for challenger brands to show up—if they optimize right.
To win in a generative-first search world, your content needs to be:
AI engines favor content that’s easy to parse—headings, bulleted lists, short paragraphs, and plain language. Long, rambling blog posts full of filler? They get skipped.
AI tools look for signals of authority. That means linking to trusted sources, backing up claims with data, and building a presence that gets linked to from others.
Instead of keyword stuffing, GEO is about topic depth. Are you answering the full intent behind a question? Are you covering related subtopics in a natural, informative way?
This is big: AI engines are being trained to detect spammy, AI-generated content. So ironically, the best way to show up in AI results… is to sound human.
At 45/RPM, we write for people first—but we make sure AI can understand and trust it, too.
For clients across industries, we’re shifting content strategies to meet these new demands:
Creating thought leadership articles that read like a helpful expert, not a sales pitch
Structuring content with clear hierarchy and supporting links
Ensuring brand voices sound authentic and trustworthy, not AI-generated
Experimenting with content types that AI loves—FAQs, how-tos, explainer blogs, and stats-backed insights
We’ve seen early wins: some of our clients are already appearing in ChatGPT responses and Perplexity citations—even when they're not in the top 3 Google results.
Generative Engine Optimization is the next evolution of search. If your content isn’t ready to be picked up by AI, you’re already behind.
The good news? The playing field is wide open—for now.
Want to future-proof your content strategy? Let’s talk about how to get your brand ready for GEO.
