Well, for B2B companies, this shift has major implications. Whether you're in tech, manufacturing, consulting, or SaaS, where sales cycles are often quite long, getting users to your site so that you can tag and nurture them has gotten more difficult. For some users who are only looking at AIOs, getting users to your site for some searches depends on whether AI sees your site as clear, credible, and structured enough to reference as a source.
Welcome to the era of Generative Search Optimisation (GSO).
TL;DR
GSO is the process of optimising your website and content to appear in AI-generated search results, which Google calls AI Overviews (AIOs). In AI-driven search, the platform directly answers a user’s question by pulling from online sources (ideally your website). These AI summaries reference sites that are trustworthy, clearly structured, and semantically relevant.
In other words, it is not just about being found. It is about being chosen by the AI to represent the answer.
Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini are changing behaviours. For some users, they are becoming the search engine.
Instead of going to Google and clicking through multiple pages, users are increasingly asking AI tools to:
This means your website and content may be referenced, summarised, or paraphrased without the user ever visiting your site. If AI sees your content as credible and relevant, then your content will be visible alongside a link to your site.
The point that we see most people missing is that if your content is used by AI and referenced as a source, you will see traffic being driven to your site. Click-through rates from organic search are down, but the volume of searches and clicks is always increasing. We see ChatGPT as an ever-rising source of traffic for our clients and their competitors. However, we are only just hearing that Google will start showing AIO clicks in Google Analytics.
However, if these tools don’t see your content as a reputable response, you run the risk of rapidly losing the opportunity to get in front of your desired audience. We're still running a visibility race, and AIOs are just the latest contender.
Additionally, AIOs are being shown for searches with 'informational' intent. These are what we would think of as 'top of funnel' searches, the user is seeking education with searches including 'how do I', 'why does', 'what is'. AIOs are less apparent for 'commercial' or 'transactional' intent searches; these are the bottom of the funnel users, most likely to buy or convert. The lack of AIOs for these searches at the moment means we have to adapt.
So sure, AIOs and platforms are delivering consolidated answers, but users are and will still have to come to your site to convert. So make sure your site’s user experience (UX) is seamless.
So now we understand the 'what' and the 'why', we need to get to the bottom of 'how'. How do we take this knowledge and get our brands and content in AIOs?
We feel like it’s a bit like the wild west at the moment. SEO used to work by keyword stuffing, and we all put that to rest a long time ago. People are jumping on quick and dirty solutions for getting into AIOs by writing low-quality ‘listicles’, but just like keyword stuffing, this won’t be the solution in the long term.
While AI platforms will continue to evolve, here are some of the key signals that influence AI visibility that, if you pay attention to, will see you playing the long game with GSO:
Structured Content
Authoritativeness
Semantic Relevance
Technical Health
Citations and Sources
Google’s AI Overviews are changing how visibility works in search. Rather than just displaying ten blue links, AIO presents users with dynamic summaries that pull information from a wide mix of content types, not just websites.
That includes YouTube videos, LinkedIn posts, product reviews, third-party articles, PDF's, and even community Q&As. In many cases, this content is surfaced alongside or in place of traditional web pages.
What This Means for B2B Brands:
Third-party publications or partnerships may outrank your own site if they offer better structure or authority.
As a result, visibility in AI search is no longer just about SEO in the classic sense. It’s about having a strategic, omnichannel presence across platforms and formats that reinforces your brand’s relevance and credibility.
GSO now means aligning not just your web content, but your entire digital footprint.
GSO is not just an SEO strategy. It is part of a modern sales strategy. If your site is being cited by AI tools, you are being recommended before a prospect even lands on your page.
Combine GSO with strong calls to action, conversion paths, and CRM integration to turn visibility into leads and insight.
Generative Search Optimisation is not about chasing the latest trend. It is about ensuring your company is seen and trusted in the next wave of digital discovery.
B2B buyers still need clarity, credibility, and confidence. GSO is one way to deliver it, even if they never visit your homepage.
If you're updating your content strategy or planning a new site, make sure GSO is built in from the start. Your visibility now depends on how your brand shows up across the full digital ecosystem. The future of search is already here, and your competitors are adapting.
If you would like to know more about GSO, contact Alice and the UP DIGITAL team here.
Generative Search Optimisation (GSO) is an emerging discipline that helps B2B companies increase visibility in AI-powered search experiences like Google SGE, Bing AI, and ChatGPT. As more buyers turn to generative tools to research and evaluate solutions, traditional SEO alone is no longer enough.
This guide explains how B2B marketers can prepare their websites for AI search by creating structured, high-quality content, demonstrating expertise and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T), implementing schema markup, and aligning with changing user behaviour. It also covers how tools like ChatGPT are transforming search habits and why GSO is becoming essential to content strategy, sales enablement, and long-term growth in the B2B space.
Connect with Alice Smith on LinkedIn