Google's AI Overviews, Perplexity, and ChatGPT are reshaping how brands get discovered. Here is what Generative Engine Optimisation means in practice — and how to start doing it today.
This article is published by the Maaketto team — a full-service creative and technology agency based in Dubai Media City, UAE. We work with ambitious brands across the UAE, GCC, and internationally, delivering strategy, design, events, and digital execution that drives measurable results. Our insights draw from direct client experience across branding, event production, AI transformation, web design, SEO, and digital strategy.
Traditional SEO was about ranking on page one. Generative search collapses that model. When ChatGPT or Google's AI Overview answers a question directly, the user may never click through to any website. The brand that 'wins' is the one that gets cited in the AI's response — not the one that ranks first in the blue links below.
This is a fundamental shift. Instead of optimising for click-through from a search results page, brands now need to optimise for inclusion in AI-generated answers. The criteria are different, the tactics are different, and the competitive dynamics are different.
Generative AI models cite sources that are authoritative, specific, and well-structured. They preference content that directly answers a clearly stated question, that contains original data or expert opinion, and that is published on domains with demonstrated topical authority.
Thin content, keyword-stuffed pages, and generic overviews are systematically deprioritised. AI models have effectively automated the quality filtering that human editors used to do — and they are significantly better at it than most SEO tools.
The highest-leverage GEO tactic is creating clear, directly answerable content. Structure articles with explicit question headings and concise, standalone answers in the first two sentences of each section. AI models are pattern-matching for this format because it is what users asking questions want.
Original data is the single most powerful GEO signal. Survey data, proprietary analytics, case study metrics — any data that can only be sourced from you creates a citation dependency. When a user asks a question that your data answers, AI models have no choice but to reference you.
AI models are trained on the web's accumulated text. Brands that are consistently mentioned positively across many sources — press coverage, industry directories, client testimonials, social media — are more likely to appear in AI-generated responses even when the user has not asked about the brand specifically.
This means traditional PR and reputation management have gained strategic value. Getting cited in trade publications, earning editorial mentions, and maintaining a consistent presence in the conversations your clients are having are all GEO signals that compound over time.
Maaketto is a Dubai-based agency specialising in brand strategy, event production, AI transformation, website design, and SEO. We help ambitious brands across the UAE and GCC grow through strategy, design, and execution.
Get in Touch