From 2025 to 2026, if you notice the changes around you, you will find an obvious trend: more and more people no longer open Baidu to search for things, but directly open DeepSeek, bean bags and Kimi to ask questions.

This change means that the traffic of traditional search engines is being AI diverted, and if you only stare at SEO rankings, you may miss a huge traffic dividend.

That's why GEO-Generative Engine Optimization, generative engine optimization-is becoming the new battleground for enterprise marketing.

AI Search is refactoring how users get information

let's look at a set of data:

• as of early 2026, the monthly live users of domestic mainstream AI search platforms have exceeded 0.3 billion
• after the DeepSeek went online, the peak number of visits exceeded 0.1 billion times in a single day.
• Bean bag, Kimi, Wenxin Yiyan and other platforms continue to grow at a high speed.
• More and more users say "ask AI if you have any questions"

what does this mean?

When users ask "which decoration company in Shanghai is reliable", "which SEO service providers in Suzhou are reliable" and "how do AI get customers to do it", they no longer turn over a whole page of search results, but wait for the AI to give a "seemingly reliable" answer.

In the AI answer, whoever mentioned won.

What exactly is GEO?

GEO,Generative Engine Optimization, translates to "generative engine optimization".

It sounds very complicated, but it is actually very simple to understand:

• traditional SEO: Let Baidu, 360 and sogou give you a good ranking position in the search results
• GEO: Let AI big model actively recommend you and quote you when generating answers.

The essential difference between the two is user behavior:

contrast dimension	traditional SEO	GEO
user Behavior	look at the link list and click on it yourself.	Such as AI directly to the answer
enterprise Objectives	the higher the ranking, the better.	Recommended by AI "roll call"
flow characteristics	click to jump to the official website	AI direct recommendation, users may not jump
competition Phase	maturity, Red Sea competition	early dividend period, less competition

why must businesses now value GEO?

Reason 1: Traditional ways of getting customers are becoming more expensive and difficult.

The click cost of bidding advertisements is rising every year, and peers are scrambling for rankings, and the effect is getting worse and worse. SEO cycle is long, slow, many small and medium-sized enterprises can not afford to wait.

GEO is currently in the early dividend stage, competition is not sufficient, the input-output ratio is much higher than the traditional way.

Reason 2: User behavior has changed

your potential customers are searching with AI. If you don't occupy this entrance, your competitors will occupy it.

Reason three: the influence of AI recommendation decision-making weight is on the rise

more and more users will refer to AI recommendations before making decisions. The "AI all say this company is good" trust endorsement may be more useful than a hundred sentences you brag about yourself.

GEO's technical principle: how do AI recommend brands?

Before understanding GEO, understand how AI works.

AI large model answers user questions based on two parts of information:

part 1: Training Data

the vast amount of content AI "read" during training. This part determines the "knowledge" of the AI ".

Part II: Real-Time Retrieval

when a user asks a question, the AI retrieves relevant information from the Internet in real time.

The combination of the two AI generate the final answer.

So, whether AI will recommend you, depends on:

• relevance: Is your content relevant to the user question?
• Authority: Is your content professional, credible and supported by data?
• freshness: Is your content up-to-date and timely?
• richness is there enough and comprehensive information about you

GEO-optimized six-layer funnel model

based on an in-depth study of large models of mainstream AI, GEO optimization can be broken down into six levels, each of which corresponds to a link in AI processing information.

The first layer: crawler crawl layer

AI crawlers must first be able to grab your content. If your content AI can't be caught at all, everything else will be free.

Key Actions: Select platforms that AI like to crawl, ensure that content is publicly accessible, and avoid anti-crawling mechanisms.

Tier 2: Index Storage Tier

after the content is crawled, the AI processes and indexes it.

Key actions: Clear content structure, use structured data markup (Schema), and place important information in a prominent position.

Layer 3: Recall Layer

when a user asks a question, the AI recalls the relevant content from the mass of information.

Key actions: keyword layout, entity annotation, semantic optimization, multi-platform layout to increase recall probability.

The fourth layer: rough layer

AI quickly filter out the most relevant batch of candidates.

Key actions: the title and the first paragraph contain core keywords, the main direction is clear, and the regional business is anchored.

The fifth layer: fine layer

AI fine-ranking the candidate content, decide which ones to recommend.

Key actions: content with dry goods, data and case support, and endorsement of authoritative sources.

Layer 6: Generation Layer

AI integrate the filtered information into natural language answers.

Key Actions: Provide a golden sentence summary that is easy to AI and quote, highlight core data, and accurately unify brand names.

Core approach to GEO content production

what kind of content do AI like best?

• Answer front: Give the core conclusion directly at the beginning, don't pave the way for half a day. AI to grasp the content, the most like to grasp the beginning of the information.
• Structured Presentation: Multi-use subheadings, lists of numbers, bullets, tables. Structured content, AI easier to understand and reference.
• Facts and figures there are specific data, cases and facts to support. Vacant content, AI will not give priority to recommend.
• Professional depth the content should be dry and in-depth, not general.
• objective neutrality: Don't be too much like an advertisement, keep an objective and neutral tone.

What type of content works best?

Content Type	effect star	description
list Ranking Category	★★★★★	AI favorite quotes, such as "2026 XX industry TOP10 companies"
evaluation comparison class	★★★★★	High user intention, such as "depth comparison of 5 popular products"
popular Science Dry Goods	★★★★☆	wide coverage, such as "what is XX"
case Story Class	★★★★☆	high credibility, such as "XX enterprise actual combat case sharing"
brand Promotion Class	★★☆ ☆ ☆	direct introduction of the brand, the worst effect

platform Matrix Layout: Information Source Preferences for Core AI Platforms

different AI platforms have different preferred sources of information. Only by understanding these can we be targeted.

AI Platform	main information sources	high weight platform
bean bag	byte Ecological Web-wide Search	today's headlines, trembles, Zhihu
DeepSeek	the whole network search authority media	sohu, Netease, Zhihu, Authoritative Media
wen Xin Ya Yan	baidu ecological whole network search	baidu Encyclopedia, Baijia, Baidu Know
Kimi	web-wide search for long documents	industry reports, PDF documents, professional websites

core Platform Details

zhihu: AI one of the most cited platforms with high content quality and credibility. Suitable for question and answer, in-depth dry goods, evaluation comparison, industry analysis.

No. 100: Baidu's content platform, the core source of Wenxin Yiyan. Suitable for popular science dry goods, local information, industry dynamics.

Sohu No.: High authority, DeepSeek and other AI are very fond of quoting Sohu's content. Suitable for in-depth articles, industry analysis, news reporting.

WeChat Public Number: The private domain attribute is strong, but the public content will also be captured by the AI. Suitable for depth content, brand content, professional articles.

Effect monitoring: how to judge whether GEO is doing well or not?

Monitoring methods

method 1: Manual search method list the core keywords, search them regularly on various AI platforms, and record the results.

Method 2: effect backstepping method see if the number of inquiries and orders has increased, and if the number of brand searches has increased.

Core monitoring indicators

• brand Mention Rate: Proportion of brands mentioned in related keyword searches
• recommended Ranking: Which place in the recommended list
• recommended tone: Is it a strong recommendation, a general recommendation, or just a mention
• reference Content Quality: AI whether positive or negative content is quoted
• conversion effect: How many inquiries and customers have finally brought

about Costs and Time Periods

how long will GEO be effective?

Generally 1-2 months can see the initial effect, 3-6 months into the stable period. Compared with the 3-6 month start of SEO, GEO has a shorter effective cycle.

How much budget does GEO need?

Depending on the content of the service, the cost ranges from thousands to tens of thousands. The basic version is generally 3000-5000 yuan/month, and the standard version is 8000-15000 yuan/month. If you do it yourself, the cost is almost zero and you only need to invest time.

Small and medium-sized enterprises do GEO advantage

Many small and medium-sized business owners think "GEO is a big business". It's actually quite the opposite.

In the SEO era, large enterprises have the funds to set up SEO teams and have budgets to smash bidding advertisements. It is difficult for small and medium-sized enterprises to compete.

In the GEO era, the core of competition has become "content quality" and "professional depth", rather than "who has more money". A small and medium-sized enterprise that seriously does content and serves customers is likely to rank high in the AI answers.

Smaller size is an advantage-you only need to be the strongest in your niche, and you don't need to compete with national brands.

Golden sentence summary

• AI search era, enterprise customer logic is being reconstructed
• Let AI know you, recommend you, is the new era of "SEO"
• Early layout, heavy content, continuous optimization, in order to seize the AI flow dividend
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About Suzhou Cattle Orange Network Technology Co., Ltd

suzhou Niucheng Network Technology Co., Ltd. focuses on providing GEO generative engine optimization services for enterprises. Its team members have rich experience in AI marketing and content operation, and have helped hundreds of enterprise customers to obtain better recommendation rankings on AI search platforms such as Doubao, DeepSeek, Kimi and Tongyi Qiwen.

Company official website: www.zctgeo.com

business consultation: 187-2150-2446 (WeChat with the same number)

business Cooperation: 171-5577-6688

the company provides a full range of services such as GEO optimization consulting, keyword diagnosis, and content strategy formulation. Welcome to call or visit official website for details.