GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) ROI Key Points:
- Traffic alone is an outdated metric and measurement for GEO ROI and results; a lack of “traffic” – especially when you see numbers dropping, doesn’t mean you’re not visible; it’s a sign of the times
- People have not stopped searching; however, with informational queries being answered directly and not resulting in a click, this means a broader visibility plan everywhere it matters, and showing up for conversion-oriented terms, is more important than ever.
- Traffic no longer correlates with “growth” and “leads”; quality leads can and should still be coming in without traffic in the traditional sense.
- Getting started is easy and boils down to identifying profitable topics and areas you want to own, putting yourself in your customer shoes to build out prompts, and tracking visibility.
Since the dawn of SEO time, we SEO pros, dabblers, and “know enough about SEO to be dangerous” marketers have come together in unity to offer one core promise about the outcome of our SEO efforts:
“More of our desired target audience to our website”
Historically, we’ve measured growth and effectiveness through traffic. Because obviously better SEO = more website traffic, right?
Not anymore.
AI has entered the chat. Cannibalizing informational queries and giving users what they want: direct information without having to click through to a website.
The horror!!!
The truth is, traffic is not likely to recover to previous levels, no matter how much you may be kicking GEO/AI visibility a$$.
Traffic As a Metric is Dead…So, How Do We Show Visibility & GEO ROI in the Age of AI?
Winning in AI Search means first generating authority, influence and trust. And when that beautiful magic happens, a percentage of the time, our brands will then be mentioned, cited, linked, and then – only then – a click might – just MIGHT – occur.
Cool story, but try telling that to your employer or clients who want ROI and won’t pay the big bucks off of “trust me, we’re gaining influence” alone.
If we previously thought the work behind SEO was invisible before, then it’s about to get all kinds of real all up in here. As a PR colleague recently joked about measuring influence and trust, “welcome to my world!”
What To Measure Instead – 4 Key Indicators That Show AI Visibility Progress
Everyone loves to complain about Google, but at least they gave us first-party, direct-from-the-source data with Google Search Console and GA4.
With AI, we have very little by way of direct, scalable measurement that is explicitly showing us whether we’re making progress or not.
However, all hope is not lost (is it me or do I say that a lot?). Here are 4 indicators you should be measuring and reporting on to show GEO progress:
- Organic conversion rate: If you are not measuring the most important actions that happen on your site that lead to the money, then this is your code red priority action item. Measuring progress means ensuring that the percentage of traffic that does hit your website completes desired actions, such as purchases, form submissions, newsletter signups, demos, etc.
- GA4 referral traffic from AI answer engines: monitor traffic originating from platforms such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and others. Implement GA4 filters or regex patterns to specifically identify and track these referrals over time, and certainly year over year.
- Branded search increases: Back to our trusty Google Search Console, you can measure impressions and clicks of your brand, along with a host of other search terms, topics, and pages, which will tell you if your impressions and average position is moving in the right direction – or declining precipitously (remember – high average position is no longer correlated with clicks, but visibility counts; because what’s the flipside?).
- AI citation and mention checks: Whether you do manual prompt checks yourself or you use one of the fancy AI monitoring tools popping up left and right ($$$$), you can glean insight, track, and report on visibility as a regular component to your marketing reports. (remember, you don’t only want to report on visibility, you want to document ideas and action items also).
Ready to get started? There is no time to waste!
Looking for GEO Strategy or a consult to get started? Reach out to me today!
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