When a financial advisor opens ChatGPT and asks for the best wealth management platforms, they’re not clicking through search results—they’re reading a curated answer list synthesized from multiple online sources. This shift makes a GEO-first approach essential. For brands mentioned positively, it’s a qualified lead. For those excluded or described with caveats referencing past or present issues, it’s a lost opportunity.
This shift in how consumers research products and services has created a new discipline in digital marketing. This week Buzz Dealer, a digital marketing agency specializing in online reputation management and digital PR services, announced its “GEO-First Framework, a systematic approach to ensuring brands appear accurately and favorably in AI-generated responses.
“Traditional search optimization focused on ranking on page one for specific keywords,” said Ron Gilo, Chief Marketing Officer at Buzz Dealer. “But when an AI system synthesizes an answer from multiple sources, ranking doesn’t matter anymore. What matters is whether you’re included in the answer, and whether that inclusion builds trust or creates doubt.”
The timing reflects broader market dynamics. According to OpenAI’s own data from its internal study on ChatGPT usage released in September 2025, ChatGPT now serves approximately 800 million weekly active users, with 34% of U.S. adults having used the platform as of mid-2025, up from just 18% two years earlier, per a Backlinko report. Among employed Americans, 28% now use ChatGPT for work-related tasks.
Key Takeaways
- The GEO-first approach helps brands enhance visibility in AI-generated responses, crucial as consumers increasingly rely on AI for product discovery.
- As AI systems prioritize accurate and credible sources, companies must adapt from traditional SEO strategies to focus on brand mentions and authority signals.
- Brands face challenges of sentiment drift, where outdated complaints may surface in AI descriptions, necessitating continuous monitoring and strategic updates.
- The GEO services market is rapidly growing, predicted to expand significantly as businesses recognize the necessity of AI optimization.
- Buzz Dealer’s GEO-first methodology combines digital PR, technical optimization, and content strategy to improve brand representation in AI responses.
Table of contents
The Emergence of Generative Engine Optimization
The practice of optimizing for AI-powered search, commonly called Generative Engine Optimization or GEO, has emerged as businesses struggle with this shift. The GEO services market is projected to grow from $886 million in 2024 to $7.3 billion by 2031 according to Valuates Reports, reflecting the urgency companies feel to adapt.
Yet there’s a disconnect between awareness and action. According to MarketingLTB, while 94% of marketing leaders say they feel prepared to optimize for AI search, nearly half still allocate less than 10% of their SEO budgets to it.
“That gap between awareness and action is what we’re seeing across industries,” Gilo noted. “Companies know this matters, but they’re uncertain about how to approach it internally.”
Buzz Dealer’s GEO-first approach and methodology address two core challenges: ensuring brands appear in AI-generated answers (discoverability), and ensuring those appearances are accurate and positive (sentiment).
How AI Systems Choose What to Cite
Understanding which sources AI systems trust has become central to the discipline. Research analyzing citation patterns reveals that ChatGPT relies heavily on authoritative platforms like Wikipedia (7.8% of all citations), while also drawing from community-driven sources like Reddit (1.8%) and established publications like Forbes (1.1%).
This creates different priorities than traditional SEO. Structured data becomes critical for helping AI systems extract factual information. Authority signals shift from domain ratings and link building to brand mentions, counting whether a brand appears in the types of third-party sources these models have been trained to prioritize.
“Companies that succeed at this understand they’re optimizing for credibility, not algorithms,” Gilo explained. “AI systems look for multiple, consistent sources confirming information before presenting it as fact. That’s why our approach emphasizes building authoritative third-party validation across the platforms these systems actually reference.”
The Buzz Dealer approach includes digital PR activity, as well as optimization of authoritative platforms and knowledge graph ecosystems, which serve as foundational references for many AI models. It also involves strategic content placement on platforms like Reddit and Quora, not for direct traffic, but because AI systems monitor these platforms to verify brand claims and assess sentiment.
The Challenge of Maintaining Accurate Representation
One of the more complex aspects of AI-powered search involves what Buzz Dealer calls “sentiment drift,” referring to the tendency of AI-generated descriptions to shift as new information enters training data ecosystems, sometimes pulling from outdated or irrelevant sources—an issue that a GEO-first approach is designed to monitor, correct, and stabilize.
A brand might have addressed and resolved a customer issue years ago, only to find that AI systems still reference the original complaint in their responses. Unlike traditional search results where recent content typically gains prominence, AI models may draw from older or outdated sources depending on how information is structured in their training data.
“Most companies aren’t monitoring what AI systems say about them yet,” Gilo observed. “They’re tracking Google rankings and social media mentions, but they have no visibility into how ChatGPT or Gemini describe their brand when a potential customer asks for recommendations.”
The Buzz Dealer strategy addresses this through continuous monitoring of how brands appear across major AI platforms, such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, and others, combined with strategic interventions to ensure accurate, current information is properly structured and accessible to these systems.
Business Implications Across Industries
The shift has particular relevance for businesses in high-trust sectors, such as financial services, healthcare, legal, and professional services, where purchase decisions often begin with AI-assisted research.
When a financial advisor asks ChatGPT to recommend wealth management platforms, or a procurement officer uses an AI system to compare enterprise software, the companies that appear in those answers, and the exact way they’re described, can determine whether they advance to consideration.
According to Exposurenija’s 2025 AI Search Statistics, Research suggests that traffic from AI-generated answers converts at higher rates than traditional organic search, likely because users have already been pre-qualified through the AI’s curation process.
“We’re still learning how AI-influenced discovery affects buying behavior,” Gilo noted. “But the directional trend is clear. Being the recommended answer changes the customer journey in a fundamental way.”
A Developing Market
The GEO services market is seeing rapid development as businesses recognize the need to adapt. Marketing technology vendors have responded with new tools – Semrush launched its AI visibility tools in March 2025, while Zeta Global introduced a dedicated GEO solution in September. Multiple agencies now offer specialized AI search optimization services.
Buzz Dealer, which has worked with hundreds of brands during its 17-year history, positions its GEO-First approach as an evolution of its online reputation management, organic visibility and digital PR expertise. The methodology combines technical optimization, strategic content placement, and continuous monitoring of brand representation in AI responses.
As Gilo summarized: “As we head into 2026, Companies that are actively including AI responses as part of their organic marketing strategy are positioning themselves for a competitive advantage. The ones waiting for established best practices may find their competitors have already secured the high ground.”
