GEO vs. Traditional SEO: What Industrial Companies Need to Know About the Future of Search

The way your customers find information is changing. While Google still dominates the search landscape, the rise of AI Overviews as the first item on the search results page marks a major shift in how results are displayed and consumed. This isn’t just another Google update—it’s the integration of generative AI directly into the world’s most widely used search engine. For industrial and manufacturing companies, that means your buyers are getting answers faster, often without ever clicking through to a website.

Recent data supports just how rapidly this shift is taking hold. Based on available studies and analytics reports from 2023–2025, technically savvy professionals—like engineers and developers—are adopting AI-powered search tools (such as ChatGPT Search, Perplexity, Gemini, and AI-enhanced Google) at significantly higher rates than the general population. Their comfort with technology, need for efficiency, and reliance on precise information make them early adopters of AI-assisted search. Across multiple data sources, engineers show 1.5–3x higher adoption rates for generative AI search compared to average users.

The question is no longer just “Are we ranking in Google?” but “Are we being referenced in Google’s AI-generated answers?”

While “Generative Engine Optimization” (GEO) is a fresh term gaining traction, many of its principles aren’t new at all—they’re simply SEO fundamentals evolving alongside AI. In many ways, GEO is SEO, just applied to a new search environment. For the purposes of this article, we’ll use “GEO” to describe strategies specifically focused on optimizing for AI-generated search results.

This emerging field represents more than a passing trend. AI-powered search is already reshaping how information is retrieved and prioritized—and we’re here to help guide you through this evolution of search.

The Current Search Landscape: By the Numbers

To understand why GEO matters, let’s examine how search volume is distributed across traditional and AI-powered platforms:

While AI platforms currently represent a smaller slice of the total search pie, their trajectory is unmistakable. AI-driven search has grown from less than 2% in 2024 to 5–8% today, and Google’s AI Overviews now appear in roughly 13% of all search queries. Projections indicate that traditional search volume could decline by as much as 25% by 2026. For industrial companies with long sales cycles and highly technical products, being absent from these platforms means missing out on critical early-stage research conversations with potential buyers.

SEO vs GEO: What’s the difference?

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the practice of optimizing your content to be cited, referenced, or summarized in AI-generated responses. While it introduces some new strategies, GEO and SEO share significant overlap in principles and execution. If we were to speculate on a figure, there’s an estimated 90–95% overlap between the two. Both focus on producing high-quality, authoritative, and technically sound content—only the delivery mechanism differs. Traditional SEO focuses on ranking webpages for specific keywords and short-tail queries, while GEO aims to rank individual passages of content for long-tail, detailed user queries or prompts.

Why Industrial Companies Should Care

For manufacturers and industrial companies, the stakes are particularly high. Your buyers are already using AI tools to evaluate your technical capabilities, and those of your competitors long before engaging with sales. Consider these scenarios:

• A sourcing specialist asks ChatGPT, “Which manufacturers offer precision 5-axis machining with aerospace-grade certifications?”
• A procurement manager queries Perplexity, “Top suppliers of nickel alloy components for high-precision medical devices.”
• A supply chain director searches Gemini for “Best contract manufacturing partners with in-house EDM and metrology capabilities.”

If your content isn’t optimized, your competitors’ names will appear in these AI-generated answers instead of yours. The opportunity cost extends beyond visibility: you’re missing the chance to establish thought leadership at the exact moment a potential customer is forming their understanding of the solution landscape.

In a traditional Google search, users typically click through and evaluate several results—meaning that as long as your site appeared near the top of page one, you had a reasonable chance of being considered. But in an AI-powered search experience, the result isn’t a list of options—it’s a recommendation. When the AI cites just one or two sources, the difference between being included or excluded becomes far more consequential. The stakes for visibility have never been higher.

How to Get Your Brand into AI Training Data

The foundation of GEO success starts with where your content lives. SEO has been about more than just Google Search for some time, and search is only getting more multimodal. AI platforms crawl and learn from authoritative sources across the web — and they update their training data sets every few months. That means your content has ongoing opportunities to be indexed, learned from, and surfaced in AI-generated responses.

Core Platforms to Consider:

• Wikipedia
• Reddit
• YouTube
• X (formerly Twitter)
• Podcasts
• LinkedIn
• Google Business Profile
• Industry forums

The manufacturing industry has traditionally skewed toward professionals later in their careers, but new participants enter daily. These younger engineers, technicians, and decision-makers consume content and seek opinions on platforms like X, TikTok, YouTube, and Reddit. Your GEO strategy must account for where different segments of your audience seek answers.

Authoritative Citation Sources (Quality Over Quantity):

• Better Business Bureau (BBB)
• ASME, ASTM, and ISO bodies
• Manufacturing directories (ThomasNet, Thomasnet.com)
• Trade publications and industry media
• Local economic development organizations
• State manufacturing associations
• Regional chambers of commerce

Being listed, mentioned, or cited on these platforms increases the likelihood that AI models recognize your brand as an authoritative source in your domain.

Optimizing Your Website Content for AI & Traditional Search

Once you’ve established your presence across authoritative platforms, the next step is ensuring your website content is structured for AI readability. AI platforms favor clear, factual, opinionated, and quotable material over dense prose. Here’s how to adapt:

Content Structure Best Practices

Make Content Snippable:

• Use clear headings (H1, H2, H3) to organize information logically
• Incorporate FAQs that directly answer common questions
• Format key information in bulleted lists and tables
• Break complex concepts into scannable sections

Increase Citability:

• Include statistics and data points (content with stats sees up to 40% higher citation rates)
• Add quotable insights from subject matter experts
• Insert strong opinions, unique points of view, or “hot takes”
• Cite reputable sources to reinforce credibility
• Write for questions rather than keyword-stuffed essays (e.g., “How to reduce costs in 5-axis machining” vs. “5-axis machining cost reduction strategies”)

Technical Foundations

Traditional technical SEO fundamentals remain critical:

• Semantic HTML: Use proper heading structures for entity recognition
• Schema Markup: Implement structured data to help AI understand your content context
• Avoid Parsing Barriers: Limit JavaScript-heavy elements, PDFs, or image-only information that large language models can’t easily parse. Remember, AI and search companies are profit-driven; if your content is too resource-intensive to crawl efficiently, they may skip it entirely
• Baseline SEO: Optimize site speed and metadata as table stakes

Apply E-E-A-T Principles

Google’s E-E-A-T framework (Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) remains essential for both SEO and GEO:

• Expertise: Showcase technical knowledge through detailed how-to guides and technical specifications
• Experience: Share first-hand insights, case studies, and real-world applications
• Authoritativeness: Build citations from industry bodies and trade organizations
• Trustworthiness: Provide accurate, well-sourced information with clear author credentials

The “Fan-Out Query” Strategy Approach

Traditional SEO strategies often focus on creating content around “topic clusters” related to your products or services. This philosophy hasn’t changed, but the technical term to describe the AI-era approach is “fan-out queries” This method involves creating content that answers a wide spectrum of questions related to your core offering, from broad educational queries to highly specific technical questions.

Example: AI Welding Robotics Company

A fan-out query strategy for a robotic welding automation company might address:

Broad Educational Queries:

• What is robotic welding and how does it improve manufacturing productivity?
• How does AI-powered welding differ from traditional automated welding?
• What are the main components of an intelligent robotic welding system?
• What industries are adopting AI-driven welding solutions?

Comparative Queries:

• How do AI welding robots compare to manual welders in terms of quality and efficiency?
• What’s the difference between collaborative welding robots and fully autonomous welding systems?
• How does robotic MIG welding compare to TIG or laser welding?
• Is AI-based weld inspection more accurate than traditional quality assurance methods?

Technical Specifications:

• What are the key technical requirements for integrating robotic welding systems into an existing production line?
• What materials and weld types can be handled by robotic welding systems?
• How accurate are vision-based seam tracking and adaptive path correction technologies?
• What data does an AI welding system collect and how is it used to improve performance?

Application-Specific Queries:

• Can robotic welding systems be used for structural steel fabrication?
• What are the best robotic welding solutions for heavy equipment manufacturing?
• How can AI welding improve consistency in automotive chassis production?
• Are robotic welding systems suitable for small-batch or custom manufacturing?

Operational and Process Queries:

• How much does it cost to implement a robotic welding cell?
• What are the maintenance requirements for an AI welding robot?
• How can manufacturers calculate ROI for robotic welding automation?
• How do robotic welding systems integrate with ERP and MES software?

This fan-out targets a mix of broad and niche queries to capture various user intents, ensuring your brand is visible in both traditional and AI-driven search ecosystems.

Measuring GEO Success

Unlike traditional SEO, where metrics like organic traffic, keyword rankings, and backlink profiles are well-established, GEO measurement is still evolving. Currently, the best mechanisms available include:

AI Referral Traffic: Monitor traffic sources in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) from AI platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. Set up custom segments to track these referrals separately and understand which content is driving engagement.

Manual AI Monitoring: Create a consistent set of prompts related to your products, services, and industry. Regularly query multiple AI platforms to track your brand’s visibility and how you’re being referenced in generated responses. Document these over time to identify trends.

Emerging Tools: Platforms like SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Profound are developing GEO measurement capabilities, though these tools are still in their infancy and may provide inconsistent results across different AI platforms. As the field matures, expect more sophisticated tracking options.

Qualitative Indicators: Pay attention to qualitative signals like:

• Are you being cited in AI responses for your target queries?
• Is the information accurate when you are mentioned?
• Are competitors appearing more frequently than your brand?

Preparing for the Future of Search in Manufacturing

The shift toward AI-powered search isn’t a question of “if” but “when” it becomes a dominant force in how your customers discover and evaluate solutions. For industrial and manufacturing companies, the technical nature of your products makes you particularly vulnerable to being overlooked if your content isn’t optimized for how AI platforms parse and present information.

The good news? The fundamentals of creating valuable, authoritative content haven’t changed at all. What’s evolved is how that content is discovered, evaluated, and surfaced across traditional and AI-driven search experiences. Think of “GEO” not as a new discipline, but as SEO adapted for a new era—one where your visibility depends on how well your expertise is represented in AI-generated answers as much as in search results. By refining your existing SEO strategy through a GEO lens, you position your brand to be discovered wherever your customers are searching—whether that’s Google, ChatGPT, or the next AI platform to emerge.

The manufacturers and industrial companies that adapt now will have a significant competitive advantage as AI search continues to grow. Those that wait risk becoming invisible to the next generation of buyers who rely on AI to guide their research and decision-making.

Ready to Future-Proof Your Digital Presence?

At Windmill Strategy, we help industrial and manufacturing companies navigate the evolving search landscape with strategies that balance traditional SEO with emerging GEO opportunities. Our team understands the technical complexity of B2B industrial marketing and can develop a customized approach that ensures your brand stays visible as search behavior continues to evolve.

Contact us today to discuss how we can optimize your content for both traditional search engines and AI-powered platforms, ensuring your brand is discovered by the right buyers at the right time. For many clients, this begins with Windmill Strategy’s Digital Marketing Strategy Quick Start — a focused engagement designed to build the foundation for long-term brand visibility and growth.