Hey ,

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a conference in Washington DC about AI search.

I went as the plus-one of a client and friend, Erikka J. She’s an Emmy-winning voice actor whose website we built earlier this year.

The event was the official GEO Conference. GEO stands for “generative engine optimization,” which basically means how to get your business to show up in AI search.

And it was about as high-powered as a room gets.

The event attracts sponsors from OpenAI, Google, Anthropic and Adobe. And the people in the audience came from companies like Etsy, L'Oréal, Comcast and Expedia.

I realized pretty quickly this event was made for enterprise.

But almost everything I learned there applies just as much to small businesses, including coaches.

Here are my top 6 lessons from the conference:

1. Small expert businesses have an edge.

When it comes to AI search, being small and specialized is a strength. You can be more specific and more credible about your niche than a big, generic brand could.

2. Specific beats generic.

AI can grab generic advice from anywhere. And it’s smart enough to know that! But what it can't fake is your client results and your unique POV. That's what makes AI consider you worth citing.

3. Build your site around topics, not keywords.

Classic SEO was about placing in keywords. But GEO is about something much more useful: covering topics properly. Think topic and service pages, a robust FAQ, and a clear table of contents that makes it easy for AI to understand what you do.

4. What other people say about you counts.

AI doesn't just read what you say about yourself. It repeats what it finds about you elsewhere. So being mentioned positively on credible domains like LinkedIn and YouTube makes a real difference to whether you show up at all.

5. Say the same thing everywhere.

AI pieces together a picture of you from everything it finds online. If your message is different on your website, your LinkedIn and your podcast bio, it’ll get confused. But keep your message consistent and that picture gets sharper. Another reason why messaging is so important!

6. Start by just looking.

This is the easiest first step. Open ChatGPT in private mode and ask about your niche, the way a potential client would. See if you come up, and see what it says about you. That gives you the most important info about your GEO standing right now.

Getting GEO to work in your favor doesn’t mean becoming super technical or rebuilding your website overnight.

It mostly comes down to:

• being clear about who you help
• saying it consistently everywhere you show up
• making sure the good things about you are easy to find

Which happens to be the same thing that makes a website work for human visitors too!

Hope this helps,

Jennie

P.S. If getting your website ready for AI search keeps sliding down your to-do list (the way Erikka's redesign did for years), that's exactly what my team and I are here for. Head here to tell me about your project.