Publishers Face GEO Vendor Optimization Boom

Digiday reports a cottage industry of generative engine optimization (GEO) vendors has emerged, pitching publishers and brands on AI search visibility, with investors funding roughly $227 million into visibility-tracking services. SEO experts warn many GEO tactics repackage traditional SEO or actively harm organic traffic—one investigated case lost 66 percent—while publishers with strong SEO, like The Washington Post, saw LLM referrals grow 16 percent.