Sit down. Pour yourself a coffee. Because what I'm about to tell you is possibly the most important thing you'll hear about online marketing in 2026.

What you've been calling your "SEO strategy" for the past ten years — those keywords, blog posts, Google rankings — all of that is changing right now. Not slowly. Not gradually. Literally right now, as you read this.

And no, this is not a reason to panic. It's a massive opportunity — for those who understand it before their competition does.

So let's look at what's happening, why, and most importantly — what you can do about it this very week.

What changed (and why you feel it even if you can't name it)

Imagine your friend. Her name is Lucy. Lucy wants to buy a coffee machine.

Two years ago she would have done what everyone did: googled "best coffee machine 2024", clicked the first three results, read reviews, made a decision.

Today? Lucy opens ChatGPT. She types: "I need a coffee machine under €400, I make cappuccino every morning, I have a small kitchen."

And AI spits out a ready-made answer. With specific models. With a recommendation. With an explanation of why exactly these.

Lucy didn't click on Google. Lucy never saw your beautiful landing page. Lucy didn't pass through your ad.

Lucy bought what AI recommended.

And here comes the important question — not offensive, but practical: does AI know enough about your business to recommend you? Or will it recommend your competitor?

Because one of those things is happening. Right now. And you decide which one by what you do in the coming months.

Welcome to the GEO era

GEO. Generative Engine Optimization. Remember these three letters — in six months you'll be hearing them everywhere.

While SEO was about appealing to Google's algorithm, GEO is about becoming a source that ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Google AI Overviews trust enough to cite in their answers.

That sounds abstract, I know. So let's approach it differently.

How AI actually chooses who to recommend (without the technical jargon)

Imagine AI is like a very well-read friend. The one who always knows where to go for dinner, which hotel to book, which dentist to choose. Not because she remembers everything — but because she has a system for sorting information.

And you need to understand exactly this system. Here's what AI looks for when deciding who to cite:

  1. Source credibility — AI asks: "Who wrote this? Do they know what they're talking about? Do they have real experience?" Anonymous articles without an author, without references, without context — AI is happy to skip those.
  2. Depth, not breadth — AI doesn't look for an article that superficially covers 10 topics. It looks for one that goes deep on a single one. If you have 1 article about "how to remove grease from an induction hob without chemicals", AI loves it.
  3. Structure that AI can read — clear headings, subheadings, FAQ sections, and structured data.
  4. Originality and opinion — a fresh angle, your own data, your own experience.
  5. Citations elsewhere on the web — a mention in a podcast, a guest article, a review on another blog.

What this means in practice (and why it's actually good news)

Here's something that might surprise you: the AI era is fairer than the Google era.

In the old world, those with bigger budgets for SEO agencies and backlink farms won. Today, those with the best content and real expertise win. A small local business with an authentic voice can now "outrank" a big corporate brand in a ChatGPT response — because AI isn't looking for who has the most money. It's looking for who has the best answer.

Fewer visitors, more customers. That's the new math.

What you can do this very week

Here are 5 concrete steps, no theory:

  1. Run an AI audit (free, 5 minutes). Open Claude AI. Type: "What are the best [your category] in [your city/area]?" Are you in the results? Great, you have a foundation. Not there? Now you know what needs to change.
  2. Start writing for people, not for an algorithm. Imagine explaining something to a friend over coffee. Write like that.
  3. Pick one main topic and build around it. Not 50 articles about everything. Instead, 15 interconnected articles that together cover one topic so thoroughly that AI has nowhere else to go.
  4. Check the technical basics. Schema markup, FAQ sections, clear structure.
  5. Get mentioned elsewhere. Podcasts. Guest articles. Collaborations.

One final thought

You don't have to do everything at once. You don't need a perfect strategy by tomorrow. But you do need to start.

Because what's happening now in the AI world will happen with or without you. And the difference between being in a Claude/ChatGPT/Perplexity response or not will show up very concretely in a year or two — in the number of customers, in revenue, in whether your audience can find you when they need you.

Good news? We're at the beginning. The game is being set up right now. And the position you claim in it now will last for years.

So start. Step by step. And if you need a guide, get in touch. We'll run an AI audit for you and show you where you stand now — and where you can get to.