SEO vs. AI: What Female Entrepreneurs Need to Know to Stay Visible Online
Is SEO Dead?
If you’ve spent time learning SEO over the years, you might be wondering: “Is this still relevant?” The short answer is yes. SEO isn’t dead; but it has evolved. What has changed is the way people search and the role AI is playing in delivering answers. I have some very specific guidance for how clients can continue to position themselves in front of prospective customers, which I’ll share with you in this article.
Women who have taken our SEO Glow Up course can rest assured: The strong foundation you already built through that course will continue to serve you well in the era of GEO.
Enter GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), the next evolution in online visibility. For female entrepreneurs who want to stay ahead, understanding the difference between SEO and GEO, and adjusting your strategy accordingly, is essential.
In this post, we’ll compare SEO vs. GEO and share five practical ways to adapt your strategy for AI-driven search.
SEO vs. GEO: What’s the Difference?
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) has been around for decades. Its primary goal is simple: get your website to rank on search engines like Google. Traditional SEO focuses ranking high in the “ten blue links,” i.e. Google, on:
Keywords and phrases people type into search engines - there was a heavy emphasis on drilling down the exact right words to use to gain visibility.
Backlinks and authority signals - spoiler, this is even more relevant now. We’ll talk more about this in a bit.
Technical performance like site speed and mobile optimization - Because SEO relied on visitors viewing your page, how fast the pages loaded was highly relevant.
On-page content optimization for relevance and clarity - For years, I told clients, write for people, not search engines, but all of that is changing.
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), on the other hand, is designed for AI-powered search and generative tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google SGE. These tools are highly effective at synthesizing data. The goal here is not just to rank; it’s to be trusted, cited, and referenced by AI.
GEO emphasizes:
Structured, clear content that AI can understand and summarize
Conversational writing that directly answers questions (I used to tell clients to write like it’s an eighth grade research paper, but even that is a bit formal now).
Authority and credibility signals that make AI choose your content as a reference
Content designed for summarization, snippets, and direct answers
In short: SEO gets your content discovered on traditional search; GEO ensures your content is used and cited in AI-generated answers.
What’s Shifting?
First, I’ll share a handful of things you need to be prepared for if you’re a female business owner managing your online presence (Thankfully, we handle this for clients with our Founding Females® marketing division, so reach out if you have any questions!)
Long-form content it’s getting its moment - AI models want answers from comprehensive sources. I’m telling clients to integrate a fresh long-form piece of blog content (Aim for 5,000 words!) at least every quarter.
Sources matter - Back to eighth grade. You may be able to write more conversationally, but sources really matter because AI models want to know that the information originated from a authoratative source. This is different from traditional SEO strategy because we used to keep visitors on our site as long as possible, which meant avoiding linking out at all costs. It also means you could easily go back and update your existing content for GEO by adding relevant sources.
Cross-channel authority matters - This doesn’t mean be everywhere or everything to everyone, but you should be showing up on relevant channels and showing your authority.
Scheme markup and structured data - This technical strategy allows AI models to understand the nature of your content without crawling every line of copy.
FAQs - AI search is predicated on people asking questions, so if you’re answering those questions in your content, you’ll be way more likely to be an authority when AI generates the answer.
Make it clear what you’re known for - Yes, my friend, that means you should have primary content pillars and sub pillars that help you build trust as the authority on the overarching topic.
PR - It’s never been more important to validate your authority with mentions and media features. See how this is shifting our marketing strategies beyond content creation?
5 Ways Female Entrepreneurs Can Adjust Their Strategy for the Era of AI
Here are actionable ways to evolve your SEO strategy into one that’s GEO-ready:
1. Audit Your Existing Content for AI Friendliness
Go through your website and look for content that answers specific questions. Is it clear and structured? Could an AI easily pull your answer and summarize it? Break content into concise, scannable sections with headings and bullet points.
2. Write Conversationally and Authentically
AI favors content written like people actually speak. Instead of stuffing keywords, focus on writing as if you’re answering your ideal client’s questions directly. FAQs, “how-to” guides, and step-by-step content work particularly well.
3. Build Authority Signals
GEO requires trust and credibility. Make sure your site shows expertise with:
Author bios with credentials
Client testimonials or case studies
Features, press mentions, or collaborations (Peek our Press Release 101 course which has been a big hit in our community for landing media interviews and features!)
AI algorithms favor sources it considers authoritative. Your online credibility matters more than ever.
4. Implement Structured Data Where Possible
Schema markup isn’t just for SEO anymore. It helps AI parse your content and determine what’s relevant. Implementing structured data for your services, FAQ, products, and blog posts improves the likelihood your content will be accurately referenced in AI-generated answers.
5. Keep SEO Fundamentals in Place
Don’t abandon everything you’ve learned, especially if you’ve taken our SEO Glow Up Course - Clients who implemented takeaways from our course are getting found in AI searches without even changing their strategy based on what they learned in that course - it’s still highly relevant!
Traditional SEO still matters. Keywords, metadata, internal linking, site speed, and mobile optimization remain foundational. Think of GEO as layering AI visibility on top of your SEO base. One doesn’t replace the other; they work together.
Final Takeaway: What Female Entrepreneurs Need to Know About GEO
SEO isn’t dead, but it is evolving. For female entrepreneurs, the key is to adapt your strategy so your content is both discoverable in traditional search and cited in AI-generated results. By auditing your content, writing conversationally, boosting authority signals, adding structured data, and keeping your SEO fundamentals strong, you can position your business to lead in this new era of search.
The era of AI search is already here and now is the time to leverage the momentum. The sooner you start evolving your SEO into a GEO-ready strategy, the sooner your business will stay visible, trusted, and relevant to the people who matter most: your ideal clients.
P.S. Here are some of my other top favorite female small business resources:
Dream, Build, Grow Free Resource Suite - free business templates for your business plan, marketing plan, ideal client persona, financial statements, and more!
Founding Females Community - an online female mastermind space for entrepreneurs to connect, support, and get inspired
Dream, Build, Grow: A Female’s Step-by-Step Guide for How to Start a Business - a guided handbook including everything you need to know from business idea to launch to profiting and scaling your business.
Free Downloads for Female Entrepreneurs
Free PDF Download: 25 Ways to Market Your Business (Aside from Social Media)
Free PDF Download: 33 keys to Business Success
Free PDF Download: SEO Tips for Entrepreneurs
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About Founding Females®
The mission of Founding Females® is to help women build thriving businesses. We create safe spaces for women to share business challenges and receive peer support.
In addition, Founding Females® offers an online female business mastermind, a how-to guidebook for female entrepreneurs called Dream, Build, Grow: A Female’s Step-by-Step Guide for How to Start a Business, and in-person events, like an annual women’s business conference and local Founding Females® Meet Ups.
Founding Females® was founded by small business educator, Francie Hinrichsen. She believes anyone with a dream on their heart can pull up a seat to change the world through entrepreneurship. Click to learn more about working with Francie.
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If you’ve spent time learning SEO, you already know the basics: use keywords your audience searches for, add keywords in important places across your site, create long-form valuable content, earn backlinks, and structure your site so Google can easily understand it. But all of that has changed. Welcome to GEO: Generative Engine Optimization. Click to view…