Session Title：Generative AI & GEO: the new SEO race and how to winIn April 2025, MediaReach, Inc. participated in brightonSEO Spring 2025, one of the world’s largest search marketing conferences held in Brighton, UK. As the fusion of AI and search continues to accelerate, one question echoed throughout the event: How will generative AI reshape the future of SEO?This report highlights the session titled "Generative AI & GEO: the new SEO race and how to win" by Metehan Yesilyurt, Growth Lead at App Samurai (Turkey), offering insights into the mindset and practical strategies SEO professionals need in this new era. It explores how optimizing for AI-first search engines requires a fundamentally different approach—moving beyond traditional tactics to embrace structured, context-rich, and machine-readable content design.Written by Ayaka UchidaSEO Consultant, MediaReach, Inc.1. Executive SummaryThis session, presented by Metehan Yesilyurt (Growth Lead at App Samurai in Turkey), explored how SEO professionals can adapt to the rapid rise of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Google SGE, Perplexity, and other AI search engines.With a focus on technical integration and content structure, the speaker emphasized how AI systems use and interpret online content, and how SEOs can shape their sites to better align with AI-driven retrieval models.The presentation provided a comprehensive comparison between AI search engines and traditional SERPs, highlighting differences in context retention, source citation, and user engagement.It introduced practical workflows using Google Cloud tools, embedding models, and structured data to enhance content discoverability in generative environments.The speaker shared specific steps for implementing Google Cloud Console's Discovery Engine to test how AI might interpret and extract website content.2. Session DetailsSession Title: Generative AI & GEO: the new SEO race and how to winSpeaker: Metehan Yesilyurt (Growth Lead, App Samurai)Date / Time: Thursday, April 10, 2025 — 04:50 PMVenue: Auditorium 1, Brighton Centre, Kings Road, Brighton and Hove, Brighton, BN1 2GR, United KingdomEvent: BrightonSEO Spring 2025Session Link: https://brightonseo.com/talks/generative-ai-and-geo-the-new-seo-race-and-how-to-win3. Report Details3-1. Context and BackgroundThe landscape of search is shifting dramatically with the integration of generative AI technologies. This session tackled the question: how do we optimize for AI-first search engines?The speaker began with a historical perspective, referencing SEO milestones from the mid-2000s to present day, from the era of meta keywords to the evolution of mobile-first indexing, and now to AI-driven search.He noted the exponential user growth of generative AI platforms like ChatGPT, which he predicted would soon reach a billion daily users.Rather than focusing solely on keywords or backlinks, the speaker argued for a paradigm shift—optimizing for AI means structuring content that's machine-readable, semantically rich, and deeply contextualized.He shared Google's latest tools like the Discovery Engine in Google Cloud Console, highlighted the importance of entity relationships, and showed how embedding models can be used to shape and analyze content relevance across thousands of dimensions.3-2. Key Messages and TakeawaysAI search engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Grok) extract, summarize, and re-rank web content based on relationship depth and token length.Google AI Overviews provides limited follow-ups and context, while standalone AI engines retain broader engagement and conversational context.Embedding models (Google's latest generalized embedding model supporting 3k+ dimensions, OpenAI) allow deep semantic analysis of content structure and are essential for future SEO.AI-first optimization includes: using Google Cloud Discovery Engine to test your site's content, implementing structured data (with over 800 types and 1.5k properties available), and analyzing paragraph-level triggers.Meta licensing and opt-out headers between head tags may impact AI training exposure, with the speaker recommending inserting these meta classes to control how content is used for model training.SEO must evolve toward structured, context-rich, machine-optimized content modeling that emphasizes entity relationships rather than keyword repetition.YouTube videos appear to work better for Google AI Overviews and Perplexity, though they're not dominating in results yet.Academic partnerships and citations through platforms like Academia.edu can improve website authority for AI citations.3-3. Visual Materials and SlidesFigure 1: SEO milestones from the mid-2000s to present day - from meta keywords to AI-driven searc：Figure 2: Comparison chart: Google AI Overviews vs generative AI search engines - key differences in information retrieval and user engagement：Figure 3: Mobile app usage growth chart - depicting the shift from web browsing to app-based interactions：Figure 4: Starting point workflow diagram for AI optimization - showing technical SEO, schema markup, and embedding model integration：Figure 5: Embedding models visualization - Graph showing embedding values across 3072 dimensions used for semantic content analysis：Figure 6: Google Cloud Console discovery engine interface - step-by-step setup for integrating website content：Figure 7:Step-by-step instructions for setting up Google Cloud Discovery Engine - Initial configuration steps for website integration：3-4. Practical SEO ImplicationsShort-term:Audit and revise content for semantic clarity and structured markupExperiment with Discovery Engine and Google Cloud embeddings to understand how AI interprets your contentIdentify which content segments are triggering AI responses by testing your key pages against AI modelsCheck server logs and implement appropriate meta licensing tags to control AI training exposure Insert question-answer formats based on AI-generated questions about your contentLong-term:Build scalable content strategies aligned with AI retrieval modelsExplore multi-format content strategies (video, structured text, academic links)Monitor visibility and citations across AI platforms and fine-tune accordingly Build academic authority through university partnerships and research citationsCreate content that emphasizes relationships between entities rather than keyword repetitionTest content with both Google AI Overviews and standalone AI search engines to ensure visibility across ecosystems3-5. On-site ImpressionsThis session was part of the "AI and the Future of SEO" track, which attracted strong attention throughout the conference. While many sessions this year focused on AI, this one clearly stood out by directly addressing how AI intersects with current SEO practice and future workflows.The venue was fully engaged, and it was evident from the audience response that this topic resonated as one of the most relevant and forward-looking discussions of the day.The speaker's mix of historical context, technical explanation, and practical implementation steps provided a comprehensive framework for SEO professionals adapting to the AI revolution in search.3-6. Personal ReflectionOne insight that really stayed with me was the speaker's point that in order for content to be "used" by AI, it must have clearly defined relationships—machine-usable context matters.I appreciated how the session didn't stop at theory, but provided concrete advice on how to build and analyze AI-ready content.It reminded me that effective SEO in the AI era isn't one-dimensional—it requires multifaceted thinking and an understanding of how different systems interact with data. It also made me wonder: is this awareness common? Or is it still an overlooked layer that only some of us are really internalizing?4. Supplementary MaterialsSpeaker Deck (Metehan Yesilyurt): https://speakerdeck.com/metehanyesilyurt/brightonseo-metehan-yesilyurt-generative-ai-and-geo-the-new-seo-race-and-how-to-winWritten by Ayaka UchidaSEO Consultant, MediaReach, Inc.