What happens when B2B buyers search.

The way B2B buyers look for answers has quietly changed.

Instead of opening ten tabs and comparing sources, they ask a question and get a single response. That response summarises the landscape, frames the problem, and often suggests a direction. By the time a buyer reaches a website, an opinion has already formed.

This matters because those answers don’t come from nowhere. They are built from sources that generative systems can access, understand, and trust. If your company isn’t part of that pool, it’s not just hard to find. It’s missing from the conversation entirely.

Generative engine optimisation, or GEO, is the work of making sure your company’s knowledge is usable inside those answers. Not louder. Not more persuasive. Just clear enough to be reused correctly.

How generative systems decide what to include

Generative systems work with two kinds of information at the same time.

One part comes from long-term training. Over time, models absorb patterns from public sources like Wikipedia, academic research, industry publications, and well-structured corporate content. Brands that appear consistently in these environments become associated with specific topics and problems.

The other part comes from real-time retrieval. When a question is asked, the system pulls live documents, processes what it can within a limited window, and constructs an answer from that material.

This explains why visibility is uneven. Some sources shape the answer. Others appear briefly. Many never show up at all.

The difference is rarely originality. It’s usually clarity.

Your website is no longer a destination

In this model, your website’s primary role isn’t to attract traffic. It’s to act as a reliable reference point.

• If a page is slow, unclear, or hard to parse, it’s ignored.
• If the core idea is buried, it’s missed.
• If claims aren’t grounded, they’re treated cautiously.

Generative systems optimise for speed and certainty. Content that reduces uncertainty gets reused. Content that introduces it gets skipped.

Why files suddenly matter

Some of the most important GEO work happens outside visible content.

Files like llms.txt exist to remove ambiguity. They tell generative systems what your company does and which pages represent its core knowledge. Without that guidance, systems infer meaning from fragments.

robots.txt determines whether AI crawlers can read your site at all. Blocking real-time retrieval bots doesn’t protect your content. It removes you from answers.

sitemap.xml helps systems find what matters quickly. Pages that are easy to discover and load are favoured. Pages that are hidden or bloated fall out of consideration.

None of this affects how your site looks. All of it affects whether it is understood.

Why most B2B content doesn’t survive contact with AI

Traditional B2B content is written to persuade. Generative systems aren’t persuaded. They’re selective.

They look for pages that answer a question directly. Introductions that delay the point create friction. Positioning language without substance adds noise.

Headings written as real questions work because they match how people ask things. Short paragraphs work because they can stand on their own. Lists and tables work because relationships are explicit.

This isn’t about writing style. It’s about reducing the effort required to understand what something is and why it exists.

Why data changes everything

Generative systems are designed to avoid making things up. To do that, they favour information that appears anchored to reality.

Specific numbers carry more weight than general statements. A statistic is easier to repeat than a claim.

Quotes from named experts help because they attach knowledge to a real person. Anonymous “we believe” statements don’t travel far.

External references matter because they show where information comes from. Content that sits in isolation is less likely to be reused than content that’s clearly connected to established sources.

This is why original research, benchmarks, and clearly written case studies punch above their weight. They’re not marketing assets. They’re inputs into how answers get formed.

Structure beats volume

More content doesn’t help if it’s unclear.

Structured data exists to make meaning explicit. Schema markup tells systems what your organisation is, who your experts are, and how questions relate to answers. It reduces misinterpretation.

FAQ schema works especially well because it mirrors how generative systems already operate. A clear question followed by a clear answer is easy to ingest and reuse.

Authorship matters for the same reason. Knowledge attached to a real person is treated differently from anonymous content.

Authority lives beyond your site

No company defines itself in isolation.

Generative models are trained heavily on third-party sources. Industry publications, academic work, policy documents, Wikipedia, and structured databases shape what the system considers reliable.

This is why external mentions now influence visibility directly. Not because of links, but because they become part of the model’s memory.

If your company is described inaccurately elsewhere, that framing spreads. If it’s described clearly and consistently, that clarity compounds.

How to tell if GEO is working

Traditional analytics only tell part of the story.

The real question is whether your company appears when relevant questions are asked. How often. How early. In what context.

Traffic from AI tools is a secondary signal. When it happens, it’s usually higher intent because the user arrives with context already formed.

Consistency matters more than spikes. Repeated, accurate inclusion means systems understand what you do.

What this work actually requires

Generative engine optimisation isn’t about gaming systems. It’s about removing ambiguity.

• Clear files.
• Clear pages.
• Clear definitions.
• Clear data.
• Clear authority.

Generative systems reuse what they can understand quickly and trust repeatedly.

If your knowledge meets those conditions, it shows up. If it doesn’t, something else will.