Why IBM says every brand now needs a GEO playbook

Search has changed, and brands need to catch up fast, according to IBM’s Alexis Zamkow (global lead of Marketing Transformation solutions) and Sandhya Ranganathan Iyer (associate partner – AI), speaking yesterday at Adobe Summit.

AI tools don’t just help people search. They answer questions, compare products, and recommend brands. In many cases, users never even visit a website.

That means if your brand isn’t part of the AI-generated answer, you may not be part of the decision.

To keep up, brands need more than new tactics. They need a system — a GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) playbook. Here’s a recap of their presentation, Adapt or Disappear: How Brands Win with AI-Powered Search.

The AI shift: You’re marketing to machines

AI agents now sit between you and your customer.

They take a complex market and simplify it. They decide what information to show. And they often speak on your behalf.

• “These machines are disintermediating the brand experience,” Zamkow said.

At the same time:

• Consumers are using AI for research and decisions
• Businesses are adopting it even faster
• Many searches now end without a click

Zamkow said an estimated 75% of search visibility could shift to AI agents in the next two years.

That’s why visibility today depends on being part of the answer itself.

The GEO playbook: 12 components every brand needs

To respond, the speakers outlined a 12-part playbook. It spans content, technology, and operations.

1. Strategic content foundations

Your content must tell one clear story — everywhere.

That includes your website, PR, social, and third-party mentions. If each channel says something different, AI won’t trust your brand.

For example, if your site highlights premium quality, but reviews focus on low price, that mixed message weakens your authority.

Consistency builds trust for people and machines.

2. Retrieval-grade passage standards

AI doesn’t rank webpages. It extracts answers. So your content must be easy to extract.

Good content looks like:

• Clear questions and answers.
• Short, focused sections.
• Direct language.

For example, instead of a long paragraph, write:

• Question: What are the best running shoes for beginners?
• Answer: A short, clear response

This makes it easier for AI to reuse your content in answers.

3. Technical foundations

Even great content won’t work if AI can’t read it.

Machines rely on:

• Clean HTML (not just visual design)
• Structured data (schema, metadata)
• Pages that load content directly

One example from the session: a beautiful website appeared to AI as “a headline and a blank page.”

If your content isn’t readable, it won’t be used.

4. On-site search + genAI search alignment

Start with your own site.

If your internal search — especially AI-powered search — works well, you’re already ahead.

Think of it this way: If your own system can’t find answers on your site, external AI tools won’t either

Strong internal search helps train your content for external visibility.

5. AI search citation qualification model

In GEO, the goal isn’t just to be mentioned. It’s to be cited.

• Mentions mean you show up.
• Citations mean AI trusts you.

AI looks for signals like:

• Clear expertise.
• Consistent messaging.
• Agreement across sources.

Zamkow called citations the “holy grail” of visibility.

6. Extraction optimization

AI tools pull content from many places and combine it.

To be included, your content must be:

• Easy to extract.
• Clearly structured.
• Rich in context.

If your content is hard to break apart, AI will skip it and use something else.

7. Real estate: third-party strategy

Your website is no longer your main source of visibility.

• 85% of mentions come from external domains.
• Third-party content drives most citations.

That includes:

• Reddit
• Social media
• Reviews and forums
• Media coverage

This means your PR and social teams are now critical to search success.

Your brand lives across the internet — not just on your site.

8. Measurement, KPIs, and reporting

Old metrics don’t tell the full story anymore.

Instead of just tracking clicks, you need to track:

• How often AI mentions your brand.
• Where you’re cited.
• Which platforms show your content.

The key question changes from “Did we get traffic?” to “Did AI recommend us?”

9. SOPs (standard operating procedures)

Consistency doesn’t happen by accident. Teams need clear rules for:

• How content is written.
• How it is structured.
• How it is published.

Without SOPs, different teams will create different formats. That confuses AI and weakens your visibility.

10. Prompting best practices

Search is now conversational.

While people still type keywords, they are increasingly describing their needs using more conversational language. For example:

• Old search: “running shoes”
• New search: “I’m training for a marathon. What shoes should I buy?”

Your content needs to match these types of questions.

That means thinking like the user — and writing like the answer.

11. Change management

This shift affects the whole organization.

Marketing, IT, PR, and product teams all play a role.

That means:

• Training teams on new workflows.
• Aligning goals and KPIs.
• Breaking down silos.

This is bigger than just a marketing update. It’s a company-wide change.

12. Governance + versioning

GEO is never finished.

AI systems change constantly. Competitors update content. Rankings shift fast.

To keep up, brands need:

• Ongoing monitoring.
• Regular content updates.
• Clear ownership of changes.

If your content becomes outdated, you can quickly lose your position in AI answers.

From SEO tactics to GEO systems

The GEO playbook reflects a larger change in how marketing works:

• From keywords to prompts.
• From links to citations.
• From websites to ecosystems.
• From traffic to answer eligibility.
• From campaigns to continuous content.

The focus has shifted to building a system that consistently feeds AI the right information.

This is now a leadership issue

This shift is already reaching the top of the organization.

In one example, a product leader asked why their brand didn’t show up in an AI recommendation. The issue quickly escalated beyond marketing.

• “This is not a problem for your SEO team,” Zamkow said. “This is at the CEO level.”

As AI becomes the front door to discovery, every leader will care about visibility.

Adapt or disappear

AI is already shaping how people discover and choose brands.

Consumers trust it. Businesses are using it. And it’s growing fast.

Brands that build and follow a clear GEO playbook — across all 12 components — will stay visible.

Everyone else risks being left out of the answer.

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