Over the past two years, a new battleground has quietly emerged for companies doing online marketing: AI search. When users ask Doubao, Tongyi Qianwen, or DeepSeek questions like "which factory can do custom non-standard manufacturing" or "which local renovation company is reliable," if your company isn't in the AI's answer, that traffic goes to your competitors. Yunxuan Network Technology has served enterprise clients nationwide for 20 years, from website development and SEO to Baidu Promotion and feed advertising, and we have always helped clients solve the problem of "how to be found." In this article, we want to explain, from a service provider's perspective, Generative Engine Optimization and GEO: what it is, how to do it, how it works with Baidu Promotion, and which pitfalls companies are likely to hit when doing it themselves.
1. What Is Generative Engine Optimization, and Why Companies Need to Do It Now
Generative Engine Optimization, often written as GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), refers to optimizing content for AI generative search platforms so that a company's brand, products, and service information are more easily crawled, understood, and cited by AI in its answers. Its goal is the same as traditional SEO—letting customers find you—but the path has changed: traditional SEO competes for rankings on the search results page, while GEO competes for the "right to be mentioned" in AI answers.
Why do it now? Three practical reasons:
- User search habits are shifting. More and more customers no longer scroll through search results one by one; they ask AI directly, hoping for an integrated answer. Whomever AI recommends is whom customers encounter first.
- AI platforms' content pools are still being built. The content crawling and citation rules of platforms such as Doubao, Qianwen, and DeepSeek are not yet fixed, so companies that lay the groundwork early are more likely to be included and cited, gaining a first-mover advantage.
- GEO does not conflict with existing promotion. It is complementary to Baidu Promotion and website SEO, not a replacement. When a brand name appears in an AI answer and users search for it afterward, the conversion path is actually shorter.
Yunxuan Network Technology's GEO service focuses on AI platforms such as Doubao, Qianwen, and DeepSeek, helping companies organize content structure, build authoritative sources, cover Q&A scenarios, and monitor results. We do not promise "guaranteed AI recommendations," because that would not be true; what we do is increase the probability of being included and cited, and make that probability trackable and optimizable.
2. How to Do GEO: A Four-Step Implementation Method from Content to Technology
Many companies think GEO means publishing a few more articles, but it is far more than that. When we do GEO for clients, we usually follow four steps.
1. Build a question bank of "how AI will be asked"
Don't rush to write content; first figure out what customers will ask AI. We usually build a question bank from three dimensions: general industry questions (such as "how to choose non-standard automation equipment"), location-related questions (such as "which engineering supervision company in Zhanjiang is good"), and brand comparison questions (such as "which is more reliable, XX or YY"). The closer the question bank is to real questions, the easier it is for content to match AI. In this step, we combine clients' historical inquiry records, Baidu Promotion search term reports, and industry community discussions to avoid guesswork.
2. Build a content structure that "AI is willing to cite"
AI prefers content that is clearly structured, information-dense, and from credible sources. Specific practices include:
- Writing company introductions, product parameters, and service processes in Q&A or bullet form so AI can extract them easily;
- Setting up columns such as "FAQ," "Industry Encyclopedia," and "Selection Guide" on the official website to form a content matrix;
- Marking each piece of content with the author, update time, and data source to improve credibility;
- Avoiding keyword stuffing and explaining one thing thoroughly in natural language, which AI finds easier to understand.
One reminder here: GEO does not mean turning your official website into a keyword list page. AI's ability to identify low-quality repetitive content is improving, so stuffing is actually harmful.
3. Lay out sources across multiple platforms, not just the official website
AI crawls content from a wide range of sources, including company websites, encyclopedias, industry media, Q&A communities, and short-video copy. Our approach is to help clients build a source network with "the official website as the core and multiple platforms as supplements": the official website explains services clearly, industry media publishes in-depth content, Q&A platforms provide real answers, and short videos present core selling points in colloquial language. The richer and more consistent the sources, the more stable AI's perception of the brand.
4. Monitor and iterate, and let data speak
Monitoring GEO results is harder than traditional SEO because AI answers are dynamically generated. We regularly test questions from the question bank on mainstream AI platforms, record how many times the brand is mentioned, whether the description is accurate, and which sources are cited, then supplement content accordingly. This process requires patience; we usually look at trends on a quarterly basis rather than drawing conclusions after a few days.
3. How Baidu Promotion and GEO Work Together So Results Aren't Wasted
Clients often ask: if we do GEO, should we still invest in Baidu Promotion? Our answer is clear: yes, and the two should be coordinated.
Baidu Promotion addresses "immediate demand"—a customer searches a keyword, sees an ad, clicks in, and inquires. The path is short and highly controllable, suitable for capturing precise traffic and quickly validating the market. GEO addresses "pre-cognition"—before customers search for specific keywords, they first encounter you in AI answers, and when they have a need, the brand is already on the candidate list. One targets "active search," the other targets "passive recommendation," covering different stages of customer decision-making.
For specific coordination, we usually operate as follows:
- Keyword exchange. Add high-converting search terms from Baidu Promotion back into the GEO question bank, because these terms represent real demand; take frequently appearing questions on AI platforms and use them for keyword expansion tests in Baidu Promotion to verify search volume.
- Landing page reuse. If a Baidu Promotion landing page is clearly structured and complete in Q&A, it is itself a high-quality content source for GEO—two goals in one move.
- Data comparison. Compare changes in brand-term search volume before and after launch. If GEO improves brand awareness, brand-term searches usually rise, and this organic traffic lowers overall customer acquisition cost.
- Budget allocation. We suggest SMEs first get Baidu Promotion running well and validate the conversion model, then allocate part of the budget to GEO for long-term layout. The ratio can start at 8:2 and be adjusted gradually.
It is worth emphasizing that we also provide bid management for Baidu Promotion, but the core of management is not "helping you spend money" but "helping you spend every cent where it can bring inquiries." GEO and Baidu Promotion are coordinated by the same team with connected data, avoiding separate efforts that conflict with each other.
4. The Four Most Common Pitfalls When Companies Do GEO Themselves
We have served many clients who tried GEO on their own before coming to us, with unsatisfactory results. In summary, there are four common problems.
Pitfall 1: Treating GEO as a publishing-volume contest
They think the more articles the better, but the content ends up highly homogenized, AI does not include it, and users do not want to read it. The right approach is fewer but better pieces: each one solves a specific problem with accurate information and clear structure, which is more useful than ten watered-down articles.
Pitfall 2: The website's underlying architecture does not support AI crawling
Some company websites were built years ago, with messy code, poor mobile experience, and content displayed as images, making AI crawling difficult. GEO requires the website itself to be readable, crawlable, and indexable. That is why we suggest companies consider SEO and GEO underlying architecture during website development rather than remedying it afterward.
Pitfall 3: Doing only the official website and ignoring external sources
AI answers often cite multiple sources, and the official website is only one of them. If your information is absent from industry media and Q&A communities, AI's understanding of you will be limited. Source building must be systematic, not single-point.
Pitfall 4: Expecting immediate results
GEO works at the cognitive level, and results take time to emerge. We generally suggest clients evaluate on a quarterly cycle, looking at changes in brand mention rate, description accuracy, brand-term search volume, and other indicators, rather than giving up because AI did not recommend them within a week.
5. From Website Building to Promotion to GEO: How One Closed Loop Runs
Yunxuan Network Technology's service logic is a one-stop closed loop of "website building—promotion—AI tools—GEO," not selling services separately but making each link support the others.
Step one, corporate website development. We provide custom development with PC and mobile adaptation, an underlying architecture that accommodates both search engines and AI retrieval and inclusion, and content structure designed according to Q&A logic, laying the foundation for subsequent SEO and GEO.
Step two, full-network promotion. Baidu Promotion, feed ads, and short-video channels are combined according to the client's industry and budget, first getting precise traffic running and validating the conversion model. The bid management team optimizes accounts in parallel and controls invalid clicks.
Step three, AI agent development. A company-specific digital assistant for Q&A, reception, and lead generation handles nighttime inquiries and repetitive questions, capturing traffic and retaining leads. After one engineering company we served launched an agent, its nighttime inquiry lead-retention rate improved noticeably.
Step four, GEO. Based on the official website and promotion data, we optimize content and build sources on AI platforms to capture recommended positions in AI search. This step is not isolated; the content and data accumulated in the first three steps are all materials for GEO.
With this closed loop running, companies gain not just traffic but a sustainable customer acquisition system: the website can receive, promotion can drive traffic, AI tools can handle reception, and GEO can build pre-cognition. SME clients across the country, regardless of industry, can tailor and combine this framework.
6. A Few Practical Suggestions for Enterprise Clients Nationwide
Finally, based on our experience serving clients nationwide, here are a few suggestions for companies considering GEO and Baidu Promotion:
- Diagnose first, then invest. Check whether the official website can be crawled normally, whether the content structure is clear, and whether the historical data of the Baidu Promotion account is healthy, then decide how to allocate the budget.
- Don't separate GEO from SEO. The underlying logic is the same—content quality and structure—so doing them together is more efficient.
- Choose a service provider by method, not promises. Any claim of "guaranteed AI recommendations" or "guaranteed No. 1 ranking" deserves caution. A reliable service provider will tell you what it will do, how results are measured, and how long the cycle is.
- Have an internal contact person. GEO requires companies to provide real business information, case materials, and industry knowledge; no matter how professional the service provider is, it cannot replace the company's own accumulation.
- Measure results by inquiry quality, not exposure alone. No matter how much traffic there is, imprecise inquiries are a waste. Our performance-based customer acquisition ultimately looks at the number of valid inquiries and conversion cost.
Generative Engine Optimization and GEO are still in their early stages; rules will change and platforms will change, but companies' need to "be found by customers" will not. Yunxuan Network Technology's approach is: build a solid foundation, make content solid, understand the data clearly, and then keep adjusting as platforms change. If you are considering laying out AI search traffic, or want to review your existing combination of Baidu Promotion and full-network promotion, welcome to talk with us. We serve enterprise clients nationwide, and from website development to GEO, from Baidu Promotion to AI agents, we can create a plan based on your actual needs.