New Zealand businesses have spent years learning the rules of search. Publish useful pages, get links, build authority, and Google will show you.
For a long time, this playbook worked well.
It is increasingly common for AI-generated answers to exist between customers and the websites they click on.
Instead of a list of links, users can now get summaries, comparisons, and next step suggestions. In many cases, they don't even leave the results page at all.
This is quietly creating new problems for local businesses. This means that it is possible to be “visible'' without actually visiting. And if you aren't listed at all in the AI-generated answers, you don't exist for that query.
Pew Research Center research shows that users click on traditional results less often when AI summaries are displayed (8% of visits vs. 15% without AI summaries) and rarely click on links within AI summaries (about 1% of visits to pages with AI summaries). The point here is not that SEO is dead, but that relying on clicks as the primary measure of organic success is becoming dangerous.
Over the past year, this has become increasingly difficult to ignore.
What is GEO? Why is it so popular?
GEO stands for “Generation Engine Optimization”. Essentially, it’s a practice that increases the likelihood that your business will be referenced, cited, or recommended within AI-generated answers. This could include not only Google's AI capabilities, but also other answer engines and assistants that summarize the web.
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“When companies hear the word GEO, they think it's a completely different field,” says Caleb Young, founder of Impacto Agency. “It's actually an extension of good SEO. The difference is that you're optimizing for understanding and attribution, not just ranking.”
This is most important for hospitality, regional trade, healthcare providers, professional services, and e-commerce brands where the first interaction is often informational. People search for things like 'best heat pump size for a two-bedroom house' or 'how long does it take to reroof Auckland' before choosing a contact. AI Overview is great at answering these questions quickly, reducing the number of sites users visit. That's convenient for users, but unpleasant for businesses.
Confidence issues: AI can be wrong
AI answers are not always accurate. They may confuse sources, misinterpret context, or confidently state things that are not true. According to Google's guidance for site owners, AI capabilities may present content in new ways, making it even more important for publishers to focus on clear, useful content that can be interpreted accurately and quickly.
This creates a somewhat uncomfortable reality for businesses. So you're not just competing for name recognition, you're competing for a trusted name in other people's summaries. When information is unclear or inconsistent, it often goes unnoticed and is more likely to be ignored or misrepresented.
Four practical actions New Zealand businesses can take now
You don't need to rebuild your entire website to accommodate this change. However, you need to strengthen the fundamentals so that both humans and machines understand who you are, what you do, where you operate, and why they can be trusted.
1) Identify your expertise
Put real signals of experience on the page. That means naming the people behind your business, explaining their credentials where appropriate, and showing evidence of work completed. Case studies, before and after photos, certificates and clear service descriptions will help.
“AI tools look for signals that the content is coming from someone who actually knows what they are talking about,” Young says. “If you have people hiding on your site and it’s all vague marketing copy, you’re not feeding the algorithm anything solid.”
This is especially important in industries built on trust, such as healthcare, finance, legal, home services, and other safety-related industries.
2) Fix the basics: Consistent name, location, scope of service
Many small businesses have messy identity data online. Company names vary from directory to directory, addresses appear in three different formats, service areas are unclear, and about pages look like they're written for someone in particular.
From a GEO perspective, consistency helps the system connect the dots. Make sure your business name, address, phone number, business hours, and primary services match on your website, Google Business Profile, and major directories. If you serve a specific suburb or region, make that clear.
3) Structure content for easy extraction
AI systems are not impressed by clever design. They are impressed by clear information.
It sounds obvious, but this is where many sites still fail.
This often happens when companies audit older content that technically ranks higher but no longer clearly explains anything.
Use headings that match the actual questions your customers are asking. Add a short definition near the top of the page. A Frequently Asked Questions section can also be helpful if written well. Summarize key points in plain language. Optionally add schema markup for FAQs, products, reviews, local business details, and more.
Industry commentators point out that while Googlebot is good at handling modern web technologies, many AI crawlers and systems still perform best with clean HTML and predictable structure. The same improvements will also make it easier for people to scan your pages, even if you've never thought about bots or crawlers.
4) Rethink what you measure
Even if your clicks or sessions are on the decline, it doesn't necessarily mean your marketing is failing. It could mean that the search results page is providing more answers.
Start monitoring more closely the results of your calls, form submissions, reservations, quote requests, sales, and more. Track branded search demand over time. Pay attention to whether your customers say “saw it on Google” or repeat phrases that sound like AI summaries.
“Traffic is becoming a noisier metric,” Young says. “The companies that win are the ones that successfully track leads and build content that customers will choose, even if they don't click on five different sites the first time.”
Where agencies are stuck
Many marketing teams are still figuring out how to operationalize AI-driven change. A recent MarTech article citing AIDigital’s “State of AI Maturity” states that most institutions are still experimenting or building roadmaps, and some say AI is embedded in all teams. In response, concepts such as AI SEO are being used to describe how content is interpreted and prepared for reuse by AI-driven search systems, including dedicated AI SEO services that focus on information, structure, and distribution rather than just rankings.
The lesson for business owners is simple. Don't assume your current provider covers this. Ask them what difference they make in response to AI search, how they handle content quality, and how they measure business outcomes beyond rankings.
The important thing is not to “follow AI.” That should be the best answer.
SEO isn't going away. However, the center of gravity is shifting from “getting clicks” to “becoming a source.” If your website is genuinely helpful, clearly written, and backed by real-world credibility, you'll have the best chance of being included in whatever version of search your customers use next.
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