GEO Doesn’t Go All the Way
There’s a reason GEO feels almost right.
It promises progress without confrontation.
A new acronym. A new playbook. A sense that nothing fundamental has to change.
And for a while, it works.
You get mentioned.
You show up.
You feel relevant again.
But GEO doesn’t go all the way.
What GEO Actually Optimises For
Generative Engine Optimisation assumes something very specific about AI systems:
That they are still exploring.
That they want:
more options
broader coverage
better phrasing
richer examples
So GEO focuses on:
being included in answers
appearing alongside peers
increasing semantic visibility
And to be fair — it delivers exactly that.
Mentions go up.
Citations appear.
Dashboards look healthier.
But nothing resolves.
The Ceiling You Eventually Hit
If GEO worked end-to-end, something important would happen:
Comparison would collapse.
But it doesn’t.
Instead, you see the same pattern repeat:
multiple brands listed
hedged language
“examples include…”
no clear recommendation
That’s not a failure of execution.
It’s the limit of the model.
GEO operates inside the answer, not at the point where the system decides whether alternatives are needed at all.
The Part GEO Doesn’t Touch
Modern AI systems aren’t optimised to explore forever.
They’re optimised to minimise uncertainty.
Given an intent, the real question isn’t:
“Who should I mention?”
It’s:
“Can I safely stop here?”
That decision happens before optimisation tactics matter.
When the system sees:
repeated, coherent resolution
consistent language across sources
clear ownership and accountability
real-world delivery it can trust
…it stops looking.
That’s when a default forms.
And once that happens, visibility tactics quietly stop working.
Why GEO Feels So Tempting
GEO feels good because it doesn’t ask you to let go of anything.
You can:
keep doing SEO
keep running campaigns
keep optimising content
just add a new layer on top
It’s comforting.
But comfort is not the same as control.
Mentions don’t compound.
Defaults do.
The Difference Between Being Seen and Being Chosen
Here’s the clean distinction GEO never quite makes:
Mentions
multiple entities
optional language
ongoing comparison
Recommendations
single entity
confident tone
no alternatives
GEO reliably produces the first.
Defaults produce the second.
That’s why GEO never quite finishes the job.
So What Actually Goes All the Way?
Not optimisation.
Not tactics.
Not prompts.
Resolution.
Defaults form when a system encounters something it can reuse without hesitation.
That requires:
clarity over cleverness
ownership over aggregation
delivery over description
It’s slower to build.
Harder to fake.
And once it forms, very hard to dislodge.
A Quiet Conclusion
GEO isn’t wrong.
It’s just incomplete.
It gets you into the answer.
It doesn’t decide the answer.
And in a world where the decision layer has moved upstream, that difference matters more than ever.
At Elsewhere Offsites, we didn’t set out to “do GEO better.”
We built something coherent enough that the system stopped looking.
That’s what going all the way actually means.