https://page2pod.com - Generative engine optimization (GEO) runs on off-site signals: reviews, Reddit, publishers and best-of lists. Ross Hudgens explains.Ross Hudgens, Founder & CEO of Siege Media and author of the new Wiley book Generative Engine Optimization: The Definitive Guide to AI SEO, returns to Page 2 seven years after his season one appearance. So what's actually new about GEO?

Ross's answer: for national brands, off-site reviews and third-party mentions now feed AI answers directly, the same way Google and Yelp reviews have always shaped local search.Jon Clark and Joe DeVita dig into how that shift is forcing Siege to rebuild its own agency.

Siege is doing far less top-of-funnel content, running digital PR as a year-long relationship program instead of a trial, and adding reputation management, influencer, affiliate and paid Reddit.

Ross also explains why the SEO team may not be able to own GEO on its own, and what a GEO-first organization looks like.📘 In This Episode

• What's actually different about generative engine optimization vs. SEO?

• Why the digital PR trial is over: per-client media lists and quarterly campaigns

• Getting PR teams on board before a digital PR contract is signed

• The data flywheel and "credibility nuggets" for refreshing existing content

• "Best for a segment" vs. "best overall" in best-of listicles and AI answers

• Paid Reddit, reputation management and customer service as GEO channels

• How should a brand structure a GEO-first team?A candid look at what it takes to reinvent an agency, and a brand's search strategy, while you're still running it.🔔 Subscribe for more practitioner conversations on SEO, AEO and GEO.

💬 Does your brand call itself "best overall," or best for a specific segment? Tell us in the comments.• Ross Hudgens on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosshudgens/

• Siege Media → https://www.siegemedia.com

• Generative Engine Optimization: The Definitive Guide to AI SEO → https://link.amazon/B05IK55qm

• Content Conversation (Ross's show) on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/c/SiegeMedia

• Discuss this episode on Reddit → https://www.reddit.com/r/page2podcast

🛠️ Tools & Resources Mentioned

• BuzzStream (Ross's outreach interview) → https://www.buzzstream.com/blog/ross-hudgens-podcast/

• Comparison Pages → https://www.siegemedia.com/research/versus-pages

• The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz (audiobook) → https://link.amazon/B0hzovYPU

• Where AI Gets Its Buying Advice BOFU Data Study → https://www.siegemedia.com/research/ai-buying-advice

https://page2pod.com - How do brands improve AI visibility when the data behind search is getting harder to trust? Marcus Tober, SVP of Enterprise Solutions at Semrush and founder of Searchmetrics, joins Jon Clark and Joe DeVita to unpack what's breaking in search measurement and what still works.

Marcus's short answer on AI visibility: describe your business clearly and neutrally on your own site, using well-structured headlines and paragraphs that AI can lift as passages. He shares how a ~30-year category leader with top SEO visibility lagged in AI search until it added plain homepage copy about what it does. Its visibility jumped almost immediately. He also explains why he believes Google's num=100 removal and go-to redirects are really about AI agents. He estimates their request volume at 1,000x+ what SEO scrapers ever sent.

For Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) practitioners, the conversation also covers log files as a leading indicator for dark AI traffic, the impression inflation hitting Search Console, ChatGPT referral traffic doubling for many brands from August into October, and the first AI spam policy from Anthropic.

📡 In This Episode

• Why rank tracking got harder after num=100 and go-to redirects
• Are AI agents inflating Search Console impressions?
• Mirroring logged-out ChatGPT results, and why prompts aren't keywords
• Measuring AI search ROI as ChatGPT becomes a destination
• Log file analysis for AI user bots and dark traffic
• How should brands structure content for AI citations?
• Neutral language vs. superlatives as an AI trust signal

A rare inside look at search data from someone who has spent two decades collecting it.

🔔 Subscribe for weekly conversations with the practitioners shaping SEO, AEO, and GEO → https://www.youtube.com/@thepage2podcast922?sub_confirmation=1
💬 Have you checked your log files for AI user bots yet? Tell us what you found in the comments.

Connect with Marcus Tober

✅ Marcus Tober on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcustober

✅ Marcus Tober on X → https://x.com/marcustober

✅ Marcus Tober's Personal Website → https://marcustober.com

Sponsored by Moving Traffic Media, a Full-Service AEO Agency → https://www.movingtrafficmedia.com

Follow the Page 2 Podcast✅ Page 2 Podcast on Youtube → https://www.youtube.com/@thepage2podcast922

✅ Page 2 Podcast on Linkedin → https://www.linkedin.com/company/page2podcast

✅ Page 2 Podcast on Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/ThePage2Podcast/

✅ Page 2 Podcast on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/page2pod

✅ Page 2 Podcast on Tiktok → https://www.tiktok.com/@jonleeclark

✅ Page 2 Podcast on Reddit → hhttps://www.reddit.com/r/page2podcast/

Follow Jon Clark✅ Jon Clark on Twitter → https://x.com/jonlclark

✅ Jon Clark on Linkedin → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonlclark

🛠️ Tools & Resources Mentioned

• Semrush (Core + Enterprise, AI Toolkit) → https://www.semrush.com
• Semrush Enterprise Query fan-out analysis → https://www.semrush.com/news/442193-query-fan-out-analysis-comes-to-semrush-enterprise-ai-optimization-revealing-the-search-signals-behind-ai-responses/
• Semrush Enterprise Log File Analysis → https://www.semrush.com/news/445236-semrush-enterprise-adds-log-file-analysis-to-site-intelligence-and-ai-optimization/
• Semrush Spotlight → https://lnkd.in/p/gUaAkXMq
• Nozzle's Poised SERP Report → https://nozzle.io/research/poisoned-google-serps/

https://page2pod.com - Affiliate marketing is turning into an AI visibility channel, and Adam Riemer argues most brands are paying the wrong partners for it.Adam Riemer, founder and CEO of Adam Riemer Marketing and a Search Engine Journal "Ask an SEO" columnist, has spent more than 20 years working where affiliate marketing and SEO overlap. His argument: AI answers are increasingly personalized to the individual user, so the source that shapes a recommendation is the author, creator, or community your specific buyer already trusts, not simply the biggest publication. Two people with the same age, income, and magazine subscriptions can still follow completely different writers.So how should brands pay for Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) visibility through partners? Adam's short answer: if a partner reaches your audience and can drive revenue, pay a flat media fee plus commission, and never purge a dormant affiliate that AI assistants keep surfacing. Jon Clark and Joe DeVita also get into affiliate tracking without cookies, valuing YouTube versus TikTok creators, and where SEO and affiliate teams clash.🍷 In This Episode - Why audience-matched authors may matter more than big publications in personalized AI answers - How should you pay affiliates who influence AI answers but never send a click? - Server-side tracking, app conversions, and click-free podcast attribution - YouTube vs. TikTok creators: long-term content investment vs. short-term sales burst - Re-engaging dormant affiliates that LLMs keep citing - Affiliate subnetworks, brand-term bidding, and the program governance most brands skip - Do affiliate links count as backlinks?A practical look at where affiliate marketing, SEO, and AI search collide, from someone who works hands-on in all three.

💬 Has an affiliate or niche creator ever shown up for your brand in ChatGPT or AI Overviews? How did you find out? Tell us in the comments.

🔗 Adam Riemer on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-riemer-9623732/🔗 Adam Riemer Marketing → https://adamriemer.me🔗 Adam's "Ask an SEO" column on Search Engine Journal → https://www.searchenginejournal.com/author/adam-riemer/

####Sponsored by Moving Traffic Media, a full-service AEO agency → https://www.movingtrafficmedia.comFollow the Page 2 Podcast✅ Page 2 Podcast on Youtube → https://www.youtube.com/@thepage2podcast922✅ Page 2 Podcast on Linkedin → https://www.linkedin.com/company/page2podcast✅ Page 2 Podcast on Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/ThePage2Podcast/✅ Page 2 Podcast on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/page2pod✅ Page 2 Podcast on Tiktok → https://www.tiktok.com/@jonleeclark

✅ Page 2 Podcast on Reddit → https://www.reddit.com/r/page2podcast/Follow Jon Clark✅ Jon Clark on Twitter → https://x.com/jonlclark✅ Jon Clark on Linkedin → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonlclark

🛠️ Tools & Resources Mentioned

- How Can Affiliate Managers And SEOs Stay Relevant In The AI Era? → https://www.searchenginejournal.com/ask-an-seo-3-actionable-ways-affiliate-managers-seos-can-keep-relevant/573607/

- Affiliate Links are Backlinks for SEO, But Bad Ones → https://www.linkedin.com/posts/adam-riemer-9623732_affiliatemarketing-seo-marketing-share-7132742387948228609-PQ1q/

- A 6-Step, Money-Making, AI Content Strategy for Affiliates → https://www.adamriemer.me/affiliate-marketing/a-6-step-money-making-ai-content-strategy-for-affiliates/

- Affiliate Marketing Has Evolved from Pay on Performance → https://www.adamriemer.me/affiliate-marketing/affiliate-marketing-evolved-pay-on-performance/

- Your Best Selling Product is Not Based on the Number of Sales → https://www.adamriemer.me/other/your-best-selling-product-is-not-based-on-the-number-of-sales/