EPIC-25 – Mathias Ptacek – Generative Engine Optimisation in the AI-Driven Search Era

Generative Engine Optimisation in the AI-Driven Search Era

In this forward-thinking and data-rich presentation, Mathias Ptacek (Founder of Rankscale) delivered essential insights into the rapidly evolving landscape of Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) – the new frontier of search marketing in an AI-dominated world. Drawing from his unique perspective as both a software developer and digital marketing strategist, Mathias revealed how the convergence of AI chatbots and traditional search is fundamentally reshaping online visibility.

The session opened with compelling evidence of the AI search revolution in action: 63% of websites now receive measurable AI referral traffic, with some businesses seeing ChatGPT become their third-largest acquisition channel – growing an astounding 1433% in just months. However, Mathias also highlighted the counter-effect: AI Overviews showing 49% increased impressions but 30% decreased click-through rates, creating new challenges for digital marketers.

A standout section focused on citation analysis across different AI engines, revealing fascinating differences in how Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity weight different source types. The presentation included detailed breakdowns showing that 60-74% of AI citations come from top-10 SERP results, but each platform favours different content types – from Reddit dominating in B2C contexts to authoritative domains like Wikipedia leading in others.

Mathias outlined three core GEO strategies: optimising website content with AI-friendly language and targeting uncovered LLM queries, maintaining strong traditional SEO for web search listings, and focusing on securing citations from highly-cited sources across blogs, news, reviews, and social platforms. The session concluded with an introduction to Rankscale, his innovative tool for tracking and optimising AI search visibility, featuring performance tracking, competitor benchmarking, citation analysis, and sentiment monitoring.

Whether you’re concerned about declining traditional search traffic or looking to capitalise on the AI search opportunity, this session provided a comprehensive roadmap for adapting to the AI-driven search era with data-backed strategies and practical tools.