Fire on the Hill unveils GEO service to boost AI brand visibility

Fire on the Hill has launched a new Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) service designed to help brands influence and measure how they are represented in responses generated by AI tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overview.

The GEO service is part of Fusion, the digital division of Fire on the Hill, which focuses on AI, GEO and SEO solutions. The launch is timed to coincide with the development of new standards for measuring the impact and effectiveness of GEO, granting brands greater transparency over their share of voice in generative AI platforms and offering detailed monitoring of key terms to evaluate message clarity, visibility, and competitive positioning.

Changing search behaviour

The prevalence of generative AI in how people search, assess, and decide on brands has prompted Fire on the Hill to offer this new service as a strategic method to maintain brand visibility and trust in a shifting informational landscape.

Nick Ward, Co-Founder, Fire on the Hill said: "Arguably in B2B we've seen marcomms budgets re-directed to paid digital over recent years. However, Gen AI is the emerging traffic acquisition channel and it works on language semantics, favouring clear, concise and credible content that answers the user's query. That's why the demand generation budget pendulum is swinging back to earned and owned content, supported by media relations campaigns. It turns out that in a world guided by AI, the core discipline of clearly explaining what your brand does, how it relates to industry issues and your audiences, is even more important."

This shift in digital behaviour is supported by research from Fire on the Hill, which found that AI adoption is currently the most significant challenge faced by organisations. According to their 'Voice of the CCO' research, 87% of corporate communications professionals are already incorporating AI into their work processes, and 39% of organisations view the role of AI in communications in a 'very positive' light.

Additionally, further research showed that 71.5% of people have used generative AI instead of traditional search engines, while Google's AI Overview has appeared in more than double the number of Google search results over a period of three months. This evolution has seen some brands report web traffic increases of over 400% as a result of referrals from AI-generated links.

Awareness and adoption

An analysis by Fire on the Hill of 100 communications professionals' LinkedIn profiles and 100 communications job advertisements found that over half of these professionals reference GEO skills, but only one in eight job adverts mentions the term. This suggests PR professionals are recognising the relevance and significance of GEO, even as brands are less quick to adapt to these opportunities.

"GEO combines the foundational principles of reputation management with the evolving realities of search," said David Clare, Director at Fire on the Hill and Head of Fusion. "Much like social media in the late 2000s, early adopters today will establish a competitive advantage by solidifying their visibility and trust in the GenAI landscape ahead of competitors."

Unlike SEO, which is driven by keyword density and content clusters, effective GEO depends on authoritative and credible sources, such as editorial articles, analyst reports, reputable databases, Wikipedia content, and well-structured proprietary material. The narrative quality and trust signals in this content play a larger role in determining how brands appear in AI-generated answers than keyword optimisation alone.

Service details

Fire on the Hill's GEO service offers a suite of capabilities including discovery and communications mapping across prominent AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Google AI Overview, and Bing CoPilot. It also features strategic content development and placement across earned and owned channels, AI Visibility Index tracking using recognised industry tools to assess GenAI performance, and continuous optimisation based on evolving AI platform behaviours and insights into brand visibility.

This approach merges PR strategy with search optimisation, highlighting the need for brands to maintain authority and credibility in a changing digital environment. GEO, according to Fire on the Hill, enables brands to take measurable action in managing how they are referenced by generative AI tools.

David adds, "A clear shift is happening. SEO has long valued authority and optimisation, but visibility in GenAI hinges on credibility, trust signals, and quality content. Now that the measurement aspect of GenAI has been cracked, the opportunity for brands is clear – and those who move early will gain a lasting advantage."

This latest offering reflects broader changes in the PR sector, reinforcing its role in shaping the informational sources that AI systems draw upon and ultimately impacting how audiences perceive and engage with brands.