This week, we look at how AI search misses webpages, what GEO means for businesses, and how to make your information easier for AI to find and understand.

AI in Action

What Didn’t Make It Into Your AI Answer? [AI Search/Discovery]

You’ve somehow become the person organizing the office Christmas party. You ask ChatGPT for a venue with space for 50 people, a private room and vegetarian options, all within a 15-minute walk of the office. A few promising suggestions arrive, and you’re already picturing the email that gets this off your plate.

Now imagine owning a restaurant around the corner that meets every requirement, with an events page explaining exactly that. If the information never enters the search, you could miss consideration before anyone compares menus. That possibility gives businesses a reason to pay attention to an October 15 update from Cloudflare and OpenAI: the companies say their research pilot helped OpenAI discover and index hundreds of millions of previously unknown webpages.

Cloudflare helps websites load quickly and protects them from attacks. Because traffic passes through its network, it can pick up signs that a page exists or has changed. OpenAI is testing whether those signals can help its search software find pages it might otherwise miss and return when there’s something new. For businesses, that could mean another chance to enter the AI-generated shortlist. It still doesn’t guarantee a recommendation.

For those of us doing the searching, the convenience comes with a judgment call. Once each option arrives with a convincing explanation, it’s easy to assume the search was comprehensive. Before sending that office email, I’d spend a little of the time saved finding one alternative through a local guide or colleague, then give ChatGPT the website and ask how it compares. A finished answer can make the research feel finished, even when another venue around the corner deserves a look.

Bits of Brilliance

Business Have GEO to Worry About, Too [AI concept/Search Engine]

Businesses have spent years thinking about search engine optimization, or SEO, so customers can find them on Google. Now generative engine optimization, or GEO, has entered the vocabulary. The term is still evolving, and much of the foundation is familiar SEO. What’s changing is how specific AI searches can get. SEO might help a restaurant appear for “private dining Toronto.” An AI assistant could be asked to find a private room for 50 people, with vegetarian options and AV equipment, within 15 minutes of the office. To answer that well, it needs to find several specific facts about the business and connect them correctly.

Those facts can come from public information across the web. For information a business controls, that could include its website, Q&As, menus, event pages, structured data and public marketing materials. An events brochure or fact sheet posted online may be discoverable too. A brochure sitting in someone’s inbox or internal sales folder isn’t. Businesses also don’t need a hidden AI-only website or to stuff every possible customer question with keywords. Clear information written for people remains the foundation, with important facts available in readable text.

There’s also a new question to test: What did the AI actually understand? Businesses can try realistic customer questions and see whether they appear, what information gets picked up and whether the description is accurate. GEO adds another layer to SEO: visibility still matters, and now so does whether an AI can assemble the right facts when someone asks a very specific question. A recommendation for a 50-person dinner is not much help if the room only seats 30.

_{Byte-Sized Intelligence is a personal newsletter created for educational and informational purposes only. The content reflects the personal views of the author and does not represent the opinions of any employer or affiliated organization. This publication does not offer financial, investment, legal, or professional advice. Any references to tools, technologies, or companies are for illustrative purposes only and do not constitute endorsements. Readers should independently verify any information before acting on it. All AI-generated content or tool usage should be approached critically. Always apply human judgment and discretion when using or interpreting AI outputs.}