Session abstract
What you’ll learn
The Problem: Most developers build websites that are well-coded, fast, and accessible — but invisible to AI. When someone asks ChatGPT "what's the best way to handle state in Vue 3?" or "who are the developers writing about Astro in Atlanta?", your content doesn't show up. Not because it's bad. Because it's not structured for how AI engines ingest and cite information. Traditional SEO taught us to optimize for keyword ranking and backlinks. Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the next layer — and right now, most developers don't know it exists. What This Talk Covers: This talk is split into two acts — mirroring a two-part article series I wrote on the topic — and takes attendees from zero to implementation. Act 1: GEO Explained: What GEO actually is (and what it isn't — it's not just SEO with a new name). The five key differences between SEO and GEO: discovery method, content focus, goals, metrics, and technical needs. Why AI models need structured, explicit, self-contained content to cite you. The real career opportunity: GEO is an emerging skill with low competition and high demand. Act 2: GEO Applied: The three core pillars: semantic HTML structure, explicit content formatting, structured data markup. Live Astro component walkthrough — transforming a generic page into a GEO-optimized one. JSON-LD schema implementation for BlogPosting, FAQPage, and Person types — with copy-paste patterns. Writing self-contained, citable paragraphs (and why vague "as mentioned above" writing kills AI discoverability). Building FAQ sections that map directly to how users query AI platforms. Advanced techniques: entity optimization, content hierarchy, cross-referencing, accessibility as GEO foundation. How to Measure It: Querying AI platforms directly to test citation frequency. Structured data validation with Google's Rich Results Test. Tracking "conversational reach" — a new metric most teams aren't measuring yet. Who This Is For: Junior, mid-level developers and other professionals who publish content, maintain portfolios, or build client-facing websites — anyone who wants their work to be discoverable in a world where AI answers come before search results. No prior GEO experience needed. Basic HTML/CSS familiarity assumed. Why Now: Generative search isn't coming — it's here. Perplexity, ChatGPT Search, Google AI Overviews, and Gemini are already changing how people find information. Developers who learn GEO now will be the ones defining team standards and consulting on content strategy in 12–18 months. This is the early adopter window, and it's closing.