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#+title: S05|L03 - what free geo traffic is
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* Notes

* Tutorial Notes

* Review

** Core Idea
GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimization.

It means optimizing product listings so AI tools can understand and recommend them.

Examples of AI recommendation sources:
- ChatGPT
- Gemini
- Perplexity
- Google AI Overviews
- Etsy AI recommendation systems

** SEO vs GEO

*** SEO
SEO focuses on ranking in search engine results.

Goal:
- appear on page 1
- be one of many options
- match search keywords

Example search:
- funny dog t shirt

*** GEO
GEO focuses on being recommended by AI.

Goal:
- become the answer
- clearly communicate who the product is for
- help AI understand why the product is a good match

Example AI question:
- What is a good gift for my sister who likes hiking?
- What Etsy shops sell cool dog t shirts?
- What is a funny gift for a friend who adopted a rescue dog?

** Why GEO Matters
Customers are increasingly asking AI to choose products for them.

With normal search:
- customer sees many options
- customer compares listings manually

With AI:
- AI may recommend only a few products
- sometimes AI may recommend one product directly

So the goal shifts from:
- being listed

to:
- being selected

** Why GEO Can Help Small Sellers
Traditional search often favors:
- big websites
- high-authority stores
- recognizable brands

AI recommendations are more focused on:
- personalization
- product fit
- specific customer needs
- clear context

This can help small Etsy sellers if their listings clearly explain:
- what the product is
- who it is for
- why it is different
- what kind of customer would want it

** Keyword Stuffing Problem

Old SEO-style title:

#+begin_example
Funny dog shirt, dog mom shirt, rescue dog shirt, dog lover gift, dog adoption shirt, cute dog tee, puppy shirt
#+end_example

Problem:
- lots of keywords
- unclear product identity
- unclear humor
- unclear target buyer
- weak context for AI

Better GEO-style title:

#+begin_example
Rescue Dogs Are My Love Language - Funny Dog Mom Shirt for Shelter Volunteers
#+end_example

Why this works:
- explains the product
- explains the joke/tone
- identifies the buyer
- gives AI a clear recommendation context

** GEO Listing Mindset
Do not just ask:
- What keywords can I stuff into this listing?

Ask:
- Who is this for?
- What kind of person would love this?
- What occasion would someone buy this for?
- What problem, joke, identity, or desire does this product match?
- What makes this product different?

** Description Strategy
Write descriptions in natural language.

Do not write only for search robots.

Write as if explaining the product to:
- a customer
- an AI assistant
- someone choosing a gift

** Add Context for AI

Include:
- target buyer
- product style
- tone of humor
- gift occasion
- emotional angle
- niche identity
- what makes it different

Examples:
- Perfect for your friend who will not stop talking about the dog they rescued.
- Great for birthdays, adoption anniversaries, or just because.
- Subtle office-appropriate humor for coworkers who survive meetings with coffee.

** Be Specific
Weak:
#+begin_example
Funny shirt
#+end_example

Better:
#+begin_example
Subtle office-appropriate humor shirt for coworkers, managers, and remote workers.
#+end_example

Specific language helps AI understand the product category and audience.

** Make the Product Quotable
Add sentences that AI could easily reuse in a recommendation.

Example:
#+begin_example
This shop specializes in subtle office-appropriate funny tees.
#+end_example

Better than:
#+begin_example
We sell t shirts.
#+end_example

** Trust Signals
Mention details that help AI trust the product.

Examples:
- handmade / made-to-order production
- print-on-demand production details
- quality materials
- unique design angle
- positive reviews
- niche specialization
- clear customer use case

** Product-First Strategy
GEO works best when the product itself is strong.

AI is more likely to recommend a product when it clearly fills a specific need.

This supports a product-first strategy:
- create unique products
- fill gaps in the market
- make products easy for AI to understand
- let AI match them with the right buyers

** Gap-in-the-Market Products
Products with strong GEO potential often:
- serve a specific niche
- combine two interests
- answer a specific gift need
- have few direct competitors
- are easy to describe clearly

Example:
- generic dog shirt = weak
- funny rescue dog mom shirt for shelter volunteers = stronger

** Authority Bias
Humans often prefer brands they already recognize.

This is called authority bias.

Traditional search results can amplify this because customers may click familiar stores.

AI is less dependent on brand recognition and more focused on matching the right product to the user’s request.

** Why Unique Products Matter More Now
If many stores sell the same generic product, AI has little reason to recommend yours.

But if your product is highly specific and fills a clear gap, AI can understand when it is the best match.

** Use AI to Optimize Listings
You can ask an AI chatbot to help optimize your listing for both:
- SEO
- GEO

Prompt idea:

#+begin_example
Please rewrite this Etsy title and description to balance SEO and GEO.

The product is:
[describe product]

The target customer is:
[describe customer]

The gift occasions are:
[list occasions]

The tone/style is:
[funny, cute, sarcastic, subtle, etc.]

Keep it natural, readable, and optimized for AI recommendation engines.
#+end_example

** Balance SEO and GEO
Do not ignore SEO.

Many customers still use:
- Etsy search
- Google search
- normal keyword searches

Best approach:
- use searchable keywords
- avoid ugly keyword stuffing
- write naturally
- give enough context for AI

** Practical GEO Checklist
- [ ] Product title clearly says what the product is
- [ ] Title identifies the target customer
- [ ] Description explains who it is for
- [ ] Description explains the product’s tone/style
- [ ] Description includes gift occasions
- [ ] Description includes niche-specific language
- [ ] Description explains what makes it different
- [ ] Description contains natural, quotable sentences
- [ ] Listing still includes important SEO keywords
- [ ] Product fills a clear market gap

** Bad GEO Listing
#+begin_example
Funny dog shirt, dog mom shirt, dog lover shirt, puppy shirt, rescue dog gift, dog adoption tee
#+end_example

** Better GEO Listing
#+begin_example
A funny rescue dog mom shirt for shelter volunteers, dog adopters, and anyone whose rescued dog has become their entire personality.
#+end_example

** Key Insight
GEO is not just about keywords.

It is about making the product understandable, recommendable, and matchable.

** Bottom Line
GEO helps AI understand:
- what the product is
- who should buy it
- when they should buy it
- why it is a good match

The better your product fills a specific need, and the clearer your listing explains that need, the more likely AI is to recommend it.


* Transcript
#+begin_example
00:00
Hello, and welcome back to a new video. In this

00:02
video, we are gonna discuss a very important traffic source

00:05
that a lot of people don't even know about, and

00:08
that traffic source is GEO.

00:11
And no exaggeration,

00:12
learning about what GEO is and how to utilize it

00:16
to drive traffic to my product listings has been 1

00:19
of the biggest breakthroughs that I have had in my

00:22
print on demand business.

00:24
So that acronym I keep saying, GEO, if you've never

00:28
heard it before, it stands for generative engine optimization.

00:32
Basically, GEO is when you optimize your products for AI

00:36
bots such as optimizing it for chat GPT, and it's

00:39
quite interesting because you see, for years now, the advice

00:42
on how to get your products found online has been

00:44
pretty simple. Learn SEO, as in search engine optimization,

00:49
which basically is the art of getting your products and

00:51
listings to rank on page 1 of Google search results

00:54
or Etsy search results. And the way that SEO works

00:58
is pretty straightforward.

00:59
In the past, the way that most people search for

01:01
products to buy online was they typed in a search

01:04
query into either Google or Etsy or another search engine

01:07
and use a phrase such as funny dog t shirt.

01:10
Then the search engine would show them a big list

01:13
of results,

01:14
and then the person clicks through several of these results

01:17
comparing them until they find what they want. And lots

01:20
of people still do that. Don't get me wrong. That's

01:22
why I also try to optimize my products for SEO

01:25
traffic too. But increasingly, people are now using

01:29
AI to shop for things online instead. People aren't just

01:32
typing keywords into Google anymore, instead they are asking AI.

01:36
They're going to chat GPT or Perplexity or Google's AI

01:39
overview, and they're asking questions like, what's a good gift

01:43
for my sister who likes hiking? Or what Etsy shops

01:46
sell quality cool dog t shirts? And it's interesting because

01:50
when people were exclusively using traditional search engines, you would

01:53
get a big list of results to pick from. But

01:56
with AI, you will often get either just a handful

01:59
of results or sometimes it will even just pick 1

02:02
item for you, period. Now instead of us picking the

02:06
products that we're gonna buy, AI is increasingly

02:09
picking them for us. So you think about it. With

02:12
SEO, our goal previously was to be 1 of the

02:15
options on the list that search engines gave their users.

02:20
But with GEO, it is oftentimes our goal to be

02:23
the answer

02:24
that the AI gives their user. Now you might think

02:28
that that actually sounds more intimidating

02:30
than SEO.

02:32
After all, there are a lot of different products out

02:35
there to compete with. In the past with SEO when

02:38
you were trying to be recommended by Google,

02:40
hey, at least you could be 1 of multiple options.

02:44
Right? But now you're telling me that I had to

02:46
try to be

02:47
the option? So, Sarah, I can hear a lot of

02:50
people saying, how can I compete? How can I compete

02:53
with all of these products out there, especially products from

02:55
stores that are much bigger than me to be the

02:58
answer

02:59
that AI recommends someone? Isn't this change towards GEO actually

03:04
kinda scary? Well, those are fair, good questions to be

03:07
asking, but I'll tell you what. In my experience, this

03:09
change towards GEO

03:11
is not scary. In fact, it's actually really good, not

03:14
bad. Because search engines like Google were previously based heavily

03:18
on authority.

03:19
Their algorithms

03:21
favored big websites like Amazon, but AI is designed less

03:25
around rewarding authority

03:27
and more around personalization.

03:29
It is looking for the very best product for the

03:31
customer even if it's not from the biggest online store,

03:35
which means then that if you're a small Etsy seller

03:38
and your listing clearly communicates to AI chatbots like ChatGPT

03:42
what exactly your product is and who it's for, then

03:45
AI might recommend you over some giant store. Whereas you

03:48
think about most people, right, who are scrolling through say

03:51
Google search results, most of them probably are going to

03:54
have a big bias towards clicking on major stores that

03:57
they recognize

03:58
instead of small stores like ours that they don't. So

04:01
it turns out that there's actually a lot of hidden

04:03
disadvantages

04:04
to being 1 option out of many on a list

04:07
that a search engine like Google recommends,

04:10
and there's actually a lot of hidden

04:12
advantages

04:13
to instead trying to focus as a smaller store on

04:16
being the answer that an AI chatbot like Gemini or

04:20
Chat GPT

04:21
recommends to its user. Alright then. The next question you're

04:24
probably thinking then is this. Okay, Sarah, but how do

04:27
I actually optimize 4 gs EO traffic? That's a good

04:30
question. So let me give you an example. In the

04:33
past, if you were trying to optimize a t shirt

04:35
in the dog niche for SEO,

04:38
you would probably try to focus on using a keyword

04:40
rich title

04:42
such as funny dog shirt, dog mom, shirt rescue dog

04:46
shirt, dog lover gift dog, adoption shirt, cute dog tee,

04:50
puppy shirt. Basically, your goal is kind of trying to

04:54
stuff as many keywords in there as possible and try

04:57
and get away with it. Because the old way of

05:00
thinking was the more keywords I have means the more

05:03
chances I have to match with what someone is searching

05:06
for exactly. But here's the thing, AI doesn't just match

05:09
keywords, it's actually trying to understand

05:12
what your product is and decide if it's a good

05:14
recommendation for the person asking. And so when AI looks

05:17
at the keyword stuffed title like that, it doesn't actually

05:20
really know what your t shirt really is. Is it

05:23
funny? What kind of humor? Who is it for? What

05:26
makes it special? And so then, with the GEO mindset,

05:29
you might write a title more like this. Rescue dogs

05:32
are my love language. Funny dog mom shirt for shelter

05:35
volunteers.

05:36
Do you see the difference?

05:38
This second title that we have created here tells the

05:41
AI exactly

05:42
what the t shirt is, what the tone of humor

05:44
is, and who it is for.

05:47
Essentially,

05:48
GEO is when you optimize your listings for the questions

05:51
that people are asking AI, and then you make sure

05:54
that your listing answers those questions.

05:56
So imagine someone asks AI, hey, what's a good gift

05:59
for my friend who just adopted a rescue dog? She

06:02
likes funny t shirts. Now for AI to recommend your

06:05
shirt, it needs to know certain things from your listing.

06:08
What is the product actually? What's the tone or style

06:11
of it? Who is it perfect for, and what occasion

06:15
would someone buy it for? So really, it's not about

06:18
keyword stuffing anymore. Instead, it's about using your listing to

06:21
provide AI with as much context as possible so that

06:25
it understands both what your product is

06:28
and who out of its user base your product is

06:31
for. So then, here's how you can actually apply this

06:34
GEO thinking to your own product listings,

06:37
And we'll start with descriptions. For these, don't write just

06:40
for search robots. Write as though an actual person was

06:43
reading it and trying to understand your product. AI chatbots

06:47
like ChatGPT

06:48
use natural learning language models, otherwise known as LLMs, that

06:52
look for natural language patterns, not robotic keyword matching.

06:56
So for example, instead of just again listing a bunch

06:59
of keywords,

07:00
talk about what type of person buys your product and

07:03
also

07:04
why they love it.

07:05
Like, perfect for your friend that won't stop talking about

07:08
the dog that they rescued or you could talk about

07:11
occasions.

07:11
Great for birthdays, adoption anniversaries, or just because they deserve

07:15
a gift that's perfect for them. And also, be specific.

07:19
So for example, let's say you were selling a different

07:21
type of t shirt, this time in the office humor

07:24
niche. Well, writing subtle office appropriate humor is more useful

07:29
than just funny shirt because this explains to the AI

07:33
what kind of humor your t shirt is actually aimed

07:35
at. Plus, another thing that's really good to do to

07:38
add context for an AI chatbot is to explicitly explain

07:42
why your product is different. For example, print on demand

07:45
products are technically handmade, that's why they're allowed on Etsy,

07:49
and so that's an advantage we have over mass produced

07:52
t shirts from China. Mention any advantages you have like

07:55
this along with any reviews or unique aspects that you

07:58
offer. Reviews, quality details, your unique angle, things that help

08:02
AI trust that you're a legitimate quality recommendation.

08:06
And here is a fun trick that you can do,

08:08
and that is to add something into your description

08:11
that is very quotable

08:14
for a chatbot like ChatGPT or Gemini. Basically,

08:18
if you try and write sentences

08:20
that could be just put directly into an AI's response

08:23
like, this shop specializes in subtle office appropriate funny tees,

08:28
well, that is more useful to AI than we sell

08:31
t shirts.

08:32
And here is something that's also very important to note.

08:34
You don't actually have to be amazing at GEO yourself

08:38
to optimize your listings for it because, unsurprisingly, it turns

08:42
out that AI chatbots themselves are really good at optimizing

08:46
things like titles and descriptions

08:49
for generative engine optimization.

08:52
So in this course, I have a tutorial that goes

08:55
more in-depth into the process that I use, but essentially

08:58
what you could say is that when I upload a

09:01
new product,

09:02
I give it to an AI chatbot and ask it

09:05
to please optimize

09:07
my title and description

09:10
for generative engine optimization

09:12
and for search engine optimization.

09:15
Because while a lot of people have switched over to

09:17
using AI to pick products to buy, a lot still

09:20
use search engines, so I don't wanna miss out on

09:22
either. That is why when I use AI to optimize

09:25
my products for free traffic,

09:27
I ask it to balance the descriptions and titles to

09:29
make it friendly for both SEO traffic and for GEO

09:33
traffic. And I'll tell you what, this is absolutely paying

09:35
off and it's also so much fun to see the

09:38
traffic increase and the sales increase because

09:41
AI chatbots are now recommending my products to customers.

09:45
It has absolutely been 1 of my fastest growing traffic

09:48
sources and new sources of customers, and I absolutely love

09:52
it. And something else that's important to note is that

09:55
when it comes to getting GEO traffic,

09:57
creating unique products is even more important than it was

10:00
before because something I've talked a lot about both in

10:03
this course and on the YouTube channel is doing this,

10:06
creating products that fill a gap in the market, identifying

10:09
niches or subniches that either need products or need variations

10:13
of products. These sorts of products have really great geo

10:18
potential. Because remember, unlike us humans that are heavily psychologically

10:22
biased to click on stores that we recognize

10:26
our authorities,

10:28
AI is much more concerned with actually identifying the best

10:31
product for our needs, and it doesn't have the same

10:34
cognitive bias where it blindly trusts authority. This bias towards

10:40
authority that most people have has been well studied, and

10:43
it has a name. It is the authority bias.

10:46
But of course, here's the thing. AI doesn't have this

10:48
cognitive bias.

10:50
That is why in the world of AI, I believe

10:52
that we are moving less and less away from advertising

10:55
first traffic and more towards product first traffic.

10:59
Basically, in the past, if you wanted to get more

11:01
traffic to your store, you had to focus first and

11:04
foremost on marketing and advertising.

11:07
You had to buy ads or you had to post

11:09
on social media. You had to force your product in

11:12
front of people by actively marketing it either by advertising

11:16
it with ads or with content.

11:18
And people mostly bought products not based on which product

11:21
was the very best for them, but which product that

11:23
they found. And oftentimes, whoever was the best at advertising

11:27
and whichever was the biggest store was the 1 that

11:30
made the most money, not the person with the best

11:33
product. But now AI is changing that because AI is

11:37
smart enough to say, well, just because this person is

11:39
spending a bunch of money on ads, it doesn't mean

11:42
that their product is the best for my user. Instead,

11:45
the AI sees, I can see that this product in

11:48
the small Etsy store is a much better fit for

11:51
my user, so I'm gonna recommend that 1 instead. And

11:55
so it is more likely to recommend a product from

11:58
the small Etsy store if that small Etsy store has

12:01
niched down and is filling a gap in the market

12:03
better with their design rather than just recommending the big

12:07
store that's trying to brute force spending thousands of dollars

12:10
a month on ads. And that is why I find

12:12
it so interesting when people say to me, Sarah, why

12:15
do you spend so much time talking about designing and

12:19
researching products? Why don't you spend less time talking about

12:22
creating products and spend more time talking about marketing, more

12:23
time talking about ads? And this is why.

12:25
Marketing, more time talking about ads,

12:28
and this is why. Because the traffic strategy that I'm

12:31
focused on these days is more of a product first

12:34
strategy,

12:35
not an advertising first strategy. I'm focused on creating and

12:38
designing products that fill gaps in the market. And by

12:41
doing that, by making the best product for the customer,

12:44
that is how I'm able to advertise, by letting AI

12:47
put my products in front of the right customers by

12:50
seeing that my product is the best fit for them.

12:53
That is my strategy and why I think that GEO

12:56
is transforming the way that we make money. But yes,

13:00
I hope that this video has helped you and I

13:02
will see you in the next 1.
#+end_example