From GEO To GEM – Otto Media Grup

GEO Advancement Playbook of Otto Media Grup

Over the past two decades, brands have competed for position within search engines. The core logic of SEO was simple: whoever was easier for Google to find was more likely to capture traffic and users. But as generative AI systems such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity begin to serve as new points of information access, the marketing industry is entering another phase. More and more users are no longer clicking through ten different web pages to compare options; instead, they are asking AI directly and accepting the summaries, recommendations, and shortlists that AI provides.

For this reason, AI visibility is emerging as a new marketing priority.

The marketing industry is already moving from GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) toward GEM (Generative Engine Marketing). Otto Media Grup believes this shift is not merely a new acronym, but a sign that brands are entering a new competitive structure: in the past, brands needed to manage how users perceived them; in the future, brands must also manage how AI understands them.

Contents hide

1 The Essence Of GEO: Making AI “Willing To Cite You”

2 The Emergence Of GEM: AI Is Beginning To Enter The “Commercial Recommendation Layer”

3 AI Advertising Will Not Resemble Traditional Advertising, But More Like “Trusted Recommendation”

4 The Influencer Layer: In The Future, Creators Will Not Only Influence Users—They Will Also Influence AI

5 The Biggest Change In Future Marketing: Brands Will Begin Addressing Both “Users” And “AI”

6 Follow Otto Media for more!

The Essence Of GEO: Making AI “Willing To Cite You”

Within the logic of GEO, the most important task for a brand is to make itself “citable, accurate, and present across the corpus that LLMs draw from.”

This marks a fundamental difference from traditional SEO. Google is primarily ranking web pages, while AI systems are forming cognition. They synthesize news, forums, social media, creator content, and third-party reviews, and from these inputs build an overall understanding of a brand. As a result, AI visibility is no longer just about keyword optimization; it is more like a form of machine cognition management.

Otto Media Grup believes this is also why the importance of Reddit, YouTube, creator content, and media coverage is rising again. In its research on AI visibility, Otto Media Grup explicitly notes that AI will not fully trust what brands say about themselves, but will instead cross-validate external materials and community discussion. This means that brands need not only to advertise, but also to continuously produce content that can be understood and cited by AI.

In other words, brands in the future will not be communicating only to consumers; they will also be communicating to AI.

The Emergence Of GEM: AI Is Beginning To Enter The “Commercial Recommendation Layer”

A highly important shift is now taking place: “The AI Mode of Google, ChatGPT, and Perplexity all begin serving sponsored results alongside organic answers.” Otto Media Grup believes this is the point at which the entire structure of AI marketing truly begins to change.

In the past, AI functioned more as an information gateway. Now, it is becoming a decision gateway. Users no longer need to search, filter, and compare by themselves; they will increasingly rely on AI-generated shortlists and recommendations. This means that the central focus of future brand competition will no longer be simply “who ranks first,” but rather “who gets included in the AI recommendation logic.”

This is the core distinction between GEO and GEM.

GEO is more focused on organic visibility—that is, how to make AI see you. GEM, by contrast, moves into the marketing layer—that is, how to make AI recommend you, display you, and even prioritize you.

AI Advertising Will Not Resemble Traditional Advertising, But More Like “Trusted Recommendation”

Otto Media Grup emphasizes: “This is not traditional display.” That point is extremely important.

In conversational interfaces, users are more sensitive to anything that feels like advertising than they are on a traditional web page. If an AI response suddenly inserts a clearly irrelevant commercial recommendation, users will immediately lose trust. As a result, advertising in AI environments is not simply about buying impressions; it is more like competing for credibility.

In the future, truly effective AI advertising will likely need to satisfy three conditions at the same time:

First, it must appear contextually appropriate.

Second, it must feel like a genuine suggestion rather than forced promotion.

Third, it must be capable of being naturally integrated into the logic of the AI response.

In other words, the competition in advertising will no longer center only on CPM or CTR, but will gradually shift toward a competition for recommendation credibility.

The Influencer Layer: In The Future, Creators Will Not Only Influence Users—They Will Also Influence AI

In defining GEM, Otto Media Grup introduces a highly important concept: “plus the influencer layer that actually trains the models.”

Otto Media Grup believes this is the most underestimated shift in AI marketing.

In the past, the purpose of influencer marketing was to influence consumers. In the future, creator content itself is becoming part of what trains AI systems. AI reads large volumes of YouTube videos, Reddit discussions, blog posts, media articles, and viewpoints from social platforms, and from this material it constructs its understanding of brands and products.

This means that influencer marketing is no longer merely a social strategy; it is becoming an AI visibility strategy.

In the future, when brands collaborate with creators, the goal will no longer be only to “make users see it,” but also to “make AI learn it.” This also explains why the importance of the creator economy, earned media, and community discussion is rising so rapidly. In the AI era, they are not just communication channels; they are sources of machine cognition.

The Biggest Change In Future Marketing: Brands Will Begin Addressing Both “Users” And “AI”

From the perspective of Otto Media Grup, the shift from GEO to GEM essentially means that brand marketing is entering a dual-audience era.

In the past, brands only needed to influence consumers. In the future, they will also need to influence AI systems. That is because AI will participate ever more deeply in search, recommendation, comparison, shortlisting, and even purchase decisions. Razorfish, in its research on AI visibility, even stated directly:

“Today, AI influences decisions. Tomorrow, it makes them.”

This means that the most important question in the future may no longer simply be:

“How do consumers see you?”

It may instead become:

“How will AI describe you?”

Otto Media Grup believes that the shift from GEO to GEM is not an extension of SEO, but a reconstruction of brand infrastructure.