Key Takeaways:
- Search is fundamentally changing: Large language models now decide what information users see, with zero-click answers projected to overtake traditional search by 2027.
- GEO builds on SEO fundamentals: Generative Engine Optimization focuses on making your content discoverable and citable by AI systems like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity.
- Structure matters more than ever: AI bots don’t see your beautiful website design—they consume structured data through schema markup, clear headings, and explicit content.
- The life sciences industry has a competitive advantage: While AI struggles with complex scientific topics, early adopters can establish authority before the technology catches up to our industry.
The New Reality of Search: Why Your Traffic is Dropping (and What to Do About It)
Picture this: Your biotech company has invested both time and money in SEO, your blog ranks on page one for key terms, and your content strategy is rock solid… but your website traffic is steadily declining, and you’re not sure why.
The answer isn’t that your SEO strategy failed. It’s that the game has changed entirely.
For the past two decades, traditional SEO focused on landing in the top 10 blue links of Google search results. We optimized for site speed, embraced mobile-first design, conducted keyword research, and wrote countless blog posts—all hoping to drive clicks to our websites.
But now, AI-powered search systems are serving answers directly to users. When someone asks ChatGPT or Google’s AI Overview a question, they get their answer without ever visiting your website. This is the rise of the “zero-click answer,” and by 2027, it’s projected to become more common than traditional search.
Here’s what’s changing: The answers to our questions are now being served to us rather than us having to go find them. Large language models (LLMs) decide what information gets shown to users—and the brands that show up in AI’s answers will win the attention, trust, and business of their target audience.
This guide will show you how to adapt your life science marketing strategy for this new reality through Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)—and outline why acting now gives you a critical competitive advantage.
What is GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)?
Generative Engine Optimization is about optimizing your content so it can be discovered, understood, and most importantly, cited by AI-powered search systems like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Copilot.
Think of GEO as the evolution of SEO for the emerging AI era. While SEO strategy focused on getting clicks, GEO strategy focuses on getting references. The goal is no longer just to rank—it’s to become the source content for AI’s responses because that’s where more users are searching for answers.
The Fundamental Difference
Traditional SEO optimizes for human readers and search engine crawlers. In contrast, your GEO strategy needs to optimize primarily for AI systems that:
- Don’t scroll through your website pages
- Don’t see your beautiful hero banners
- Don’t click on calls-to-action
- Can’t appreciate your designer’s carefully crafted visuals
For AI systems, all that matters is structured, clear, and meaningful data. If your content isn’t explicit and easy to extract, it simply won’t show up in AI answers.
Writing clear content sounds easy enough, but here’s the challenge: Generative engines only surface a few citations per result. It’s a winner-take-most environment. Fewer links appear in AI answers compared to classic search engine results pages (SERPs). Being the authoritative source that AI cites is now the name of the game.
Why Life Science Companies Need to Care About GEO Now
The shift to AI-powered search is already happening, and it’s impacting your marketing metrics whether you realize it or not. Here’s what’s changing:
Zero-Click Answers Are Taking Over Top-of-Funnel Searches
AI has essentially claimed ownership of discovery-level searches—the exact queries that used to drive traffic to your website, such as:
- Definitions (“What is flow cytometry?”)
- How-to questions (“How does CRISPR gene editing work?”)
- Comparisons (“PCR vs. qPCR”)
- Quick lists (“Top biomarkers for cancer detection”)
- Summaries (“Explain mRNA vaccine technology”)
These top-of-funnel queries are where the customer journey begins. Users find your brand, build awareness, and start down the conversion path through these searches. But now, these discovery points are happening inside ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overview—not on your blog posts, white papers, or product pages. It’s essential to be cited by AI bots to stay visible in the changing search landscape that we’re experiencing today.
Your Competitors Are Positioning Now
The life science industry has a unique window of opportunity. AI systems currently struggle with highly technical, specialized content. When building campaigns in Google Ads, for example, the AI assistant frequently displays: “We are unable to assist you with this topic at this time.”
We’re not selling sneakers—our topics are complex and highly specific. The AI hasn’t fully caught up to our industry yet.
This delay creates a critical opportunity for life science marketers to establish authority before competitors dominate the AI-powered search landscape. The brands that act now and invest in their GEO strategy will own the citations when AI eventually gets better at understanding scientific content.
The Paradox: You Need to Invest More to Get Less Direct Traffic
Here’s the challenging reality that you may be realizing while reading this guide: As zero-click answers become the norm, your site traffic and click-through rates will decline. But to stay relevant and be part of the conversation, you actually need to invest more in your website content strategy.
Why? Because subject matter expertise and unique data will be rewarded, even if things look different than before. Large language models look for authoritative sources, which is where the E-E-A-T principle becomes critical.
The E-E-A-T Principle: Your Foundation for GEO Success
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. This principle has been central to Google’s search quality guidelines for years, and it’s even more important for GEO strategy.
AI systems prioritize trusted, information-dense, and frequently updated sources. They look for content that demonstrates:
- Experience: Real-world application of knowledge. Share case studies, experimental results, and practical applications of your technology.
- Expertise: Deep technical knowledge in your field. Publish detailed methodology, cite research, and explain complex concepts clearly.
- Authoritativeness: Recognition as a leader in your space. Build citations, earn backlinks from reputable sources, and establish your brand as a go-to resource.
- Trustworthiness: Reliability and accuracy. Keep content updated, cite sources properly, share customer testimonials, and maintain consistency across your messaging.
In life sciences, where misinformation can be dangerous, AI systems are particularly cautious about which sources they cite. Your scientific credentials and established authority become your competitive moat, helping you to rise above other industry players.
What AI Systems Actually See (And Why It Matters)
Understanding how AI consumes your content is essential for crafting an effective GEO strategy. Here’s the reality: AI bots don’t experience your website the way humans do.
Where AI Gets Its Information
Research shows that large language models currently rely heavily on these sources when answering user queries:
- Reddit – Highly structured, constantly updated, user-generated content
- Wikipedia – Authoritative, well-organized, collaborative knowledge base
- YouTube – Video transcripts provide rich, structured content
- Google – Traditional search results (note that this is ranked fourth, not first!)
Notice what these platforms have in common: They’re highly structured websites where content is easy to parse, they have massive user bases, years of content on nearly every topic, and they’re updated constantly with the latest information.
Accessible user generated content rises above dense website descriptions, so it’s becoming more and more important to have an online presence that extends beyond your company’s domain. Incorporate user-generated content into your GEO strategy—create a Wikipedia page, develop a presence on Reddit, start uploading webinars or explainer videos on YouTube—or you may slowly become invisible as your audience shifts to AI search engines.
Earned Media Takes Priority
AI search engines also tend to favor ‘earned’ third-party sources like expert reviews and publications over brand-owned content. While your website may outline your science and showcase your expertise, it may not be AI’s first source. For life sciences, this means prioritizing placements in journals, independent biotech sites (e.g., BioSpace, Fierce Biotech), or review platforms to build AI-perceived authority.
The Content Structure AI Needs
For your life science content to be citation-worthy, AI needs:
- Structured data markup (Schema.org) that explicitly labels what your content is about
- Clear hierarchical headings (H1, H2, H3) that organize information logically
- Direct answers to questions placed prominently on pages
- Tables, bulleted lists, and numbered steps that are easy to extract
- Explicit definitions of technical terms
- Citations and references that establish credibility
The more explicit and structured your content is, the easier it is for AI to understand, extract, and cite it. These best practices also boost SEO, keeping you above your competitors in traditional search engines, too.
Caveat: Not All AI Search Engines Think the Same Way
While general best practices help improve visibility across AI search engines, the different platforms have unique preferences. Perplexity pulls from fresher, more diverse domains (great for emerging biotech trends!), while Claude and GPT favor established authorities. You should test queries across the different engines and adapt your content for phrasing variations (e.g., “CRISPR vs. TALEN” vs. “Compare gene editing methods”).
Practical GEO Strategies for Life Science Companies
Now that you understand the fundamentals, here’s what you can do today to optimize your brand for AI-powered search:
1. Answer FAQs Directly on Your Pages
Top-of-funnel, discovery-level questions are GEO’s sweet spot. Add FAQ sections to your most important pages that directly answer common questions in your field.
These don’t need to be above the fold, but they should be present on key pages like:
- Product pages
- Service descriptions
- Technology explanations
- Application notes
Think about the questions that you want your brand to show up for, then answer them explicitly on your pages. In GEO, tracking “questions” is similar to tracking “keywords” in traditional SEO, so identify where you want your brand to be the shining answer and use this to guide FAQs on your website.
2. Implement Schema Markup
Schema.org markup is a structured data protocol that tells AI bots exactly what your content is about. It’s like giving the AI a roadmap to your website’s content.
Different schema types exist for different page types:
- Product schema for product pages
- HowTo schema for instructional content
- Article schema for blog posts
- FAQPage schema for FAQ sections
- Organization schema for company information
Many WordPress plugins handle schema automatically, but you should always verify that they’re implementing it correctly. Schema is too valuable to leave to chance with automated tools—especially now that AI systems rely heavily on it.
3. Create Clear, Hierarchical Content Structure
The way that you structure your website content is crucial for understanding. As part of your GEO strategy, every page should have:
- One clear topic – Don’t try to cover everything in one giant page
- A strong H1 tag – Use one per page, clearly stating the main topic
- Logical H2 and H3 structure – Break content into digestible sections
- Short paragraphs – Stick to 2-4 sentences maximum for readability
- Bulleted lists – Use these where appropriate for scannability
- Content ‘justifiable’ for AI – use bolded value propositions and explicit comparisons
This structure serves both human readers and AI systems. If humans struggle to follow your content, AI definitely will.
4. Demonstrate Depth and Authority
Thin content is a red flag in both SEO and GEO. Comprehensive, thorough content that answers every potential follow-up question shows authority.
When you’re covering a topic, you should:
- Answer the main question completely
- Anticipate and address follow-up questions
- Provide clear context and background
- Include relevant data and research
- Link to related resources
- Update regularly to maintain freshness
Depth of coverage directly correlates with backlinks in traditional SEO. In GEO, comprehensive content increases your chances of being cited as the authoritative source.
5. Keep Content Fresh and Updated
As noted above, AI systems prioritize recent, up-to-date information. Regularly review and update your evergreen content by doing the following:
- Add new research findings when available
- Update statistics and data to more recent outcomes
- Refresh examples based on industry trends
- Add recent case studies to show current activities
- Revise outdated information to reflect current state
Set a schedule to audit your top-performing pages quarterly, and commit to follow through with meaningful updates. Freshness signals to AI that your content is current and reliable—Perpexity in particular prefers recent sources, so implement quarterly updates if you want to be cited there.
6. Use Structured Formats
Make your content easy for AI to extract by using:
- Step-by-step workflows with numbered lists
- Comparison tables for product or method comparisons
- Troubleshooting guides with clear problem-solution formats
- Performance data charts with clear labels
- Definitions in bold or highlighted text
- Diagrams with descriptive alt text
The easier that you make it for AI to understand your content’s structure, the more likely it is to cite you when your audience is searching for recommendations.
7. Define Technical Terminology Explicitly
In the life sciences industry, terminology is everything. Don’t assume that AI understands your field’s jargon (because, as we noted, AI is still a bit behind when it comes to biotech!).
When introducing technical terms, be sure to:
- Define them clearly in context
- Provide the full term before using acronyms
- Explain the scientific principle or mechanism
- Add context for why it matters
Clear definitions help AI understand your content, which helps it feel more confident citing it as a source.
8. Create an llms.txt File
This is a newer, experimental approach that’s gaining traction. An llms.txt file works like a robots.txt file, but it’s specifically for AI systems. It contains a list of prompts that explain to AI models how to interpret and use your content. You provide your most important URLs and explain to AI how you’d like the data parsed.
9. Dominate Earned Media
Pitch guest articles, case studies, or expert commentary to third-party outlets. Secure placement in journals or newswires to announce new product launches or technical breakthroughs. Aim for citations in authoritative sources—AI search engines are far more likely to cite these than your own site.
What Samba Scientific is Doing for GEO
At Samba, we’re actively experimenting with the GEO strategy for our own brand and for our clients. Here’s what we’re working on this quarter:
Building GEO Dashboards
We’re developing systems to track and measure how AI perceives our brand over time:
- Which queries and questions does our brand show up for?
- What contexts does AI recommend us in?
- Are there questions we should be ranking for but aren’t?
- How has our citation frequency changed over time?
This is similar to keyword tracking in SEO, but it’s focused on question-based queries and AI citations rather than clicks. It also includes mapping citation networks for life science verticals, tracking competitors’ earned media, and defending rankings across engines.
Expanding Our Presence on AI-Preferred Platforms
Since AI pulls heavily from Reddit, Wikipedia, and YouTube, we’re building our presence there:
- Samba Scientific subreddit for community building around our brand
- Biotech Marketing subreddit for industry-specific discussions where we can contribute thought leadership
- YouTube channel with industry webinars, tutorials, and educational content
These platforms give us additional channels where AI systems are actively looking for information, so we’ll be including them in our larger content strategy to grow our visibility.
Technical Website Optimizations
We’re implementing:
- llms.txt files guiding AI on how to interpret our content
- Schema markup audits ensuring every page has appropriate structured data
- SEO fundamentals review confirming we’re following best practices that also benefit GEO
The foundation of good GEO is still good SEO—just aimed at AI crawlers rather than human readers.
Testing and Iteration
GEO is still evolving. We’re running ongoing tests to see which strategies have the most impact, including:
- Different schema implementations
- Various content structures
- FAQ placement and formatting
- Technical markup approaches
- Engine-specific testing
As we learn what works, we’ll refine our approach and share insights with clients and the broader biotech marketing community. Stay tuned for updates!
The Unknowns: What We're Still Figuring Out
GEO is such a new field that many critical questions remain unanswered. Here’s what the industry is still working to understand:
How Do We Measure Success?
In traditional SEO, we tracked impressions, clicks, click-through rates, bounce rates, and conversions. But in a zero-click world:
- How do we accurately measure AI impressions?
- How do we know if being cited led to business results?
- What’s the ROI of a brand mention in an AI answer?
- How do we attribute leads that discovered us through AI?
These measurement challenges are the biggest gap in GEO right now. Until we can truly measure impact, it’s difficult to optimize and prove ROI.
Which Strategies Actually Work?
As noted above, we’re experimenting with multiple approaches, including llms.txt files, schema markup, content structure optimization, and FAQ implementations.
But which strategies have the most impact? Is it the cutting-edge technical implementations, or is it just good old-fashioned authoritative content and strong SEO fundamentals?
In all honesty, we don’t have definitive answers yet. The industry is still in the testing phase, but as we identify trends, we’ll respond and continuously optimize our approach as relevant. Our approach will likely also continue to shift over time as AI search engines evolve and algorithms change.
What Will the New KPIs Be?
If click-through rates decline and website traffic dwindles, what will success look like for websites in the future?
Possible new KPIs might include:
- AI citation frequency
- Brand mention sentiment in AI responses
- Share of voice in AI-generated answers
- Authority score for specific topics
We need new metrics to understand performance in this evolving landscape.
Taking Action on GEO Today
While many questions remain, here’s what we know for certain: AI-powered search is already changing how your audience discovers information. The brands that establish authority now will dominate citations later as AI gets more confident with technical life science content.
Start with these immediate actions:
Short-term (this week):
- Audit your most important pages for clear heading structure
- Add FAQ sections to key product and service pages
- Review your meta titles and descriptions
- Check if you have basic schema markup in place
Medium-term (this month):
- Implement proper schema markup formats across your site
- Update thin or outdated content with comprehensive, current information
- Create structured how-to guides or comparison tables
- Build out definitions for key technical terms
Long-term (this quarter):
- Develop content specifically answering questions that you want to rank for
- Build presence on Reddit, YouTube, or other AI-preferred platforms
- Create an llms.txt file for your website
- Establish a system to track your brand mentions in AI responses
- Monitor engine-specific performance and adjust for biases
While this may feel overwhelming, don’t forget: Life science companies have a window of opportunity. AI is still catching up to our industry’s complexity. Companies that invest in authoritative, structured, expert content now will establish dominance before the competitive landscape gets crowded.
Samba Scientific specializes in helping biotech companies adapt their digital marketing strategies for emerging technologies like AI-powered search. If you want help putting an effective GEO strategy into practice, we’d love to talk with you about how we can work together to maintain your company’s visibility in this new search landscape. Schedule a meeting today.
