MarTech Media Group

🚀 Smart systems for small businesses ⚡ Automate follow-ups, grow your pipeline, and never miss another lead.🌟

[MarTech Media Group @TheMarTechMedia]

“If we have data, let’s look at data. If all we have are opinions, let’s go with mine.”
– Jim Barksdale

Today’s #Martech minute peeks into your social media stats. Follow this page to help bring clarity to the complex world of #marketingtechnology 🚀

[MarTech Media Group @TheMarTechMedia]

Check out the latest article in my newsletter: What TikTok Shop Is Teaching Me About Modern Marketing https://t.co/p5iJBDkVca via @LinkedIn

[MarTech Media Group @TheMarTechMedia]

https://t.co/8wXd4y11mg

[Alex Groberman @alexgroberman]

Microsoft recently dropped an official “Here Is How To Get Traffic From ChatGPT” guide.

It has gotten surprisingly little attention.

Let’s go over it together.

A few weeks back Microsoft dropped “From discovery to influence: A guide to AEO and GEO - Practical data strategies to empower retailers for AI search, AI assistants and AI browsers.”

Everything here is drawn directly from the document and its diagrams, with some of my personal takes layered on top for clarity and execution value.

I’ll also reference the pages in the PDF in case you want to go read it yourself.

That said, if you don't care and just want someone to get the ChatGPT traffic for you, let SEO Stuff do the heavy lifting:

https://t.co/eh1auroJF7

Microsoft’s central message in the doc is that retail competition is shifting from “being found” to “being chosen.”

They argue that traditional SEO was optimized for:

Ranking

Clicks

Page visits

Whereas AI-driven shopping replaces that with:

Answers

Recommendations

Agent-led decisions

They’re arguing that visibility is now earned by how clearly AI systems understand your products, trust your brand and can act on your data.

This is where “AEO” and “GEO” come in.

(I hate both of these acronyms and prefer to just call it all AI search optimization, but this is their doc so I’ll go with their language.)

This is also why we’ve seen brands struggle even with strong traditional SEO, but immediately improve AI visibility once they pair technical SEO with structured, intent-driven content and authoritative signals like those included in SEO Stuff’s Gold Plan.

https://t.co/yEFyM0Ze7W

Microsoft also broke down the difference, to them, between AEO and GEO.

Microsoft makes it a very clean distinction:

Answer / Agentic Engine Optimization (AEO) in their estimation optimizes content and data so AI assistants and agents (Copilot, ChatGPT, Gemini) can:

Find it

Understand it

Summarize it

Recommend it

Act on it

This is about clarity and machine-readability.

(Want to know if your site is AI-search ready? Check here: https://t.co/Pn764BHwyL)

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) optimizes content so generative AI search systems trust it as:

Authoritative

Credible

Citable

This is about credibility, reputation, and justification.

Microsoft is explicit that SEO still matters, but it is now the foundation and not the endpoint.

In practice, this is why execution now requires both properly structured pages and volume at scale, something SEO Stuff intentionally designed the Premium Content Bundle to solve.

https://t.co/wA30K3XNYQ

Microsoft then delved into the AI shopping ecosystem and how discovery actually works now.

One of the most interesting sections is Microsoft’s breakdown of AI browsers, assistants, and agents (pages 5–7).

These are not separate systems and they overlap constantly.

AI BROWSERS

Edge, Chrome, or similar with embedded AI

They can “see” the live page you are on and interpret it in real time.

AI ASSISTANTS

Copilot, ChatGPT, Gemini

They answer questions, summarize options, and recommend products.

AI AGENTS

They:

Navigate websites

Add items to carts

Apply promo codes

Calculate shipping

Complete purchases

The key insight:

The question is not “which AI surface am I optimizing for?”

The question is what data can AI access, trust, and use?

This is exactly where most sites break.

The data exists, but it isn’t structured, consistent, or surfaced in a way AI can reliably act on.

Microsoft then went into how AI actually decides what to recommend.

Microsoft outlines a multi-stage reasoning process used by Copilot and Bing AI (pages 7–8).

AI does not rely on one data source, but rather fuses:

CRAWLED WEB DATA

Brand reputation

Category authority

Expert mentions

Historical understanding

PRODUCT FEEDS AND APIS

Price

Availability

Variants

Inventory

Key specs

This is where competitive advantage often comes from, and where most brands are under-optimized.

LIVE WEBSITE DATA

Real-time pricing

Promotions

Reviews

Media

Checkout functionality

If your live site fails, the agent fails, even if feeds were perfect.

An example Microsoft gives is “rain jacket under $200.”

AI reasoning includes:

“Patagonia and North Face make quality jackets” (general knowledge)

“Hiking jackets need to be lightweight and waterproof” (category understanding)

“Brand X is known for hiking equipment” (brand positioning)

“Your model is $179 and in stock” (feeds)

“Competitor is $199 and backordered” (feeds)

Your product makes the top recommendations because feeds, availability, price, and context align.

This is why content that simply “ranks” but doesn’t explain, compare, or justify rarely shows up in AI answers without additional supporting assets.

Microsoft then really breaks down the journey from SEO to AEO to GEO.

They summarize the transition pretty clearly (page 6):

SEO = matching keywords

“Waterproof rain jacket”

AEO = descriptive clarity

“Lightweight, packable waterproof rain jacket with ventilation and reflective piping”

GEO = justification and trust

“Best-rated by Outdoor Magazine, 4.8 stars, 180-day returns, 3-year warranty”

So basically, AEO drives understanding and GEO drives confidence, and you need both to be recommended.

This is why brands pairing long-form, intent-driven content with authoritative backlinks and mentions often outperform those relying on SEO alone.

Then Microsoft talks about three data layers you must control.

They stress that retailers must show up in three distinct data planes (page 10):

CRAWLED DATA

What AI learned during training

What it finds via real-time web search

This shapes baseline brand perception.

SEO still matters here.

PRODUCT FEEDS AND APIS

Structured data you actively provide

This is where precision and control live.

Feeds drive:

Comparisons

Rankings

Recommendations

This is where many retailers under-invest.

LIVE WEBSITE DATA

What AI agents see when they actually visit

Includes:

Reviews

Media

Dynamic pricing

Checkout capability

If agents cannot transact, influence stops at recommendation.

Here are the three action pillars Microsoft prescribes.

This is the most legit part of the document (pages 11–14).

Pillar 1: Technical foundations and structured data

AI requires structure and consistency, not creativity.

Microsoft explicitly calls for:

MACHINE-READABLE CATALOGS

DYNAMIC FIELDS:

Price

Availability

Size

Color

SKU

GTIN

dateModified

ITEMLIST MARKUP FOR CATEGORIES

LOCALIZED PRICING AND LANGUAGE VIA:

inLanguage

priceCurrency

REQUIRED SCHEMA TYPES:

Product

Offer

AggregateRating

Review

Brand

ItemList

FAQ

They also highlight this:

“Never serve different HTML to bots than to users.”

Pillar 2: Intent-driven content enrichment

AI interprets intent over keywords.

MICROSOFT RECOMMENDS:

Front-loading descriptions with:

Who it is for

What problem it solves

Why it is better

Use-case framing:

“Best for day hikes above 40 degrees”

Headings that mirror real questions

Modular, citable content blocks

THEY EXPLICTELY ENCOURAGE:

Q&A sections

Comparison content

Feature lists

“Goes well with” product relationships

Video transcripts

Detailed image alt text with ImageObject schema

This is content designed for extraction as opposed to reading.

This is also why scale matters.

One or two pages won’t move the needle.

Systems that produce dozens of structured, intent-mapped articles tend to win, which is exactly what the Premium Content Bundle is built around.

https://t.co/wA30K3XNYQ

Pillar 3: Trust and credibility signals (GEO)

AI systems prioritize verifiable truth.

Microsoft highlights:

VERIFIED SOCIAL PROOF

Verified reviews

Review volume

Sentiment extraction (“highly rated for comfort and fit”)

Review and AggregateRating schema

AUTHORITATIVE BRAND IDENTITY

Expert reviews

Press mentions

Certifications

Sustainability badges

Official brand links

CONTENT INTEGRITY

Avoid exaggerated claims

Maintain consistent brand voice

Provide structured FAQs and help content

This also stood out:

“AI penalizes low-trust language.”

Interesting, but obviously open to interpretation.

Microsoft then closed with a fairly straightforward message.

Retailers already have most of the signals AI uses to rank and recommend.

The winners in AI commerce will be the brands that:

Treat data as a product

Treat feeds as strategic assets

Treat content as machine-readable infrastructure

Treat trust as a measurable ranking factor

This is what Microsoft calls “AI ranking readiness.”

If I had to reduce this entire PDF to one core idea:

If AI cannot clearly understand your products, justify recommending them, and act on your data in real time, you will not be a legit presence in AI-driven commerce.

This document is Microsoft formally telling retailers that:

SEO alone is good, but not fully enough

Feeds are now a competitive moat

Trust is algorithmic

AI assistants are the new gatekeepers of demand

Luckily, SEO Stuff solves for all of this.

Want to increase your traffic and sales from traditional search and AI search?

Just RT this and reply with “ChatGPT Guide” and I’ll DM you some “unconfirmed” tricks we’ve been using to get traffic from ChatGPT in as quickly as 30 days.

(Must be following me to get the DM.)

[MarTech Media Group @TheMarTechMedia]

Everyone Had the Data. No One Had the Answer. https://t.co/rt9xH9fr1O via @LinkedIn

[MarTech Media Group @TheMarTechMedia]

Check out this post on Nextdoor: https://t.co/EppZDu8une

[MarTech Media Group @TheMarTechMedia]

Automation isn’t just the future - it’s how smart businesses grow today.

Start optimizing your marketing systems now:
👉 https://t.co/YiKoaTzjS6

[MarTech Media Group @TheMarTechMedia]

📞 Missed calls are quietly costing businesses more than they realize.
According to Curious Thing AI, companies miss nearly 40% of customer calls on average.

Every unanswered call is a customer choosing someone else.

💡 Learn more - https://t.co/YiKoaTzjS6

[MarTech Media Group @TheMarTechMedia]

Missed calls = missed opportunities.
But what if every missed call automatically got a friendly text back - even booking appointments while you sleep?

📲 Book your free 15-minute audit today with MarTech Media.
https://t.co/ZHENIBu6JA

[MarTech Media Group @TheMarTechMedia]

⚙️ Automation helps you look like a pro, even if you’re a one-person show.

According to Forbes, these 20 AI tools help small business owners save time, simplify marketing, and scale smarter.

💡 The secret isn’t doing more - it’s automating smarter.
👉 https://t.co/YiKoaTzjS6

[MarTech Media Group @TheMarTechMedia]

📞 Missed calls are quietly costing businesses more than they realize.
According to Curious Thing AI, companies miss nearly 40% of customer calls on average.

Every unanswered call is a customer choosing someone else.

💡 Learn more - https://t.co/YiKoaTzjS6

[MarTech Media Group @TheMarTechMedia]

If your marketing isn’t automated…

you’re leaving leads (and sleep) on the table. 😴

Let’s fix that → https://t.co/sSnHkf1O2S

[MarTech Media Group @TheMarTechMedia]

Automation isn’t just the future - it’s how smart businesses grow today.

Start optimizing your marketing systems now:
👉 https://t.co/YiKoaTzjS6

[MarTech Media Group @TheMarTechMedia]

Automation may be the difference between being busy and being profitable. 💼

Smart systems don’t replace people — they empower them to focus on what moves the needle.

💡 Want to work smarter, not harder?

[MarTech Media Group @TheMarTechMedia]

Missed calls = missed opportunities.
But what if every missed call automatically got a friendly text back - even booking appointments while you sleep?

📲 Book your free 15-minute audit today with MarTech Media.
https://t.co/ZHENIBu6JA

[MarTech Media Group @TheMarTechMedia]

If your marketing isn’t automated…

you’re leaving leads (and sleep) on the table. 😴

Let’s fix that → https://t.co/YiKoaTzjS6

[MarTech Media Group @TheMarTechMedia]

⚙️ Automation helps you look like a pro, even if you’re a one-person show.

According to Forbes, these 20 AI tools help small business owners save time, simplify marketing, and scale smarter.

💡 The secret isn’t doing more - it’s automating smarter.
👉 https://t.co/YiKoaTzjS6

[MarTech Media Group @TheMarTechMedia]

📞 Missed calls are quietly costing businesses more than they realize.
According to Curious Thing AI, companies miss nearly 40% of customer calls on average.

Every unanswered call is a customer choosing someone else.

💡 Learn more - https://t.co/YiKoaTzjS6

[MarTech Media Group @TheMarTechMedia]

Automation isn’t just the future - it’s how smart businesses grow today.

Start optimizing your marketing systems now:
👉 https://t.co/YiKoaTzjS6

[MarTech Media Group @TheMarTechMedia]

Missed calls = missed opportunities.
But what if every missed call automatically got a friendly text back - even booking appointments while you sleep?

📲 Book your free 15-minute audit today with MarTech Media.
https://t.co/ZHENIBu6JA

[MarTech Media Group @TheMarTechMedia]

Automation may be the difference between being busy and being profitable. 💼

Smart systems don’t replace people — they empower them to focus on what moves the needle.

💡 Want to work smarter, not harder?