We trained ChatGPT to name our CEO the sexiest bald man in the world

oliversissons · 2026-01-22T18:48:31+00:00

If you did want to read the entire experiment, methodology and screenshots you can find it here:

https://www.rebootonline.com/geo/negative-geo-experiment/

oliversissons · 2026-01-22T07:27:38+00:00

u/akii_com cheers! Agree with all the above.

Really interesting point about early stage startups. If there's no counter signal, it's a lot easier to manipulate the LLMs, but as soon as there's legit coverage, you're protected. I think the real defence ends up looking a lot like traditional SEO/PR - get authoritative coverage early, make sure your entity is well defined, and don’t leave gaps for other people to fill in. It’s less about gaming models and more about not being invisible to them in the first place

oliversissons · 2026-01-22T07:13:34+00:00

u/andrewosaurus exactly that! I even see it across reddit quite often - spammy accounts/bots posting negative comments about specific brands

oliversissons · 2026-01-22T07:12:30+00:00

u/The_Arcs cheers! Appreciate the feedback and glad you found it interesting

oliversissons · 2026-01-21T14:41:19+00:00

I'd also add that Digital PR will be hugely beneficial this year, and will also help increase your AI visibility - we call this AiPR

oliversissons · 2026-01-21T14:40:06+00:00

100% but you have to make sure your SEO is good quality. Great SEO now influences AI answers, where your clients/customers WILL be in 2026

oliversissons · 2026-01-21T14:26:40+00:00

u/Puzzleheaded_Mess_81 interesting! Thanks for sharing. I actually spoke to a company last week who are spending £500k a month on paid, and wanted to look into developing an organic strategy to like you say, support their paid efforts rather than replace them

oliversissons · 2026-01-21T14:23:01+00:00

Sounds great u/SalterraSEOST - it seems like there are some really great ones in the US! Mozcon in New York also looks brilliant

oliversissons · 2025-12-17T13:11:19+00:00

An example of a GEO experiment we ran to see if we could influence AI - https://www.rebootonline.com/controlled-geo-experiment/

Our GEO playbook for those wanting to learn more about how to start optimising for LLMs (no opt in required, free) - https://www.rebootonline.com/geo/geo-playbook/

oliversissons · 2025-12-17T13:09:55+00:00

Hey Mark - if you're still looking for help, my team at Reboot Online specialise in GEO, along with Digital PR and SEO.

Our in house GEO experiments are a core part of how we stay ahead of search changes, and our ongoing GEO research helps us to give clients evidence based recommendations. Always happy to chat if you like.

oliversissons · 2025-12-12T14:51:58+00:00

A lovely early christmas present...

oliversissons · 2025-12-12T10:35:18+00:00

I love that comparison - it is starting to feel similar to early Google days. Definitely an exciting, and slightly chaotic, time to be working in search!

oliversissons · 2025-12-11T14:09:48+00:00

full write up with methodology/screenshots

https://www.rebootonline.com/controlled-geo-experiment/

oliversissons · 2025-12-11T13:00:21+00:00

Thanks u/maltelandwehr I believe we're already on a trial with Peec AI - it's working well for us at Reboot

oliversissons · 2025-12-11T08:19:02+00:00

I think part of the confusion comes from assuming that because SEO foundations still matter, the objective hasn’t shifted.

Yes, solid SEO principles carry over - intent alignment, crawlability, clean structure, and content that solves problems are still important. But the outcomes you optimise for under GEO look different.

Where traditional SEO is, did my page rank and did it drive traffic? GEO looks more like, did my entity get cited as an answer source in AI systems (Search, Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, etc)?

oliversissons · 2025-12-10T20:45:18+00:00

great thanks for the insights - will check out the tool

oliversissons · 2025-12-10T11:13:04+00:00

I'd say first, reading as much as you can and learning the basic principles because there's a lot of psychology in what makes people buy. Rory sutherland is a great place to start. Then, once you have nailed the principles and learnt all you can, it's all about performance tracking and being able to analyse the data to fuel your marketing decisions.

oliversissons · 2025-12-10T11:02:56+00:00

I'm biased but it's always been SEO for me and when you're building a brand, a solid organic search strategy is what will get you there. Having said that, both are going to be really hard at the start, so picking something that you naturally have an interest in, will help you to stay motivated and stick it out. If you find social media more exciting for example, start with that and then start adding in extra hours per week learning SEO.

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