This question comes up more and more among Indonesian marketers: is it still worth spending budget on SEO while traffic from AI search keeps climbing? The answer is not as simple as "pick one", there are important nuances worth understanding.
The state of SEO in 2026
Traditional SEO is still relevant. Google still processes billions of queries a day and remains the main entry point for many search categories, especially local search, e-commerce products, and how-to content. But organic traffic from Google is being eroded by the AI Overview feature, which sits at the very top and answers questions without requiring a click.
The rise of GEO
GEO went from zero to a recognized marketing discipline in just two years. The trigger is clear: ChatGPT now has more than 400 million monthly users, Perplexity grew 10x in a year, and Gemini keeps getting more deeply integrated into Google's ecosystem. More and more consumers skip the "browsing" stage entirely and go straight to "ask AI, buy immediately".
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SEO works through technical signals: backlinks, page speed, URL structure, keyword density. GEO works through trust and authority signals: how often a brand is mentioned in sources AI trusts, how consistent the brand narrative is across platforms, and how positive the sentiment is in reviews and online discussion.
Which is more efficient for Indonesian brands?
For brands with a limited budget: put 60% into GEO, 40% into SEO. The reasoning: GEO competition in Indonesia is still far lower than SEO competition, so the same effort produces a bigger impact. For enterprise brands: run both in parallel, since many GEO signals (quality content, positive reviews, media mentions) also strengthen SEO.
Conclusion
SEO and GEO are not competitors, they reinforce each other. Content that is good for GEO (authoritative, informative, trustworthy) is also good for SEO. What differs is the success metric: SEO is measured by ranking and clicks, GEO is measured by mention rate and sentiment score inside AI answers.