Busting the Biggest SEO and GEO Myths in Place Marketing

Not long ago, a client told us someone had confidently informed them that “SEO is dead.” 

We hear it all the time. It’s the kind of statement that spreads quickly in economic development and destination marketing circles, especially right now as AI-generated search results reshape how people find information online. And honestly, with the amount of information circulating, it’s understandable why teams don’t know what to believe. Every week seems to bring a new acronym, a new “AI SEO” service or a new prediction that everything about search has fundamentally changed. 

The reality is that much of the noise surrounding AI search is, well, noise. In fact, Google recently released its own official guidance on optimizing for generative AI search, a rare, direct resource that confirms that the fundamentals still matter.  

Let’s break down five of the biggest SEO and GEO myths currently circulating in place marketing. 

Myth #1: “SEO is dead.” 

Saying SEO is dead is like saying correspondence halted with the invention of the internet. It’s far from dead; it just looks different these days.  

Google’s own guidance confirms that foundational SEO best practices remain the backbone of how generative AI features work, including AI Overviews and AI Mode. Your content still needs to be crawlable, indexable, technically sound and authoritative in order to appear anywhere in search.  

For EDOs and DMOs, this is especially important. If your community wants to appear when someone searches “best places for advanced manufacturing investment” or “top regions for remote workers,” your website still needs the same foundational optimization that has always mattered. The search landscape has widened, but the foundation has not changed. 

Myth #2: “AI search is completely different from SEO, and you need a separate strategy.” 

This is where a lot of organizations are getting overwhelmed and, sometimes, oversold. Google has been clear that optimizing for generative AI search is still SEO. GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) and AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) are not entirely separate disciplines requiring completely different content strategies. They are extensions of search optimization within a changing search experience. 

You do not need to rewrite all of your content in some special “AI-friendly” format. AI systems are designed to understand natural language, context and meaning. They are not looking for robotic phrasing or keyword stuffing. 

A strong SEO strategy already supports visibility across both traditional search and AI-driven experiences. If your content clearly answers real questions about your workforce, infrastructure, incentives, quality of life or industry strengths, you are already building the type of content AI systems are designed to surface. 

That’s also why organizations should choose wisely when it comes to selecting an SEO agency, as many out there are selling “AI SEO” as a completely separate premium service layered on top of existing SEO work. Remember that the fundamentals should work together, not compete with one another. 

Myth #3: “You need special AI markup, an llms.txt file or a structured data overhaul to appear in AI results.” 

We’ve all been swayed by the promise of a quick fix. Humans yearn for efficiency, after all. Yet, Google warns us that the growing market of technical shortcuts promising better AI visibility are overstated. No special AI files, machine-readable AI directives or new forms of markup are required to appear in generative AI search experiences. 

That does not mean technical SEO is unimportant. Structured data still provides value for overall SEO health, rich results eligibility and helping search engines better understand your content. A technically healthy website still matters immensely. There is just no secret GEO schema or AI-specific technical shortcut that automatically boosts visibility in AI search. 

For resource-strapped EDO and DMO teams, this is an important distinction. Organizations should focus on foundational technical health rather than chasing every new AI optimization trend that appears in the market. 

Myth #4: “More content means better rankings.” 

Less is more, and more is less when it comes to cranking out content these days. For years, many organizations approached SEO with a volume mindset, thinking more blogs, more landing pages more keyword variations would improve visibility.  

Again, Google’s guidance reinforces something experienced content strategists already know: high volume does not equal high quality. There is already a distaste for the overwhelming amount of “AI slop” being circulated across various platforms and creating large amounts of thin, repetitive content simply to capture every possible search variation can actually work against your visibility.  

A handful of deeply researched, genuinely useful pages about your community’s workforce pipeline, infrastructure assets, target industries or quality of life will almost always outperform dozens of shallow pages targeting slightly different keyword phrases. Strategic depth beats volume every time. 

The strongest place marketing content is often the most specific, with proprietary community data, local success stories, industry expertise and insights that cannot be copied and pasted from another website. 

Myth #5: “Ranking #1 on Google is still the only measure of SEO success.” 

You may have noticed that search visibility looks a little different than it did even a few years ago. AI Overviews, AI Mode and zero-click search behavior have fundamentally changed how users interact with search results pages. In many cases, users may get their answers directly from AI-generated summaries before ever clicking a traditional blue link. 

That means SEO success can no longer be measured solely by “Did we rank number one?” Being cited within an AI-generated response is increasingly valuable. If your content becomes the source AI systems pull from when answering questions like “Why should I relocate my business to this region?” or “Best Midwest cities for manufacturing growth,” that visibility matters, even if the user never interacts with a traditional ranking position. 

This is where GEO becomes best understood as an expansion of SEO, not its replacement. Organic visibility today is broader, more dynamic and more interconnected than traditional rankings alone. 

To recap, despite all the varying conversations surrounding AI search, the core principles of strong SEO for place marketing have not fundamentally changed. 

• Original community data still matters. 

• Helpful storytelling still matters. 

• Technically sound, crawlable websites still matter. 

• Content that answers real questions from site selectors, talent and visitors still matters. 

The noise around AI search is loud right now, but the signal is actually very clear. If your content is genuinely useful and your website is well-built, you are already most of the way there. 

Interested in learning more about SEO and AI search strategy? Contact Carly Steele-Johnson at @Carly.Steele-Johnson@aboutdci.com to learn how your organization can strengthen visibility across both traditional and AI-powered search.