By Dr Deb Croucher 
 
As a vet for 15 years, I know how challenging and rewarding the job is. I’m also acutely aware of the demands on your time and how the added stressors of running a practice can eat away at your resources. 

However, as a vet, you’re also a business person and can’t ignore operational and financial management functions, human resources and staffing, strategic planning, and sales and marketing. 

Understandably, for many vets, the marketing function is low on the priority list. However, in today’s world of online everything, knowing what is happening behind the scenes of algorithms, Google, and AI is critical to ensuring your practice is sustainable and can scale at a pace that fits your vision. 

How is SEO (Free Google Search) changing? 

SEO, which is free Google search, has been the cornerstone of online marketing for over two decades. Its roots can be traced back to Google’s PageRank algorithm in 1998. Businesses that were early adopters of SEO led the pack, and their businesses outpaced their competitors. Since then, digital marketing has been building on the power of SEO, and those who did it well have reaped the benefits. 
While the foundations of SEO are still alive and well today, there is now a new and highly advanced information engine that people are tuning into. AI bots such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Bard, Perplexity, and others are quickly becoming the search engine of choice for everyday Australians. This is not a trend; it is a staple of life and is only going one way: upward. 

Like all things, it needs an acronym. As I write this article, the current acronym is GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation). While the descriptor may change as the technology advances, what it does won’t. In short, your digital presence, i.e, your website and digital content, must be optimised for GEO. Practices must be visible in traditional internet searches – Google via SEO – and AI searches via GEO. Like back in 1998, early adopters who embraced SEO succeeded; the same applies in 2025/26 businesses, including vet practices, that adopt GEO will come out in front. Even more critically, those that don’t will become invisible. 

What needs to change to make sure I am GEO-ready? 

Your website and online presence are critical to the marketing puzzle, particularly as most vets service local communities or have specialised areas of care. While SEO targets these through keywords, AI bots answer questions, and these questions are more often voice-generated. The bots go to work, find the answers online, and deliver them in a lovely package tied with a pretty bow. Users don’t get a long list of options; they get a summary from the most trusted sources on the internet. 

GEO helps ensure you are one of those trusted sources. Your website must have backend enhancements, such as Schema markups. Schema markup is a type of structured data code added to your website’s HTML to help search engines better understand the content on your pages. If your current website doesn’t enable this, it is time to upgrade. 

Then there are forward-facing enhancements. These primarily relate to the content on your pages, how it is structured, and, most importantly, whether it is human. Does it offer answers? Is it consistent? Is it authored, dated, and formatted correctly, and ultimately, does it help? 

These elements must align to ensure you are who you say you are and a trusted source of truth. 

The good and the challenging 

Our team has been monitoring and adjusting to GEO for a while now, quietly upgrading our clients’ websites and content to ensure they’re at the pointy end of GEO. While we see real positives for those who embrace GEO and do it well, it is not without its challenges. 

AI and its influence on how people interact with the internet are evolving exponentially. Staying on top of it and working reactively and proactively is highly time-consuming. Knowing how and when to update is essential. Constantly monitoring performance and mirroring additions when they come requires daily attention. Get it right, and it is a powerful tool; get it wrong, and it can spell disaster. 

The upside is clear. Those who put in the work, do the upgrades, and continually add quality human-developed content will leapfrog those who don’t. We are already seeing this for our clients, which is happening quickly. 

A few things to consider 

Don’t underestimate AI’s appetite for human-generated content that delivers the answers it seeks. It must have that content to work as intended. When you have the right content on the right platform, you will stand out, and your competition gets smaller. 

This does not mean SEO is dying. Google still has the upper hand; however, the world of search is evolving very fast. As we rely more and more on AI to deliver information, AI is relying more and more on us to create authentic, trustworthy human content for it to do its bit. Understanding and optimising SEO, GEO, and human content is a delicate balance that allows your business to plot its trajectory and connect with the customer profile that suits you best. 

AI does speed things up for your customers, but it drains resources and requires professional oversight to be effective. Specialist Vet Marketing can help ensure your GEO is ready and provides a comprehensive toolbox that sustains and grows your practice at your speed. 

You can concentrate on what you do best by outsourcing your marketing to a professional team. 

Book a free and thorough audit of your website and online marketing strategy with Deb today. There is a clear and successful way forward.