China is undergoing a radical transformation in the way people search for information, discover products, and make decisions. This shift is driven by generative AI and a new paradigm: GEO in China – Generative Engine Optimization.
During the webinar held in collaboration with GenOptima, one message emerged clearly:
“Your customers’ decisions will be influenced by what AI says about you.” A scenario shift that Western brands can no longer afford to ignore.
Why Talk About GEO in China Today
China is experiencing a radical transformation in the way people search for information, discover products, and make decisions. This shift is driven by generative AI and a new paradigm: GEO – Generative Engine Optimization.
The numbers speak for themselves:
602 million monthly active users on Chinese AI platforms in 2025
42–43% of the population uses AI daily to stay informed
Forecast: over 720 million users by 2026
80% of consumers rely on AI before making a purchase
By 2028, 50% of all searches will be fully AI‑driven
This leads to one clear conclusion: traditional SEO is no longer enough. The competition is no longer for “blue links,” but for being cited and recommended by AI.
What Is GEO and Why It Differs from SEO
GEO in China marks a true paradigm shift: it replaces the SEO logic built on “blue links” with a model where AI generates a single, synthetic, decision‑driving answer.
Users no longer browse, compare pages, or click, because the AI directly provides a shortlist of 3–4 brands it considers the most reliable and relevant.
This is the Zero‑Click era, where AI analyzes the web on behalf of the user, filters information, evaluates sentiment, authority, and content consistency, and delivers an immediate recommendation.
This explains why traditional SEO traffic is dropping by 30% per year, and why by 2028 half of all searches will be fully AI‑driven: the decision‑making journey no longer passes through a SERP, but through a generative answer.
In this scenario, if a brand is not mentioned in the AI’s response, it becomes invisible, excluded from the decision process.
GEO therefore becomes the strategy that ensures presence, recommendation, and trust within AI‑generated summaries
How a GEO Strategy Works in China
The performance of a GEO strategy is measured through four key KPIs:
Top Recommendation Rate — being recommended among the very first results (target above 40%).
Brand Mention Rate — how frequently the brand appears in AI‑generated answers (target >85%).
Sentiment Score — ensuring the algorithm associates the brand with strongly positive connotations (target >90%).
Share of Voice — dominating brand mentions within the relevant category.
To achieve these goals, the strategy begins with a deep analysis of user search intent. Next, corporate content must be structured into AI‑friendly data, building a clear and dynamic Knowledge Base. Finally, semantic optimization must be supported by authoritative endorsements (PR, news, white papers) that help “train” the algorithm to trust the brand and recommend it.
The Main AI Engines in China (and How They Influence GEO)
The Chinese market is home to highly advanced AI platforms capable of absorbing massive user traffic:
Doubao (ByteDance) — The dominant giant with around 174 million active users. It is the assistant connected to the Douyin/TikTok ecosystem, and its answers include videos and direct links to Douyin shops, drastically shortening the path to purchase.
DeepSeek — With 194 million users, it is experiencing explosive growth. It is known for being the most neutral and unbiased model, as it synthesizes documents from across the entire web rather than relying on a single big‑tech ecosystem.
Yuanbao (Tencent) — Used by 114 million users, it is deeply integrated with WeChat. It draws from an enormous database of Official Accounts and WeChat Channels, embedding smart services directly into the country’s most widely used messaging app.
Qwen (Alibaba) — With around 100 million users, it is the AI engine designed for e‑commerce. Leveraging data from Taobao, Tmall, and Alibaba.com, Qwen evaluates reviews and product quality to recommend the best options, accelerating both B2B and B2C purchases.
Kimi — Created by Moonshot AI (with nearly 10 million users), it excels at processing extremely long contexts and technical documents. It is the tool of choice for academic research, B2B use cases, legal work, and the high‑tech sector.
What Western Brands Need to Do Today
To succeed in this new ecosystem, brands must:
Shift from visibility to recommendation — Optimize content so that AI actively chooses to recommend the product.
Build a brand knowledge ecosystem — Move away from fragmented information and distribute consistent content across multiple platforms, allowing AI to cross‑reference data and validate the brand.
Localize, not just translate — Adapt content to the search context and the specific intent of Chinese users.
Create structured data — Ensure every piece of content is easily analyzable and “readable” by the algorithm.
The digital world is already moving toward Generative Experience Marketing (GEM), where search interactions and purchasing decisions will take place entirely within a single chat with artificial intelligence. Starting to optimize for GEO today is the essential step to avoid disappearing tomorrow.