Is GEO a Distraction? Marie Haynes vs. Mike King (and the Tactics That Work)

E1208: Is GEO a distraction, or are SEOs measuring the wrong thing?

Marie Haynes analyzed 145 million sessions across 100 websites and found that ChatGPT sent just 0.62% as much traffic as Google organic. All LLMs combined sent 0.73%. Mike King argues that those numbers miss the point: AI search influences buying decisions even when people never click through.

In episode 1,208 of The Edward Show, I break down their disagreement, share my take, and explain the SEO tactics that get customers from Google and AI search.

In this episode:

- Marie Haynes's research across 100 sites and 12 months of GA4 data.

- ChatGPT generated just 0.62% of Google's organic traffic volume, and all LLMs combined generated 0.73%.

- The conversion-rate surprise: 13.8% for ChatGPT visitors versus 3.02% for Google organic visitors.

- Google's 27x conversion advantage over all LLMs combined, despite ChatGPT's higher conversion rate.

- Marie's finding that ChatGPT referral traffic has declined since August 2025.

- Mike King's response: AI search is a brand channel, not primarily a referral-traffic channel.

- Why judging AI visibility solely by clicks overlooks recommendations, trust, and purchase decisions.

- Where Mike agrees with GEO critics: schema hacks, LLMs.txt, and writing content for robots are distractions.