Over the past year, the most common question from companies doing online promotion has been: 'We've invested in ads and keywords, so why aren't inquiries increasing?' The truth is, it's not that promotion doesn't work—it's that users' search habits have changed. More and more people are using AI tools like Doubao, DeepSeek, and Tencent Yuanbao to ask questions directly, rather than scrolling through ten pages of Baidu results. This shift is quietly rewriting the fundamental logic of digital marketing.
As a digital service provider with 20 years of experience, Yunxuan Network Technology interacts daily with SME owners across the country. We've noticed that the real differentiator isn't who spends more on ads, but who first understands the migration of traffic entry points. In this article, we'll skip the fluff and, based on our frontline experience serving clients, break down how SEO and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) can become the 'dual engines' for your corporate website and brand promotion, and how you should adjust your digital marketing strategy in 2025.
1. With AI Search Rising, Is Traditional SEO Still Important?
Let's give the conclusion first: SEO isn't dead—it's actually become more valuable. Its role has just changed.
Previously, when users searched 'engineering waterproofing material manufacturer,' Baidu would return ten blue links, and if you could get a page on your website into the top three, you'd get steady clicks. Now, when users ask DeepSeek the same question, the AI directly synthesizes multiple sources to generate an answer with recommendations. If your website content isn't crawled by AI, or if it's deemed 'not professional enough,' you effectively disappear from users' view.
So, the core of traditional SEO—keyword placement, site structure, internal and external links—is still important because AI answers largely depend on web content that search engines can crawl. But SEO alone isn't enough; you must do one more thing: make AI understand you and be willing to recommend you. That's what we call Generative Engine Optimization (GEO).
To use an analogy: SEO is the technique that puts you on a prominent shelf in the library, while GEO is what makes the librarian think of your book first when recommending one. Both are indispensable.
2. What Is Generative Engine Optimization and Why Should All National Enterprises Care?
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is, simply put, optimizing your brand information for the recommendation algorithms of AI Q&A platforms (like Doubao, Qianwen, DeepSeek) so that AI proactively cites your content and recommends your company when generating answers.
This is especially crucial for SMEs nationwide. In the past, to cover the national market, you had to buy ad slots on Baidu, Douyin, and various industry portals—costly and hard to measure. But now, if AI can include your factory in its recommended list when answering 'Which stainless steel processing plants in Guangdong are reliable?' you get not just precise traffic, but customers with clear needs.
At Yunxuan Network Technology, we've made GEO optimization a standard part of our digital marketing plans. We have our own methodology: first, analyze what questions target customers are asking on AI; then, produce content around those questions; and finally, publish that content on your website and third-party platforms in structures AI can easily understand (like FAQs, data lists, authoritative citations). We continuously monitor how often your brand appears in AI responses and the context of recommendations, adjusting strategy accordingly.
We've validated this approach while serving local engineering companies in Zhanjiang, manufacturing plants in the Pearl River Delta, and trading firms in the Yangtze River Delta. One industrial door company, after a website revamp and GEO optimization, was recommended as a 'supplier worth considering in South China' on DeepSeek for three consecutive weeks, boosting inquiries by over 40%. This isn't an isolated case—it's a trend.
3. The 'Dual Engines' of Digital Marketing: How SEO and GEO Work Together
Many clients ask: 'So, do we no longer need Baidu promotion?' Not exactly. Digital marketing is never about a single choice; it's about a combination. The most effective approach now is to run SEO and GEO in a coordinated system.
Specifically, the 'dual-engine' system we build for clients looks like this:
- The foundation is your website. A website that meets AI retrieval requirements must have clear structure, fast loading, and complete company profiles, product specs, case data, and FAQs. This is both the basis for SEO and the content pool for GEO. When we build websites, we design them to be 'AI-friendly'—for example, creating a separate page for each product and using Schema markup to help AI understand page content more easily.
- The middle layer is content. Focus on what customers search for and what AI answers, and continuously produce high-quality text, images, Q&As, and case studies. This content is published on your website, WeChat official account, Baijiahao, Zhihu, and other platforms, creating coverage across Baidu, WeChat, and Zhihu search entry points, while also providing material for AI to crawl.
- The top layer is AI reach. Through GEO techniques, we make AI prioritize citing your content when generating answers. We regularly test responses to brand-related questions on mainstream AI tools, recording whether your brand appears, its position, and whether the recommendation context is positive, then adjust content strategy accordingly.
The benefit of this system is that regardless of whether users prefer Baidu, Douyin, or AI, your brand gets seen. Moreover, as AI usage grows, your content accumulation creates a compounding effect—the earlier you start, the harder it is for competitors to catch up.
4. AI Agents: Let Your Website 'Catch' Traffic on Its Own
If you can't handle the traffic once it arrives, it's wasted. Many corporate websites just have a 400 phone number or an online form. When customers inquire at night, no one responds, and by the time you see it the next day, they've already gone to a competitor. That's why, in our full-network promotion, we increasingly emphasize the value of AI agents.
Yunxuan Network Technology can build a dedicated AI digital employee for your business. It's not just a chatbot; it understands your products, pricing, and service processes. It can proactively ask about customer needs, guide them to leave their contact information, and even integrate with your CRM system. For example, if you're an environmental equipment company, the AI agent can answer questions like 'What's the processing capacity?' 'How long is the warranty?' 'Can you install on-site?' If it can't answer, it logs the question and transfers to a human.
Here's a real case: A seafood cold-chain client in Zhanjiang added an AI agent to their website. Nighttime inquiries accounted for 30% of daily total, 60% of those inquiries received responses within five minutes, and lead conversion rates increased by 25%. That's what we call 'effect-based customer acquisition'—not just driving traffic, but converting every visit into an inquiry.
5. Serving Nationwide, but Localizing the Approach
Some mistakenly think that national promotion means casting a wide net without regard for region. That's wrong. Even in a national market, customers have regional attributes. For instance, if you're in engineering services, clients in North China may have entirely different concerns than those in South China. If you're in fast-moving consumer goods, strategies for first-tier cities differ from those for lower-tier markets.
Although Yunxuan Network Technology is based in Zhanjiang, we serve clients nationwide. Our digital marketing strategies are 'regionally layered' based on the client's target market: for those wanting national coverage, we recommend Baidu promotion + SEO + GEO for broad reach, plus brand content on Douyin and WeChat Channels. For those focusing on a specific region or city, we combine local life platforms, local keywords, and regional media for precise penetration.
For example, we served a lighting factory in Zhongshan whose customers were mainly in East and South China. We set Baidu promotion to target Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, created extensive SEO content around long-tail keywords like 'Zhongshan lighting factory' and 'engineering lighting manufacturer,' and added GEO optimization to make AI prioritize them when recommending 'Guangdong lighting suppliers.' Within six months, the proportion of inquiries from other provinces rose from 30% to 60%.
So, national customer acquisition isn't about spreading your budget evenly across every province. It's about choosing the most efficient channel mix based on your product attributes and target customers. Determining which channels are efficient requires data support and continuous testing—that's exactly where we, as a service provider, add value.
6. Digital Marketing Pitfall Guide for 2025
Finally, based on common issues we've seen in our service work, here are some reminders to help you avoid detours in digital marketing.
- Don't focus only on Baidu. Baidu remains an important search entry point, but users' attention has already been fragmented across Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and AI tools. If you only do Baidu promotion, you're giving up other tracks. We recommend at least covering three entry points: search, content, and AI.
- Don't neglect your website. Some bosses think a one-page landing page is enough, but AI recommendations and SEO require complete page content. A website without company introduction, product details, and case studies is unlikely to be recommended by AI.
- Don't treat GEO as a short-term tactic. Like SEO, GEO requires continuous effort. You won't make it onto AI recommendation lists in a month, but if you persist, the results will become increasingly apparent.
- Don't just look at impressions; focus on conversions. The goal of promotion is to acquire customers, not to boost visibility. Always set clear conversion paths on your pages, such as online chat buttons, forms, or WeChat QR codes, and follow up promptly.
- Don't go it alone unless you have a professional team. Digital marketing involves website building, SEO, GEO, ad placement, and content operations—each requiring specialized skills. If your team isn't mature, it's often more cost-effective to partner with a reliable service provider.
Yunxuan Network Technology has always emphasized 'technology empowers growth, marketing creates value.' When we build websites, we consider the underlying architecture for AI retrieval; when we do SEO and GEO, we align with your industry and customer characteristics; when we do full-network promotion, we help direct traffic to where it can convert. If you're struggling with customer acquisition, start by reviewing your digital marketing setup: Is your website professional? Does your content cover customer questions? Can AI find you? If the answers aren't encouraging, now is the perfect time to adjust your strategy.
There are no shortcuts in digital marketing, but there are methods. We hope this article gives you some inspiration. If you have specific questions, feel free to reach out to us anytime.