For years, search engine optimization (SEO) has been the rulebook for winning visibility online. But in 2025, financial services firms are realizing there’s a new game in town: Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)—the art of influencing how large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Google’s AI Overviews, and Perplexity mention your brand.

This week, digital marketing and analytics firm iQuanti pulled back the curtain on what actually drives brand visibility inside AI-generated responses, publishing one of the first large-scale empirical studies on GEO. Spoiler alert: it’s not just traditional SEO anymore.

The Study: 8 Million Data Points, 30,000 Queries, 30 Brands

The research is as ambitious as it is telling. iQuanti examined 30,000+ financial services queries—drawn from high-intent keywords like those consumers use when shopping for credit cards, personal loans, banking products, or wealth management.

The firm ran those queries through three of today’s dominant AI platforms—Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity—and compared responses across 30 leading financial brands. For each answer, researchers tracked whether a brand was cited, then crunched 32 separate performance metrics spanning traditional SEO and non-SEO factors.

The dataset topped 8 million data points. In other words, this wasn’t a surface skim; it was a full excavation.

What Matters in the AI Era

So what actually moves the needle? According to iQuanti, the same building blocks that matter in SEO—think domain authority, content relevance, and fast load times—still play a starring role in whether LLMs pull a brand into their answers.

But here’s the kicker: non-SEO factors also matter, and they’ve largely been ignored until now. Things like interactivity speed and nuanced title-to-body relevance can make or break whether your brand gets cited.

In short: the AI search game isn’t just about backlinks anymore.

Different Engines, Different Rules

One of the more intriguing findings is how optimization patterns vary between platforms. Google, ChatGPT, and Perplexity don’t weigh factors equally, meaning that a one-size-fits-all strategy isn’t going to cut it.

For example, Google’s AI Overviews appear to lean heavily on domain traffic, while ChatGPT places more weight on content depth and contextual authority. Perplexity, true to form, blends both with an emphasis on clarity and breadth of coverage.

For financial services brands—where trust and accuracy are paramount—this matters. Tailoring optimization for each AI engine could become as essential as tailoring credit card offers for different customer demographics.

Why It Matters for Financial Services

Financial services has always been a content-heavy vertical. Whether it’s a consumer comparing APRs or an investor searching for portfolio management insights, being “the answer” in an AI-generated response may soon rival first-page Google rankings in importance.

As Arnab Sen, CEO at iQuanti, put it:

“AI is transforming how consumers discover banking and financial services. This research represents the convergence of our deep industry knowledge with AI innovation, ensuring our clients stay ahead in an increasingly competitive landscape.”

The implication: banks, credit card issuers, and wealth managers who fail to adapt may find themselves invisible in the channels where tomorrow’s customers are searching.

A New Playbook for GEO

The study positions iQuanti’s framework as a “foundational AI Search guide”—and it’s not hard to see why. By breaking down what’s consistent across LLMs versus what’s unique to each, the research gives financial brands a blueprint for GEO strategies that go beyond guesswork.

And while the study is finance-focused, the lessons apply far more broadly. Any industry where credibility and visibility are key—healthcare, insurance, even retail—will need to grapple with GEO sooner than later.

The Bottom Line

SEO isn’t dead, but it’s being redefined. If yesterday’s battle was about climbing the Google SERP, tomorrow’s war is about being woven into the generative answers people actually consume.

iQuanti’s study shows that GEO is no longer theoretical. It’s measurable, it’s actionable, and—if financial services is any indication—it’s the next big battleground for digital visibility.