AI Kills SEO: Master GEO For Ecommerce — Claus Lauter | Why AI Is The New Search, What Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Means, How To Use GEO, How ChatGPT’s New Checkout Changes Marketing, How To Optimize For ChatGPT (#445)

In this episode, Claus Lauter, host of the Ecommerce Coffee Break Podcast, breaks down how AI is reshaping Q4 e-commerce strategy. 

He explains the rise of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) — the new way to stay visible in AI-driven search — and shares practical tips on managing high ad spend while keeping profits strong. 

Claus also talks about the evolution of the podcast’s YouTube format and invites listener feedback.

Topics discussed in this episode:  

• How AI is changing Q4 shopping.
• ChatGPT’s new checkout and what it means for marketing.
• What Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is.
• Why Q4 ad costs peak — and how to handle them.
• When high ad spend is worth it.
• Why email list growth can wait until January.
• The top KPI mistake new sellers make.
• YouTube’s growing power in search and discovery.
• Why viewer feedback matters for growth.
• Learn why AI is rewriting the rules of search — and how GEO can future-proof your ecommerce brand.

Links & Resources 

Website: https://ecommercecoffeebreak.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ecommerce-coffee-break-podcast/
X/Twitter: https://x.com/ecomcoffeebreak
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ecommercecoffeebreak/

Get access to more free resources by visiting the show notes at https://tinyurl.com/trr8wnvr

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Transcript

00:00:00:01 - 00:00:19:28
Unknown
As the old saying goes, the one who spends the most makes the most. Hello and welcome to another episode of the E-commerce Coffee Break podcast. Today it's a solo episode. It's just me, no guest with me today. I just want to give you an update. What's happening on the show and what's happening with Cloud. So let's start with me.

00:00:20:01 - 00:00:46:00
Unknown
After two years in Buenos Aires and a couple of weeks in Cape Town, South Africa, have arrived in Bangkok and Thailand. And for the next couple of months, I will have my home base here. So I will work from Bangkok, but also will travel it around southeast Asia for a bit. With that being said, I was able to upgrade my little portable studio, bought a couple of gadgets, lighting, accessories once I was.

00:00:46:00 - 00:01:11:15
Unknown
You can see there is a bit of a change here, not the crappy lighting that I had in the past in different Airbnbs as I will be stationary here for a while for a little bit longer. I thought it would be a good idea to invest in some equipment and specifically with the idea in mind that me and my editors, Sasha and Caitlin, are working on how to on working on our YouTube episodes.

00:01:11:20 - 00:01:33:00
Unknown
So I always jokingly say, I have a face for radio, but nevertheless we are on YouTube as well. So if you're listening to the E-commerce Coffee Break podcast, you can also head over to YouTube and see the video version of the podcast there. And we are working on the format. We are working to make it more engaging, more interesting.

00:01:33:00 - 00:01:57:13
Unknown
And as I said, we are coming from the world of audio and therefore it's a bit of a learning curve. YouTube is a very different beast than other platforms, specifically when it comes to the algorithm. We had some episodes which were doing really, really good and other episodes that are just average. So we're working on the format there and I need your input on how we can get better.

00:01:57:16 - 00:02:25:18
Unknown
So my ask to you is head over to YouTube, go to the eCommerce Coffee Break podcast to watch a couple of episodes and let me know what you like or more importantly, what you dislike so that we can learn on how to get better with our YouTube push. Why is the podcast on YouTube, as you possibly know, is YouTube is the second biggest search engine as part of Google and a lot of people use YouTube as a discovery platform.

00:02:25:21 - 00:02:49:12
Unknown
So that's where we want to tap in. We want to reach more online sellers on YouTube and provide them with the information to make them a smarter seller. And you can help with that. So if you're on YouTube, give us a like give us a follow and please leave a comment that always helps us to understand what's good, what's not so good, where we can get better.

00:02:49:15 - 00:03:21:20
Unknown
And it's also fun to hear from listeners, from viewers and get some feedback there. I'm always open for feedback. I read every comment myself, so you have a direct, direct line to me. And yeah, please go to YouTube, check it out and see how we're doing there. That being said, the podcast will be first and foremost a audio podcast and it will be again on Apple Podcasts and on Spotify, where we have most of our listeners now about technology.

00:03:21:20 - 00:03:55:20
Unknown
I want to drive a little bit into something ecommerce related, but because at the end of the day, this is eCommerce related podcast and I want to talk about Q4. So we are in the midst of the crazy season of the holiday season where people start buying for the holidays for Christmas and a big changes going on. If you have listened to episodes recently, you know that a lot of my guests were talking about this and I want to go for a little bit deeper into this to give you an idea of what you possibly need to do and what you can expect going forward.

00:03:55:20 - 00:04:37:18
Unknown
The biggest change, obviously, is that A.I. is growing more channels, more large language models are there and are being used by the average person, which also ends that people are searching for their Christmas gifts on chat you put on Gemini and Rock on Adam platforms. So with the addition of a feature that people now can check out on such a beauty, so open a I just announced recently that on such a party you will be able to check out on Shopify, on Walmart and Etsy and I think on eBay, if not completely mistaken, and I'm sure other platforms will follow people that will search on Chhatrapati find a product and directly check out.

00:04:37:24 - 00:05:03:28
Unknown
So that means they will never see your online store, your Shopify store or your Amazon store wherever you are. And this will change your whole marketing strategy. So you will need to make sure that going forward you are listed in these large language models. So SEO Search Engine Optimization was declared to death many, many times in the last 25 years.

00:05:04:00 - 00:05:26:19
Unknown
The time that I'm doing this and really never was. This is, in my opinion, the first time that there are big changes to SEO. So all the strategies that worked for 20 years probably not working any longer. You need to make sure that any all the content that you create is not only optimized for Google but also optimized for these large language models.

00:05:26:21 - 00:05:56:10
Unknown
So this is called GEO. Instead of SEO, and this is basically just a part of SEO, but you need to reach out and listen to it so you can post Coffee Break podcast and other sources to learn what this involves and how you need to structure your content that you put out there. That means your product detail page, your website, your social media posts, your guest post, wherever you are structured in a certain way that these large language models understand what you're doing.

00:05:56:10 - 00:06:27:05
Unknown
And then hopefully you will show up. If somebody is having a question and shut up to you. So the search behavior and then following was that the online shopping behavior is changing rapidly very, very quickly and this is the way to go forward. So you need to be on top of this. I had a lot of AI related interviews in the last two years, as you can imagine, was that I think you should listen to them again to find out what you should do to get better.

00:06:27:08 - 00:06:49:04
Unknown
I think to like the latest number I heard was that 60% of all users in the U.S. will use crypto or the kind of A.I. model out there to get recommendations for gifts to what to buy. I don't think necessarily all they will buy directly. I think the majority will still go to Amazon, to go to Shopify and whatever and buy there.

00:06:49:06 - 00:07:18:09
Unknown
But within the next 12 months and specifically next year, Q4, that might have changed big, big time. So I should be on the forefront of what you do. And therefore I'm trying to get up with what's happening there and implement all the strategies and tactics that you find that make sense into your marketing strategy. Now, the next point I want to talk to also Q4 related is this is the most expensive time of the year to spend money on pets.

00:07:18:09 - 00:07:43:15
Unknown
As you can imagine, every marketer out there is putting the rest of the annual marketing budget into paid traffic to get the sale. So in right now you're competing with big brands that have big money and are putting it all into metal ads, into Google ads and other platforms to get the sale. So you're competing with many, many more competitors for ads for a limited ad space.

00:07:43:15 - 00:08:08:09
Unknown
Then the rest of the year you need to make the decision all for yourself. Is it worth it? Is your profit margin big enough that you can compensate with these higher cost per click cost quality, cost per conversion or not? If you have the marketing goal of, for instance, growing a subscriber email list, then I would postpone this into January.

00:08:08:12 - 00:08:35:03
Unknown
In January. Usually the cost per click is much, much lower and you get more bang, more leads for the money. And people also, if you're selling, people are still buying. And generally back in the time when I had my Shopify store for about seven years, I had some of the best months ever in January. So people were actually spending I was selling more in January than I ever expected.

00:08:35:03 - 00:09:06:18
Unknown
So people were buying on January because also for me, the cost per acquisition was much, much cheaper than, let's say, in November or December. So you want to make sure that you have a eye on your ad spend. Look out for tools for apps that have best case scenario, real time monitoring of your ad spend. I know that's a very difficult one to do, but you should be as close as possible to the numbers, to your KPIs, and not only to revenue that you make.

00:09:06:18 - 00:09:33:21
Unknown
I think that's one of the biggest mistakes, specifically startups e-commerce do make. And I saw this many, many times over the last couple of years, people are too focused on revenue and not really on profit, so they basically just take some KPIs in mind and then lose track of a lot of hidden costs like app costs, currency exchange costs and so on, so forth.

00:09:33:24 - 00:09:59:12
Unknown
And are surprised how little profit, if any, they have at the end of the month when they get their reports from their accountants. So have a look at the numbers, try to track them as close as you can. And then depending on your how your profit margin looks and how much you are willing to spend from this, then reinvest into paid traffic into its overall page.

00:09:59:12 - 00:10:23:19
Unknown
Traffic is the way going forwards does is for years and years. It's the way some people might still think going viral, which you cannot really plan for or having generated traffic from. Search results will grow their business. If you have a proper marketing strategy to should be part of it, but it's very unreliable and sometimes it's just very unlikely.

00:10:23:21 - 00:10:44:22
Unknown
As was in every business. You need to have a marketing budget and you need to be willing to spend to make money. As the old saying goes, the one who spends the most makes the most. So therefore, if you're starting right now and you don't have any marketing budget just then you have to exchange that for time to build your brand.

00:10:44:22 - 00:11:11:09
Unknown
Over time, If you want to make money quickly, you need to have some money to invest specifically into marketing spend on paid ads. So Q4, keep an eye on it. I think this year will be still a good Q4. I know that the economic situation in the U.S. and other countries is not as good as possible. People might spend less in the year before, but they will still spend money.

00:11:11:09 - 00:11:34:23
Unknown
So don't be discouraged. This will be still a busy Q4. Now, finally, before I leave you here, and I hope I did not ramble too much as a good content creator, I just want to ask you to like, follow and comment on all channels that we are on. So the eCommerce coffee break was this handle. You will find me on all social channels.

00:11:34:25 - 00:11:55:12
Unknown
You will find the website at E-commerce Coffee Break podcast. You will find us on YouTube and you can find me personally at the email. Hello at E-commerce Coffee Break podcast. I read all the emails myself. So if you have questions, if you have ideas, if you have some, I don't know, critical comment, please feel free to reach out.

00:11:55:15 - 00:12:22:13
Unknown
We are a small team. We want to get better at what we do and we can do this in the easiest, fastest and best way. By listening to your comments and providing you with the information was the right format that you can use best to grow your business. So please reach out, follow and like us subscribe. This will help the algorithm to show us to more people out there.

00:12:22:15 - 00:12:45:18
Unknown
And so at the end of the day, you help others to become smarter online sellers. And this is a win win win situation that helps all of us. So I would be entirely grateful and a your biggest fan if you just subscribe and like and if you have to time to leave a comment on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, I would be super happy again.

00:12:45:18 - 00:13:19:03
Unknown
I read them all myself and I will reach out to you and thank you for that. So please do so will make me super happy. The next episode is coming out in two days, so I said I have a range of very good guests and topics lined up, so stay tuned. More episodes are coming at twice a week and if you have a good idea for a topic or you know someone that you think is a good match for the show, then also feel free to reach out and then I will get in touch with them.

00:13:19:06 - 00:13:25:02
Unknown
That's it for now. I hope you have a good day and talk soon.