A new study from GNW finds generative engine optimization (GEO) adoption accelerating across B2B marketing, marking a shift in how marketing leaders allocate search budgets and content resources.

Demand Gen Report covered the findings, which point to B2B marketers moving beyond experimentation with GEO and building it into core programs.

What is GEO, and why are CMOs acting now?

Generative engine optimization covers the practices that make brand content surfaces and citations inside AI-driven answer engines — the tools many buyers now consult before they ever click a traditional search result. For B2B brands with long sales cycles, visibility inside those generated answers shapes early-stage perception.

The GNW findings indicate that this is no longer a fringe tactic. Adoption is accelerating across B2B marketing, which suggests marketing leaders are reassigning ownership of GEO, adjusting content production, and rethinking measurement alongside their existing SEO programs.

What does accelerating adoption mean in practice?

For CMOs, the report's signal is directional rather than a mandate. Accelerating GEO adoption across B2B typically shows up as:

• Structuring content so answer engines can parse and cite it
• Auditing which sources AI tools already reference in category queries
• Rebalancing investment between classic SEO and GEO activities
• Extending measurement beyond rankings to citations and share of answer

The GNW study places B2B marketers on that path at growing scale.

What should marketing leaders watch next?

The practical takeaway for marketing leadership: GEO has moved from conference-room curiosity to an adoption curve. Teams that treat it as a separate silo risk duplicating effort; teams that ignore it risk ceding early-funnel visibility to competitors that answer engines prefer to cite.

GNW's findings add to a growing body of evidence that B2B buying behavior is shifting toward AI-assisted research. Marketing leaders should expect board-level questions about where the brand appears when buyers ask an AI tool for a shortlist.

Demand Gen Report carries the full GNW findings for readers who need the underlying detail.