An intro to GEO and its impact on clinical trial recruitment
By Neil Weisman, President, Continuum Clinical
Imagine you’ve been struggling with insomnia for months. You’re exhausted, frustrated and finally ready to do something about it. Instead of Googling symptoms and treatment options, you ask ChatGPT: Is there a clinical trial near me for people with chronic insomnia?
In less than a second, you’re presented three trials currently enrolling, detailed in a comparison table. You’ll likely be prompted for more specific information about your insomnia (or dare I say, even drop in your medical record) to improve the likelihood of match based on your zip code, age, symptoms and even eligibility criteria. Each listing will highlight links to get involved, like a recruitment website, access to the local trial site, etc.
Well…imagine no more as it’s already happening. And it’s powered by something most people in clinical haven’t heard of…yet: GEO — Generative Engine Optimization.
What Is GEO, and Why Does It Matter?
Just as SEO (Search Engine Optimization) helps marketers and organizations ensure their content surfaces in Google results, GEO is about optimizing content to be discoverable and surfaced through large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude and others.
When someone uses a conversational AI to ask about symptoms, conditions or clinical trials, depending upon the platform, the LLMs will source information differently to generate answers based on patterns in data they’ve been trained on. So, in simple terms that means if your trial isn’t GE-optimized, it may never be suggested—no matter how relevant, how well-designed or how urgent it is.
The Trends are Clear
- GPT usage is exploding: A May 2025 analysis shows ChatGPT visits skyrocketing from 2.8 billion in April 2024 to 5.2 billion by February 2025.
- GenAI tools are quickly becoming the go-to for health queries: 37% of consumers consistently using GenAI tools for health purposes, with 80% of 18–34 year‑olds embracing conversational AI for health queries. That signals a major user shift: especially among younger adults.
- Conversational Queries Are Spiking in Healthcare: Long‑form queries are growing by ~40% in healthcare domains. This is largely motivated by changing search query behaviors driven by generative AI where users ask full questions like “What are the symptoms of diabetes in women over 40?” rather than typing keywords.
What GEO Means for Clinical Trial Recruitment
Think about the stakes here: if your study isn’t structured in a way that LLMs can easily surface it, a large percentage of patients won’t see it, trial sites won’t be able to refer to it and HCPs may not recommend it. Your trial will be invisible in the fastest-growing channel EVER for patient discovery.
At the same time, GEO strategies require new thinking and specific skillsets, not fairy dust:
- Know how to structure eligibility criteria for natural language prompts
- Continue to utilize traditional search engine optimization methods. Use metadata, schema markup, and language patterns LLMs can understand
- Tag conditions, symptoms and outcomes the way a patient would describe them, not just how a protocol does
- Map study content into formats LLMs can ingest or link to
- And most importantly, the content must be easily understood, not just regulatory-compliant
It’s a new muscle to build, but every recruitment campaign will need GEO as part of their core strategy in 12 –18 months.
The Time to Get Smart on GEO Is Now
Haven’t thought about GEO yet? That’s ok! You are not too late. Based on my conversations within the industry, only a small minority have even heard of GEO. The good news is that this space is evolving rapidly, and you can catch up.
At Continuum Clinical, A Spectrum Science Company, over the past several months we’ve been building deep expertise in GEO, working closely with AI platforms and testing how to influence content.
We’re not just watching this change happen; we’re shaping it.
So, if you want to ensure your study is discoverable, now is the time lean in with a partner that can help you build out the framework to future-proof your trial visibility. And if you’re tracking with everything I’ve shared – please reach out. We’ve got a team of engagement strategists ready to elevate your GEO strategy!
