If you needed proof that the marketing game has changed, Microsoft just handed it to us on a silver platter.
Earlier this month, Jen Myers (Principal Product Manager at Microsoft Shopping & Copilot) released a massive guide on the Microsoft Advertising blog titled “From Discovery to Influence: A Guide to AEO and GEO”. Along with a detailed PDF playbook, the message was clear: the old way of winning search traffic is dying.
The new battleground isn’t about keywords or backlinks. It’s about AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization).
While technical marketers are freaking out over data feeds and schema markup, they are missing the bigger picture. Microsoft’s own document quietly validates what we have been saying at RedPulse for years: You cannot code your way to credibility. You have to earn it.
Here is what the report says and why it proves that organic Reddit strategy is the future of GEO.
The Shift: From Traffic to Influence
For the last decade, SEO was about “discovery.” You wanted to show up when someone searched for a product.
But AI assistants like Copilot and ChatGPT don’t just give you a list of links. They give you an answer. They act like a digital friend recommending a product. Microsoft’s guide points out that AI assistants “reason over data” to decide if your brand is even worth recommending.
They break this down into two new buckets:
- AEO (Answer Engine Optimization): Focuses on Clarity — optimizing content so AI agents can “find, understand, and present answers effectively.”
- GEO (Generative Engine Optimization): Focuses on Credibility — optimizing content to make it “discoverable, trustworthy, and authoritative.”
Source: From discovery to influence: A guide to AEO and GEO - page 6
Credibility is where Reddit becomes your most valuable asset.
Why Reddit is the Key to GEO
In the PDF, Microsoft explains that AI systems rely heavily on “Crawled Data”. This is the general knowledge the AI learns from reading the open web. It shapes the “baseline perception” of your brand.
The guide explicitly states: “AI systems prioritize trustworthy sources”.
It advises brands to build credibility through “verified social proof” and to surface sentiment that enables natural recommendations like “highly rated for comfort and fit”.
Ask yourself: Where do AI models find “verified social proof” and honest sentiment?
They don’t trust the 5-star reviews on your own website (which can be cherry-picked). They trust open discussions on platforms like Reddit.
When an AI scans the web to see if your “waterproof backpack” is actually good, it is reading r/OneBag and r/Hiking. If the community there loves you, the AI sees you as an authority. If the community calls your product “cheap junk,” no amount of technical SEO will save you.
The “Reasoning Phase”: Where You Get Filtered Out
Microsoft detailed exactly how Copilot thinks. Before it ever recommends a product, it enters a “Reasoning Phase”.
When a user asks for recommendations for a good rain jacket under $200, Copilot breaks down the query in what we call the reasoning phase, using crawled web data and product feeds.
During this phase, the AI uses crawled web data to understand category norms and “brand positioning”. For example, it learns that “hiking jackets need to be lightweight” and checks if “Brand X is known for hiking equipment”.
Source: From discovery to influence: A guide to AEO and GEO - page 8
This is the most critical insight in the entire report.
If your brand has no organic presence on Reddit or forums, you fail this phase. The AI doesn’t know you “position” as a quality hiking brand. It doesn’t matter if your price is lower or your stock is full, if the AI’s reasoning phase determines you aren’t a trusted player in the category, you are filtered out before the recommendation is even made.
The “Trust Signal” You Can’t Buy
Microsoft’s guide encourages retailers to avoid “exaggerated or unverifiable claims” because AI systems “penalize low-trust language”. This is why organic growth beats paid ads in this new era.
Paid Ads are temporary visibility. They disappear when you stop paying.
Organic Conversations are permanent data points. They feed the “Crawled Data” that AI models use to judge your reputation for years.
AEO is for Robots, GEO is for Humans
The technical advice in Microsoft’s guide is solid. Yes, you need clean data feeds so the AI knows your product is in stock. That is the AEO part.
But the GEO part, the influence, the authority, the trust, that comes from people.
If you want to win in the age of AI search, you need a two-pronged approach. You need your technical team to structure your data for the bots. But more importantly, you need a human strategy to build your reputation in the communities where these bots learn.
Microsoft just told us the rules of the new game: Completeness gets you seen, but credibility gets you recommended.
The smartest brands aren’t just tweaking their code. They are getting active in the comments. I highly recommend reading the full Microsoft guide here (PDF) and checking out how we’re helping businesses with their Reddit AEO/GEO strategy.