SEO certainly isn’t dead, but the world of GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is growing. As AI-driven search increases, the way people find and choose financial institutions is shifting from a list of links to a single, curated answer. If your bank or credit union isn’t creating content AI can confidently recommend, you risk becoming invisible in the very conversations where potential members are asking who to trust.
The good news? Community banks and credit unions have a natural advantage—local expertise, trusted relationships, and real human impact. The key is translating those strengths into clear, credible, and AI-friendly content so you’re the one showing up when someone asks, “Who should I bank with?”
The challenge now is making your expertise easy for AI to find, trust, and share so your bank or credit union becomes the obvious choice in a one-answer world. Here are the essentials of showing up in AI search today:
Where SEO focuses on keywords, GEO wants answers. Turn your content into AI-ready answers by mirroring the real, conversational questions people are asking their AI Assistants. Craft each product page on your website to highlight what problems it solves, and be sure to answer common questions right on the product page.
This is more than just editing the word choices when AI assists you with content. Use REAL human stories from your internal teams and your members—testimonials, stories, and personalities should saturate your social media and other digital content. AI can’t replace your people, your members, or your unique ideas.
When your content feels more authentic, even across multiple channels, it’s more likely to be featured in AI-driven result summaries.
As one recent client illustrates, the team at Tower Federal Credit Union is a great example of how to differentiate your institution from the broader market through content. Not only are they providing great content on their products and services, but they are also capitalizing on trending social media ideas to create more engaging posts that appeal to their audience in fun and creative ways.
This engagement tells search and AI that people trust what Tower has to say.
In a recent post about this new approach, Marc Wilensky, Vice President of Communications & Brand Marketing at Tower, said, “We developed a strategy that challenged my team to think completely outside the box. The focus? Engaging with a younger audience in authentic, creative ways.”
Make it unmistakably clear to both AI and your audience exactly where, and who, you serve. Don’t rely solely on a single address buried in your footer or a location page. Instead, weave your service areas naturally throughout your website content by mentioning your state, counties, cities, or regions.
But it doesn’t stop there. Your local presence should shine across all channels. Use social media to highlight recognizable local landmarks, community events, and topics that matter specifically to your area. Incorporating user-generated content from local members is a powerful way to showcase real connections and reinforce your community roots—something AI recognizes and values when recommending financial institutions.
Your online reputation matters more now than it ever has! AI often references third-party sources, including reviews, news coverage, and local business directories. Reinforce your credibility by:
Carolina Trust FCU increased its Google rating from 3.8 to 4.3 in just a couple of weeks with an NPS Survey strategy that encouraged promoters to leave a Google review. This kind of improvement goes a long way toward influencing AI-driven search results to feature your locations, content, and digital assets in answers being generated for local users.
Interactive tools are content, too, and AIs love them. They show up in AI answers and establish your institution as a helpful resource. Just make sure these tools include text explanations that AI can read and interpret.
Ensure your content is accessible to crawlers. Avoid burying key info in PDFs, images, or JavaScript-heavy elements. Many AI tools pull from structured data when looking for answers to search queries. Use schema.org markup to describe your content so your website pages are all optimized for AI results and voice search tools.
This is where SEO and GEO merge. AI systems prioritize content that reflects Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T), these remain major factors in Google’s AI systems and are increasingly important in LLM (large language model) answers. Boost your rankings for all search types by:
AI search is not replacing traditional SEO, but it’s adding a new layer of discoverability. Community credit unions have an edge: local expertise, human touch, and mission-driven messaging. By aligning your content strategy with how AI discovers and recommends information, you can ensure your institution remains not only visible but valuable in the age of conversational search.
Stay visible in the age of AI search with a partner who brings both digital and financial expertise. Contact us for help building a winning strategy that drives results!