News
The Gist
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AI-centric CMS upgrade. Optimizely adds features to boost content discoverability in AI-driven search.
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GEO optimization tools. New tools support structuring content for generative engine visibility and analytics.
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Marketing leader impact. Marketers must adapt site strategies to stay visible as AI alters online discovery.
Optimizely announced new features for its content management system (CMS) on July 29, designed to help brands maintain visibility as artificial intelligence transforms online search behavior. The company's enhanced CMS includes capabilities for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), which, according to Optimizely, helps structure content to be more effectively discovered by AI search tools.
The announcement comes amid predictions that website traffic could drop 25% by 2026 as consumers increasingly use AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity instead of traditional search engines. According to company officials, the updated CMS aims to help marketers optimize content for both human readers and AI systems that extract and summarize information.
Table of Contents
- Impacted Audiences for GEO-Ready CMS
- The Changing Search Landscape
- The Web Has Changed—Has Your CMS Kept Up?
- Optimizely Background
Impacted Audiences for GEO-Ready CMS
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Digital marketing leaders concerned about AI-driven search visibility
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Content creators adapting to dual human/machine audience requirements
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Web development teams implementing AI-optimized site structures
The Changing Search Landscape
The traditional SEO landscape is rapidly transforming as AI-powered search engines reshape how people discover information online, with website traffic predicted to drop 25% by 2026.
Optimizely's new CMS features for Generative Engine Optimization arrive amid this significant shift. According to industry experts, AI chatbots are changing information-seeking behavior, requiring brands to optimize for both human and machine audiences. The introduction of Google Search Generative Experience has placed AI-generated summaries at the top of search results, potentially diminishing engagement with traditional organic links.
This evolution demands new content strategies. Marketing professionals note that while users previously adapted to "Google language" with choppy keyword phrases, AI now enables natural language conversations. Content in Q&A format appears particularly effective for AI discovery, as these engines prefer sources that directly answer specific questions.
With 90% of marketers now using generative AI tools, the technology is helping scale high-quality content creation, enhance keyword research and improve user experience. However, human expertise remains essential as search engines continue to value Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness.
Related Article: Click End Game: What AI Search Means for SEO, CX and Brand Visibility
The Web Has Changed—Has Your CMS Kept Up?
Your website isn't broken—it's just invisible. The entire business of model of the web is being upended, and how marketers generate demand or sell products is being transformed. Marketers need to make sure their websites serves two audiences – humans who demand speed and clarity, and machines that extract and summarize the content. If your CMS isn't structured for AI discoverability, your content won't be found. With the combination of our new CMS features and power of Optimizely Opal, we help brands move faster, create content smarter, and scale for a world where machines, not just people, are consuming your content.
Shafqat Islam, president of Optimizely.
Optimizely GEO Feature Breakdown
The new CMS capabilities focus on three areas: page optimization, site-wide optimization and analytics.
| Capability | Description |
|---|---|
| Q&A field generation | Auto-generates question-answer pairs from page content |
| GEO-specific metadata | Adds titles and EEAT elements for AI engines |
| Markdown summaries | Creates page summaries for improved AI indexing |
| llms.txt auto-generation | Signals which pages should be indexed by AI bots |
| GEO topic templates | Creates pages designed to rank in AI summaries |
| Bulk metadata | Applies GEO metadata across multiple content items |
| GEO health index | Scores pages against optimization best practices |
| Crawl-to-refer ratio | Measures AI bot crawling versus referral rates |
| Crawl rate by model | Shows which AI models access the site most often |
Optimizely Background
Optimizely, operating under the Episerver brand founded in 1994 in Sweden, targets digital marketing and technology executives at mid-sized to large enterprises. The company is owned by private equity firm Insight Partners.
Digital Experience Platform
The company offers a digital experience platform (DXP) that includes content management, digital commerce and experimentation tools. Its platform integrates artificial intelligence (AI)-driven personalization, A/B testing and analytics. The company asserts its solutions enable organizations to optimize customer journeys and deliver targeted digital experiences across channels.
In May, Optimizely announced a significant update to its Opal agentic AI platform, introducing a redesigned interface and deep embed across its Optimizely One suite. The goal is to provide marketing and digital teams with scalable automation for high-impact tasks, from content creation to experimentation analysis—all within an enterprise-grade, SOC 2-compliant environment, according to company officials.
Market Position
The company is positioned among notable providers of digital experience and experimentation platforms. It serves industries such as retail, financial services and manufacturing, with a focus on organizations seeking to improve digital engagement. Typical customers are mid-sized to large enterprises, including marketing and technology teams. The company competes with other enterprise DXP and experimentation vendors.
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