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The Equaliser Effect: Who Gains Most

Dark hilly terrain with luminous upward streams on mid-slopes and dim downward trickle at the peak, embodying greater benefits for non-top-tier brands
The method yields higher benefits for non-top-tier brands; top-tier brands see limited growth or decline

IN ONE SENTENCE

After applying these methods, pages ranked fifth gained 115.1% in visibility while first-ranked pages lost 30.3% on average — the return is higher for brands outside the top tier.

The Princeton GEO paper (KDD 2024) found an asymmetry: after applying the three writing methods, pages originally ranked fifth gained most in visibility (+115.1%) while first-ranked pages lost about 30.3% on average.

OUR POSITION

This has a practical consequence: if you already lead a subject, the incremental gain is limited and there is a real risk of bloating content that worked because it was concise. Concentrate effort on pages close to breaking into the top ten.

01

The specific numbers

The paper measured across GEO-bench — 10,000 queries over 9 domains — on Position-Adjusted Word Count and subjective impression.

The three effective methods produced a 30–40% relative lift overall; split by starting position, fifth gained +115.1% while first lost 30.3% on average.

02

Why this might happen

One reasonable reading is that first-ranked content was already the most usable version, and adding length and quotation diluted its liftability.

Content in the middle was missing exactly the checkable basis, and supplying it moved it from candidate to used.

⚠️ That is an interpretation of an observation, not a mechanism the paper establishes — platform mechanisms are undisclosed, so any mechanism story is inference.

03

Two implications for investment

First, prioritise the 11–20 and 4–10 bands. Since this category returns almost nothing past eleven, pushing those into the top ten has the highest marginal return.

Second, be careful editing content already at position one. Record the current state before changing it and re-measure after; if visibility drops, reverting beats further tuning.

Data behind this page

+115.1% / −30.3%

Visibility change for pages ranked fifth versus ranked first

Source：The 'equaliser effect' in the Princeton GEO paper, KDD 2024，2024

30–40%

Relative visibility lift from adding statistics / citations / quotations

Source：Princeton GEO paper, KDD 2024, GEO-bench 10,000 queries，2024

Sources

  1. [1]GEO: Generative Engine Optimization．Aggarwal et al., KDD 2024．2024

Updated 2026-08-10