Inside the Future of Search: Robb Fahrion on Building a Global Team and Leading the Rise of GEO

For Robb Fahrion, the evolution of digital marketing is happening in real time. From building an internationally diverse team at his Newport Beach headquarters to pioneering work in Generative Engine Optimization, Fahrion is focused on helping brands stay visible in the age of conversational AI. By optimizing content so platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini reference and recommend companies directly in their responses, he believes businesses can gain a powerful new form of credibility and lead generation. With proprietary tools and a globally informed team, Fahrion sees GEO as the next major frontier in search—one that will define how brands earn trust and visibility in the AI‑driven future of the internet.

Robb, you’re growing an international team at your Newport Beach headquarters — what inspired you to build a globally distributed team, and how does that strengthen the results you deliver for clients?
We began building our global team during COVID in 2020. At the time, remote hiring allowed us to access the best talent anywhere in the world and at extremely competitive rates. We embraced a global workforce, which gave us exposure to diverse perspectives and elevated the overall quality of our work.

As the company grew, we moved into our first office in 2022 and experienced the benefits of in-person collaboration. Over time, we realized that while decentralization brought talent, it also made alignment more difficult. That’s when we made a strategic shift: we established our Newport Beach headquarters as a centralized brain trust.

Today, we maintain global diversity while centralizing leadership and strategic direction. Our team in Newport Beach includes professionals from the United States, South Africa, Russia, Canada, and Israel. We intentionally seek individuals with international experience whether through study, travel, or cross-cultural exposure. We prioritize diversity in hiring because diverse perspectives challenge assumptions and strengthen decision-making.

That diversity, combined with centralized leadership, allows us to deliver stronger results for clients.

What qualities or skill sets are most important to you as you expand this team across different countries and cultures?
The number one trait we look for is competitiveness. We want individuals who have a genuine desire to win and to be the best at what they do.

Beyond that, we value hard work, reliability, integrity, and pride in craftsmanship. We look for people who will deliver on time, take ownership of their work, and continuously improve.

Another important note, we prioritize a willingness to learn. In our business, we encounter complex problems across many industries. We don’t always have immediate answers. We need people who know how to research, think critically, and solve problems independently.

Degrees and credentials matter far less than mindset. Experience can help, but adaptability and hunger truly drive performance.

You mentioned working at the cutting edge of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). For readers who are new to the concept, how would you explain GEO and why it matters right now?
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the practice of optimizing content so that large language models such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity reference and recommend your brand in their responses.

As user behavior shifts from traditional search engines to conversational AI interfaces, visibility within these systems becomes critical. People increasingly trust AI-generated responses, often more than traditional search results.

GEO involves understanding how LLMs are trained, how they retrieve information, and how to structure content so it is cited and trusted. We’ve documented direct lead generation from ChatGPT traffic, demonstrating that this shift is already impacting revenue.

This is a pivotal moment in digital marketing. Just as early SEO adopters gained long-term advantage 20 years ago, companies that embrace GEO now will have a significant edge moving forward.

How do platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity change the way brands should think about traffic, visibility, and search strategy?
When someone interacts with ChatGPT, they engage in a multi-turn conversation. The user refines their needs, adds context, and receives tailored recommendations. When a brand is recommended in that environment, it carries an inherent layer of trust.

Unlike traditional search, where users compare multiple results, conversational AI often delivers a narrower, curated answer. If your brand is included, it signals authority.

In an era where misinformation is widespread, being surfaced by a trusted AI system adds significant credibility. Brands that invest in generative visibility today are positioning themselves for long-term authority.

Looking ahead, what excites you most about the products you’re developing and the future of GEO as this space continues to evolve?
What excites us most is developing proprietary tools and methodologies to better understand and influence how LLMs retrieve and cite information.

We are building systems that:

• Analyze the datasets on which LLMs are trained.
• Measure visibility within generative environments.
• Identify which queries are most likely to trigger citations.
• Optimize content strategically for performance outcomes.

Our goal is not just visibility. We want to understand measurable performance intimately. We are focused on driving net-new leads and tangible ROI through these emerging channels.

We believe this is the next major shift in digital marketing, and we are committed to staying at the forefront of it.