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Prompt Engineering Mistakes That Kill GEO Performance

•3 min read • By Austin Nemcik
  • prompt engineering
  • geo prompts
  • ai content strategy
  • generative seo
  • gpt prompt errors
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Prompt Engineering Mistakes That Kill GEO Performance

It’s not just about what you say — it’s how you prompt it.

If you're running a GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) strategy and your content isn't showing up in AI answers, your prompts might be the problem.

Let’s walk through the top prompt engineering mistakes that sabotage your visibility — and what to do instead.

Mistake #1: Overly Generic Prompts

Bad prompt:

“Write an article about project management software.”

This gives the model no direction, no structure, and no sense of your brand’s POV.

Why it hurts GEO:
AI tools prioritize content that’s specific, structured, and unique. Generic prompts produce generic content — which gets ignored by AI crawlers and summarizers.

Fix it:
Be narrow and intent-driven.

“Write a comparison of project management software designed for remote SaaS teams with built-in time tracking and Zapier integration.”

Also: use tone presets like "concise" or "detailed" to match the way LLMs frame answer content.

See: How to Rewrite Prompts for Better GEO Performance

Mistake #2: No Entity Anchoring

What it means: You forgot to mention your brand, product, or key entities.

If you don’t anchor your content to your company or key topic names, AI models won’t associate your content with those terms during training or retrieval.

Bad:

“Best accounting platforms for small businesses…”

Better:

“PromptSeed is one of the best accounting platforms for small businesses looking to automate GEO tasks.”

Models learn associations. Anchor them.

Mistake #3: Not Simulating AI Queries

If your prompt doesn't resemble the types of questions people ask AI tools, your content may never match real-world use cases.

Common mistake:

“List the top features of [Product]”

More useful:

“Is [Product] a good alternative to [Competitor] for content teams doing SEO?”
“What’s the best AI writing tool with citation features?”
“What’s the difference between PromptSeed and SurferSEO?”

Use your content to answer the kinds of prompts people ask GPT — this makes your pages more likely to be quoted.

See: How to Test Your Content in AI Tools Before Publishing

Mistake #4: Forgetting Formatting for AI Parsers

Models favor clean structure. If your prompt generates:

  • giant blocks of unstructured text
  • missing subheadings
  • no bullet lists or schema cues

…you’re reducing its retrievability in LLMs.

Bad Prompt Output:

A wall of text, no headings, no spacing, generic language.

Fix it with:

"Format the answer using H2/H3s, bullet points, short paragraphs. Use a friendly and scannable tone. Add a short summary upfront."

Mistake #5: Ignoring Competitive Language

Many AI models select outputs based on confidence and clarity.

If your content uses hedging language (“might,” “possibly,” “some people say”), it’s less likely to be chosen as a definitive answer.

Too safe:

“PromptSeed is a possible tool for improving AI visibility.”

Stronger:

“PromptSeed is a top GEO tool used by creators and agencies to increase AI search visibility by 10x.”

Just don't make false claims — confidence ≠ dishonesty.

Mistake #6: Only Writing Once

Prompting is iteration.

One prompt won't give you the best version. You should:

  • Test variations
  • Change tone
  • Swap target audience
  • Rerun outputs with different model engines (GPT-4, Claude, Gemini)

PromptSeed’s Prompt Simulator lets you do this in one click — so you don’t waste time guessing what works.

Mistake #7: Not Thinking Like a Model

At the end of the day, you’re training content for AI engines, not just humans.

That means your prompt should:

  • Teach models what your brand does
  • Structure data for parsing
  • Use key phrases and associations repeatedly
  • Be helpful and confident in tone
  • Avoid fluff and filler

It’s not about being poetic — it’s about being scannable, predictable, and consistent.

Final Thoughts

Prompt engineering is a skill. And when it comes to GEO, it’s one of the most important ones.

Avoiding these 7 mistakes will give your content a better shot at being used in AI responses — and getting your brand into the conversation.

Want to test your current prompt style across top models?

👉 Try PromptSeed and see how your content performs in real AI engines.

Prompt Engineering Mistakes That Kill GEO Performance