Howseen data · October 2026
GEO Content Benchmark 2026: What Gets Views on X, Instagram and TikTok
We classified 565 public posts about GEO and AI search by format. On TikTok, a prompt to copy got 20.1x the median views. A product pitch got 0.3x.
313 posts
60 reels
192 videos
By Raphaël Aubry, founder of Howseen AI · Published · Updated Free report: no card, 10 buyer questions on ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews, in about 2 minutes. Trial: 3 days, card required, then €79 per site per month. Cancel anytime from your settings.
Updated every two weeks: we plan to refresh this benchmark with new posts every two weeks.
Summary
GEO content benchmark: the key numbers
Across 565 GEO posts, the format beat everything else: on TikTok, business stories and prompts to copy got about 20 times the median views.
Posts analysed
565
of 684 collected Oct 4, 2026
X posts
313
median 23,025 views
Instagram reels
60
median 14,076 views
TikTok videos
192
median 865 views
- TikTok: "AI recommends this business" stories got 20.6x the median views and prompts to copy 20.1x. Product pitches got 0.3x, the lowest of any format.
- X: official platform news led at 1.8x, ahead of free giveaways and brand case studies (1.2x each). Explainers trailed at 0.7x.
- Instagram: free tools demos got 4.1x the median views. The most common format, the "SEO is dead" debate, got 0.6x.
- Lists are saved, not seen: on X, lists and frameworks were the most common format (78 posts) and got 0.9x the median views, but more bookmarks than average.
Medians compare formats within one network only: a TikTok median of 865 views and an X median of 23,025 come from different collection methods and should not be compared with each other. Formats with fewer than 5 posts are shown in the tables but left out of the charts and conclusions.
X
Which content formats perform best on X?
On X, official platform news got 1.8x the median views of GEO posts, while explainers got 0.7x and tutorials 0.8x.
Official platform news
1.8x
9 posts, median 42,560 views
Free or open-source giveaway
1.2x
14 posts, median 26,855 views
Explainer
0.7x
43 posts, median 16,772 views
X: median views by format, vs the X median (23,025 views)See the data
| Format | Posts | Median views | vs median | Median bookmarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price shock (too few posts) | 3 | 76,737 | 3.3x | 1,381 |
| Official platform news | 9 | 42,560 | 1.8x | 193 |
| Free or open-source giveaway | 14 | 26,855 | 1.2x | 370 |
| Brand case study with numbers | 11 | 26,736 | 1.2x | 438 |
| Data study | 15 | 25,295 | 1.1x | 153 |
| Product launch | 31 | 24,224 | 1.1x | 148 |
| List or framework | 78 | 21,873 | 0.9x | 310 |
| Insider anecdote | 10 | 20,814 | 0.9x | 251 |
| No clear format | 44 | 20,518 | 0.9x | 94 |
| Own milestone | 24 | 19,992 | 0.9x | 124 |
| Tutorial | 31 | 19,018 | 0.8x | 321 |
| Explainer | 43 | 16,772 | 0.7x | 160 |
| All X posts | 313 | 23,025 | 1.0x | 221 |
On X the spread is narrow: every format with at least 5 posts sits between 0.7x and 1.8x of the median. The winners share one trait: they give the reader something new or something to take. Official platform news (for example, a search engine announcing a new AI search report) got a median of 42,560 views. Giveaways of a complete free resource got 26,855, and brand case studies with real numbers 26,736.
Teaching formats trail. Explainers (43 posts) and tutorials (31) got 0.7x and 0.8x the median views. Two signals help on X: a proof number in the first two lines (26,736 median views with one vs 20,903 without, 89 vs 224 posts), and, unlike on TikTok, posts that promote the author's own product (27,813 vs 18,668).
Why can a format move views? X has published its For You ranking code. Its open-source repository explains that the ranking model reads a viewer's recent engagement history and predicts how likely that viewer is to take each action on a post, from a like to a share. A format that triggers more actions gets ranked for more viewers.
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Which content formats perform best on Instagram?
On Instagram, reels demoing free tools got 4.1x the median views, while the common "SEO is dead" debate got only 0.6x.
Free tools demo
4.1x
5 reels, median 57,603 views
Product pitch
1.5x
14 reels, median 20,700 views
"SEO is dead" debate
0.6x
15 reels, the most common format
Instagram: median views by format, vs the Instagram median (14,076 views)See the data
| Format | Posts | Median views | vs median | Median bookmarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shock statistic (too few posts) | 2 | 1,052,151 | 74.8x | 27 |
| "AI recommends this business" story (too few posts) | 1 | 526,333 | 37.4x | 131 |
| Series episode or reply (too few posts) | 1 | 85,062 | 6.0x | 8,702 |
| Fear hook (too few posts) | 2 | 74,057 | 5.3x | 42 |
| Free tools demo | 5 | 57,603 | 4.1x | 637 |
| Tool tier ranking (too few posts) | 2 | 28,330 | 2.0x | 293 |
| Product pitch | 14 | 20,700 | 1.5x | 120 |
| Official platform news (too few posts) | 2 | 17,203 | 1.2x | 16 |
| Prompt to copy | 5 | 11,419 | 0.8x | 112 |
| "SEO is dead" debate | 15 | 8,228 | 0.6x | 9 |
| Checklist (too few posts) | 4 | 6,867 | 0.5x | 40 |
| No clear format | 7 | 2,513 | 0.2x | 24 |
| All Instagram posts | 60 | 14,076 | 1.0x | 43 |
The Instagram sample is the smallest (60 reels), so read it as a direction, not a law. The clearest signal: reels that show free tools in action (for example, plugins or skills that run an SEO audit) got a median of 57,603 views, and also the most bookmarks of any format with at least 5 reels (637 vs 43 for all reels).
The "SEO is dead, meet GEO" reel is the most copied format in the niche (15 of 60 reels) and one of the weakest (0.6x). Product pitches did better on Instagram (1.5x) than on TikTok. A proof number in the opening lines did not help here: 13,157 median views with one vs 14,927 without.
Instagram's head, Adam Mosseri, wrote in Instagram Ranking Explained that its most important Reels predictions are how likely you are to reshare a reel, watch it all the way through, like it, and go to its audio page. A tool you can see working likely gives people a reason to watch to the end and send it on.
TikTok
Which content formats perform best on TikTok?
On TikTok, "ChatGPT recommends this business" stories got 20.6x the median views and prompts to copy got 20.1x, while product pitches got 0.3x.
"AI recommends this business"
20.6x
10 videos, median 17,789 views
Prompt to copy
20.1x
16 videos, median 17,400 views
Product pitch
0.3x
29 videos, median 297 views
TikTok: median views by format, vs the TikTok median (865 views)See the data
| Format | Posts | Median views | vs median | Median bookmarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tool tier ranking (too few posts) | 4 | 35,800 | 41.4x | 1,943 |
| Free tools demo (too few posts) | 4 | 24,050 | 27.8x | 1,039 |
| "AI recommends this business" story | 10 | 17,789 | 20.6x | 352 |
| Prompt to copy | 16 | 17,400 | 20.1x | 366 |
| Official platform news | 5 | 11,400 | 13.2x | 379 |
| Shock statistic | 6 | 2,306 | 2.7x | 50 |
| "SEO is dead" debate | 19 | 1,437 | 1.7x | 10 |
| Fear hook | 14 | 1,070 | 1.2x | 19 |
| Series episode or reply | 6 | 665 | 0.8x | 20 |
| No clear format | 68 | 582 | 0.7x | 6 |
| Checklist | 11 | 400 | 0.5x | 8 |
| Product pitch | 29 | 297 | 0.3x | 1 |
| All TikTok posts | 192 | 865 | 1.0x | 13 |
TikTok shows the widest gaps. Most GEO videos get few views (the median is 865), but three formats break out: the story of a real business that ChatGPT now recommends (17,789 median views), a prompt shown on screen for viewers to copy (17,400), and official platform news (11,400, 5 videos). A shock statistic also beat the median (2.7x, 6 videos).
The product pitch is the most common format after unclassified videos (29 videos) and the weakest: a median of 297 views and 1 bookmark. A proof number in the first two lines helped (1,444 vs 845 median views), but only 16 videos used one. We did not measure account size, and TikTok says it is not a direct ranking factor:
"neither follower count nor whether the account has had previous high-performing videos are direct factors in the recommendation system."
What to avoid
Which GEO content formats do not work?
Product pitches on TikTok, "SEO is dead" reels on Instagram, and explainers, tutorials and lists on X all got fewer views than the median of their network.
| Network | Format | Posts | vs median |
|---|---|---|---|
| TikTok | Product pitch | 29 | 0.3x |
| TikTok | Checklist | 11 | 0.5x |
| "SEO is dead" debate | 15 | 0.6x | |
| Prompt to copy | 5 | 0.8x | |
| X | Explainer | 43 | 0.7x |
| X | Tutorial | 31 | 0.8x |
| X | List or framework | 78 | 0.9x |
- The pitch, on TikTok. 29 videos, a median of 297 views. Videos scored as promoting the author's own product had 672 median views vs 888 for the rest.
- Checklists, on TikTok. 0.5x the median, with 8 median bookmarks.
- The "SEO is dead" take, on Instagram. The most copied angle in the niche, and 0.6x the median, with a median of 9 bookmarks.
- Lists and frameworks, on X. 78 of 313 posts, 0.9x the median views. They still collect bookmarks (310 median vs 221), so they work better as a reference people save than as a way to reach new readers.
One format does not travel: the prompt to copy got 20.1x the median on TikTok but 0.8x on Instagram (5 reels only). Copying a winning format from one network to another is a test, not a sure thing.
For your brand
How to apply this benchmark to your brand
Pick the winning format for each network: business stories and prompts on TikTok, free tool demos on Instagram, official news and real case studies on X.
- TikTok: show proof, not a pitch. Film a real business that ChatGPT recommends and explain why, or put a prompt on screen that viewers can copy. Keep your product out of the video itself: pitches got 0.3x the median.
- Instagram: demo something free. Show a free tool or plugin working on a real site. Drop the "SEO is dead" opener (0.6x).
- X: be first, and give something. React quickly to official platform news (1.8x), share a complete free resource (1.2x), or publish a brand case study with real numbers (1.2x). Lead with the number on X: posts with a proof number in the first two lines did 1.3x better.
- Use lists as follow-ups. On X, lists get saved more than they get seen. Publish them as a reply or a reference, not as your opener.
- Then check what AI engines actually say about you. Social reach and AI visibility are measured differently. Our YouTube and Reddit study found instagram.com among the domains Google AI Overviews cites most, so social content can feed AI answers too. Learn how AI chooses which brands to recommend, and how to check if ChatGPT mentions your brand.
If you are new to the topic, start with what generative engine optimization (GEO) is. The paper that coined the term (Aggarwal et al., KDD 2024) found that the efficacy of GEO strategies "varies across domains". Our social data points the same way: what works varies by network. Agencies running content for several clients can use our GEO for agencies guide, and teams that want to pull Howseen data into their own tools can use the Howseen MCP server and API. To see why rivals get named instead of you, read why AI recommends your competitors.
Find out if AI recommends your brand
Run your buyers' questions through ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, and see who gets named instead of you. Free, 2 minutes.
Methodology
How we built this benchmark, and its limits
We collected 684 public GEO and AI search posts on October 4, 2026, kept 565 on-topic posts, classified each by format and compared median views.
- Collection: public posts returned by keyword searches on each network, collected on October 4, 2026: 378 posts on X, 69 reels on Instagram and 237 videos on TikTok. TikTok used 6 searches, such as "geo generative engine optimization", "chatgpt seo" and "how to rank on chatgpt". All TikTok results were videos, so carousels are not covered.
- Classification: an automated classifier gave each post one format label with a confidence score, plus scores for whether it is on topic, whether it shows a proof number in its first two lines, and whether it promotes the author's own product. For most Instagram reels (52 of 60) and some TikTok videos (39 of 192), the spoken transcript was used along with the caption.
- Filtering: we kept posts with an on-topic score of at least 0.5 and a format confidence of at least 0.3, which removed 65 X posts, 9 Instagram reels and 45 TikTok videos. Yes or no signals (proof number, own product) use a score of at least 0.5.
- Metric: for each format, median views divided by the median views of all kept posts on the same network. We use medians because a few viral posts would distort averages. Formats with fewer than 5 posts are labelled "too few posts" and left out of the charts.
- Period: X posts were published between July 6 and October 2, 2026. Search results on Instagram and TikTok include older posts: Instagram reels range from August 2024 to October 2026, TikTok videos from February 2023 to October 2026.
- Sample: 175 distinct X accounts, 49 Instagram accounts and 153 TikTok accounts. We report aggregates only and do not name individual creators.
Limits. This is a niche sample about GEO and AI search, not a study of all content. Search results favour posts that already have traction, especially on X (median 175 likes per post in our sample), so the X numbers compare good posts with other good posts. Several formats rest on 5 to 16 posts, older posts have had more time to gather views, and views depend on factors we do not measure, such as account size, posting time and paid promotion. Read the multipliers as directions to test, not guarantees.
Questions, answered
What content format gets the most views on TikTok for AI search topics?+
In our sample of 192 TikTok videos about GEO and AI search, two formats stand out: a story of a real business that ChatGPT recommends (20.6x the median views, 10 videos) and a prompt viewers can copy (20.1x, 16 videos). Product pitches did worst at 0.3x.
What works best on X for GEO and AI search content?+
Official platform news did best among formats with at least 5 posts, at 1.8x the median views (9 posts), followed by free or open-source giveaways and brand case studies with numbers (1.2x each). Explainers (0.7x) and tutorials (0.8x) did worst.
Does pitching your own product hurt reach?+
It depends on the network. On TikTok, product pitch videos got 0.3x the median views. On Instagram, product pitch reels got 1.5x. On X, posts that promote the author's own product had a median of 27,813 views vs 18,668 for the others.
Do lists and frameworks still work on X?+
They are the most common format in our X sample (78 of 313 posts) but get 0.9x the median views. They do get saved: a median of 310 bookmarks vs 221 for all X posts.
Should I put a number in the first two lines of a post?+
On X and TikTok it helped: posts with a proof number in the first two lines had 1.3x and 1.7x the median views of posts without one. On Instagram it did not (0.9x), so the format matters more than the number.
How was this GEO content benchmark built?+
We collected 684 public posts about GEO and AI search from X, Instagram and TikTok on October 4, 2026, kept the 565 that were on topic and confidently classified, gave each post one format label, and compared each format's median views with the median of its network. We plan to refresh it every two weeks.
Your content gets views. Does it get you recommended?
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