Over the past few days, many people have probably seen the news that Doubao will start charging. We were also asked a very representative question by a client:
"Doubao has started charging. If user numbers keep falling in the future, why should we still do GEO for Doubao?"
To be honest, I have a lot to say about GEO. This question is a good opportunity to talk through it.
1. The Underlying Logic of Doubao Charging: Tiered Pricing, and Protecting the Traffic Base Means Protecting GEO Value
First, my view is this: Doubao charging will not reduce Doubao's user volume, and it will not affect the value of Doubao GEO.
QuestMobile 2026 Q1 data shows that as of March 2026, Doubao had 345 million monthly active users, exceeding Qianwen and DeepSeek combined and ranking first among China's AI-native applications. Do not forget that ByteDance started with traffic. Traffic is ByteDance's core card. Why would it introduce a policy that reduces its own traffic?
According to Doubao's official statement, Doubao is "launching a paid version with more value-added services on top of the free version to meet differentiated needs among users."
In other words, while Doubao starts charging, it fully retains the free tier. Most daily scenarios currently used by users, including chat, information retrieval, and basic Q&A, are default functions of the free basic version. They fully meet the information query needs of potential audiences in the pharmaceutical industry, such as patients, healthcare professionals, consumers, and practitioners.
Although detailed paid feature lists are not yet very clear, news reports indicate that Doubao's paid functions will mainly focus on complex tasks and productivity scenarios, such as PPT generation, data analysis, and film or video production.
This means Doubao's paid features target only a very small number of heavy users who treat Doubao as a productivity tool and need large-scale computing calls. This group accounts for a very low share of users and is not the target audience for GEO. In other words, whether they churn will not greatly affect Doubao's overall user scale, and of course will not affect the core value of Doubao GEO.
Moreover, Doubao is not the first to test commercialization. ByteDance has long charged for high-value applications, such as Jimeng Seedance, which commercialized early and raised prices several times, yet still retained stable enterprise users. The core is supply and demand: high computing consumption corresponds to paid cost. The market outcome is inevitable: the free tier protects massive users, while the paid tier captures high-value users, forming a dual cycle.
If there are still concerns about this, it may be because tiered payment has been confused with full payment, and ByteDance's traffic ecosystem has been underestimated.
Looking overseas, OpenAI, Gemini, and Claude all launched paid models early while also retaining free tiers, with differences mainly in usage limits. This sends a clear signal: mainstream large models do not rely solely on paid monetization, and platform traffic value will exist for the long term.
2. MeDomino: Making AI Create Certain Growth for Life Sciences Through Professional, Compliant GEO Solutions
After discussing the traffic value of large models, we still need to return to ourselves: how do we turn platform traffic value into business value for companies?
First, let us clarify one concept: GEO is not the AI version of SEO.
I have shared this concept at several conferences this year, and I want to emphasize it again here: the core difference between GEO and traditional SEO/SEM is that SEO/SEM drives traffic within traditional search engines, while GEO makes content a trusted information source for AI, integrates it into AI answers, and directly shapes user perception.
The key point is that mainstream AI sources do not necessarily follow traditional search engines at all.
Search engine indexing does not equal AI citation, and AI citation does not equal search engine indexing.
Being cited by AI also does not equal being indexed by search engines.
AI platforms do not have search engine-style SEM ads where spending money guarantees display and advertisers decide where traffic goes.
To occupy space on a search engine page, you may be able to stack keywords and spend ad budget.
In large AI models, those methods do not work. To occupy space in AI answers, you truly need AI to trust you. As for advertising, mainstream domestic AI platforms have not yet shown signs of opening ad placements.
The highly dynamic nature of AI large models as information entry points means companies need to establish an integrated GEO closed-loop operating system of data, analysis, content, and placement. In this context, MeDomino provides compliant, professional, implementable GEO solutions for life sciences companies, helping them capture voice in AI information.
01 Data: MeDomino's years of HCP360 and patient insight experience have created a natural advantage in understanding AI platform user needs today. We understand what target users in different roles care about, can collect questions in batches, and monitor the current state of AI answers related to a company in real time.
02 Analysis: MeDomino evaluates AI answers and citation details across multiple dimensions, accurately locating core information deviations and identifying risks in real time.
- Does AI recommend your brand?
- Does AI describe your product information accurately?
- What source preferences does AI have in your brand's vertical field?
- ...
03 Content: MeDomino AIGC assists content creation. Based on AI source preferences and analysis of key brand information points, it generates content suitable for promotion and pairs it with AI review capabilities to ensure accuracy and compliance.
04 Placement: Based on previous source channel analysis, MeDomino helps you place content on high-frequency citation channels and industry vertical content platforms, precisely reaching healthcare professionals, target patients, consumers, family members, and other audiences. Here we also want to announce that MeDomino has obtained the Online Drug and Medical Device Information Service Filing certificate issued by the NMPA, and our self-built health education content matrix has been coming online. We look forward to adding strength to your future content placement.
In the AI era, GEO optimization has become a required question for digital intelligence marketing. With a closed-loop operating system, upfront compliance capability, and deep industry experience, MeDomino can help life sciences colleagues adapt to all AI platforms, capture information voice, and improve both brand and competitiveness.
