SEO gets your pages ranked in search results. AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) both aim to get your business named inside the answers AI tools write. AEO and GEO are close to the same thing under two names, and both are built on top of SEO rather than replacing it.
The short version
| SEO | AEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stands for | Search Engine Optimization | Answer Engine Optimization | Generative Engine Optimization |
| Aims for | A ranking in a list of links | A mention in an AI answer | A mention in an AI answer |
| Main surfaces | Google and Bing results | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, AI Overviews, voice assistants | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, AI Overviews |
| Where the term comes from | Industry, since the 1990s | Industry, originally featured snippets and voice | Academic research, 2023 |
| Measured by | Rankings, clicks, impressions | Mentions and citations for fixed questions | Mentions and citations for fixed questions |
SEO: ranking in a list
SEO is the work of getting a page to rank for a search query: making it relevant, technically sound and trusted (mostly through links). Success is a position, measured in Search Console and rank trackers, and it pays off when someone clicks.
AEO: becoming the answer
AEO started as the practice of winning featured snippets and voice-assistant answers, where one result is read out instead of ten links shown. With ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews, it now means getting your business named when an AI tool writes an answer. It adds work SEO traditionally didn't focus on: making your business a clear, unambiguous entity, and making sure independent sources agree about it. Our guide to AEO covers it in full.
GEO: the research term for the same goal
GEO comes from a 2023 academic paper that studied how to make content more likely to appear in generative AI responses. In practice, agencies selling GEO and agencies selling AEO do almost the same work. If someone tells you the difference matters a great deal, ask them what they would do differently. Usually the answer is: not much.
Where they overlap
Most of the work is shared. AI tools that search the web pull from pages that are crawlable, indexed and ranking reasonably well. So technical SEO, clear page structure and good content help all three. The differences are emphasis:
- SEO puts more weight on links and on targeting specific keywords.
- AEO and GEO put more weight on direct answers near the top of the page, structured data, entity clarity, and consistent facts across third-party sources.
- Measurement differs most. A ranking is fairly stable and easy to track. An AI answer can change between two sessions on the same day, so it has to be checked with a fixed set of questions over time. See how to measure AI visibility.
Which one do you need?
Ask one question: do your customers research before they buy? If they compare options, read reviews or ask around, then AI answers are now part of that research, and you need AEO on top of solid SEO. If they buy on impulse or by proximity, classic local SEO will usually do more for you.
For most businesses the honest answer is ‘both, in order’: fix the SEO foundations first, because AEO has nothing to work with if crawlers can't read your site, then build the entity and corroboration work on top.
Questions people ask
Is GEO better than AEO?
Neither is better. They describe the same goal under different names. Judge an agency by the work it does and how it measures results, not by which acronym it uses.
Is SEO dead because of AI?
No. AI tools that search the web depend on pages that are indexed and ranking. SEO is the foundation; what has changed is that ranking is no longer the only outcome that matters.
See what AI says about your business
The free Ghost Audit shows how ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google's AI Overviews describe you today, and who they recommend instead.