BlogBasics
SEO vs AEO vs GEO: what's the difference?
Three names for one job: being what people find when they search, ask or chat.
Short answer
SEO gets your pages ranked in search results. AEO gets your content used as the direct answer: featured snippets, voice answers and Google's AI Overviews. GEO gets your brand named and cited by AI tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude. All three rest on the same base: pages machines can read, clear answers, and a brand other sites trust. Most businesses need all three, in that order.
What is SEO?
Search engine optimisation is the work of earning higher positions in the regular results on Google and Bing. It covers three things:
- Technical: pages that load fast, can be crawled and indexed, and don't compete with each other.
- Content: pages that match what people search for and answer it better than the alternatives.
- Authority: links and mentions from other sites that show you're worth trusting.
The output is a ranking. The result is a click. SEO is still the base for everything else here: Google says a page has to be indexed and eligible for a snippet before it can appear in its AI features, and AI assistants use search indexes to find their sources.
What is AEO?
Answer engine optimisation is about being the answer, not one of ten links. The term grew up around featured snippets and voice assistants, where one source is shown above the results or read out loud. Today it also covers Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode.
AEO work looks like this:
- Finding the questions buyers actually ask.
- Answering each one in the first sentence or two under a clear heading.
- Using lists for steps and tables for comparisons.
- Adding structured data so machines know what each page is and who is behind it.
More in What is answer engine optimisation?
What is GEO?
Generative engine optimisation is about being named in answers written by AI. The term comes from a 2023 research paper by researchers from Princeton University and IIT Delhi, GEO: Generative Engine Optimization.
Here success is a mention or a citation, not a position. When someone asks ChatGPT for the best accounting software for a ten-person firm, you are either in the answer or you are not.
GEO work looks like this:
- Letting AI search crawlers read your site.
- Writing pages that are easy to quote: plain definitions, specific claims, sources.
- Getting your brand onto the sites AI tools already trust: reviews, directories, trade press, forums.
- Checking what each AI tool says about you, every month.
More in What is generative engine optimisation?
How do SEO, AEO and GEO compare?
| SEO | AEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goal | Rank in the results | Be the direct answer | Be named in AI answers |
| Where | Google and Bing results | Featured snippets, voice assistants, AI Overviews, AI Mode | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Copilot |
| Success | Positions and clicks | Your words in the answer | Your brand mentioned or cited |
| Main levers | Technical health, content, links | Question research, answer-first writing, structured data | Crawler access, quotable pages, mentions on trusted sites |
| Measured with | Search Console, analytics, rank tracking | Snippet and AI Overview tracking | Prompt tracking, AI referral traffic |
Do they compete with each other?
No. They stack. Most of what helps one helps the others:
- A fast site that can be crawled helps rankings, snippets and AI crawlers alike.
- A page that answers the question in its first lines is easier to rank, easier to quote and easier to cite.
- Mentions on trusted sites build link authority for SEO and the brand familiarity AI tools draw on.
Where they differ is measurement. A page can rank third on Google and never be named by ChatGPT. Another can be cited in an AI Overview without ranking first for the main query. Check each one on its own.
Which should you start with?
SEO, because the other two depend on it. Then:
- Fix whatever stops search engines and AI crawlers reading your site.
- Rewrite your most important pages so they answer the main question at the top.
- Find out what AI tools say about you today, and which sources they cite instead of you.
- Close the gaps: content where you are missing, mentions where you are unknown.
If your buyers use AI tools to build shortlists, move GEO up the list. Our SEO, AEO and GEO work runs as one programme for exactly this reason.
Keep reading
Is AEO just SEO with a new name?
Partly. The foundations are the same, and Google says there are no extra requirements for its AI features beyond normal SEO. What changes is the target: one answer instead of a ranked list, so the writing and the tracking change too.
Is GEO the same as AEO?
They overlap, and people use the terms loosely. We use AEO for answer features in search engines, including AI Overviews, and GEO for AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude.
Does SEO still matter if people use ChatGPT?
Yes. AI tools with web search look things up in search indexes, and Google's AI features are built on Google Search. Pages search engines can't find are much less likely to be cited.
How long does each one take?
Technical fixes can show up within weeks of being recrawled. Rankings and regular AI mentions take months, because they depend on authority that builds over time.