SEO vs GEO vs AEO: what each one means and which you need.

What is SEO?

Search engine optimization is the work of getting pages crawled, indexed and ranked by Google and Bing. It covers the technical side, such as whether crawlers can reach your pages and whether they are indexed, and the content side, such as whether a page is the best answer to the query. Links from other sites still matter because they are one way a search engine judges trust.

SEO is not going away because of AI. Google's guide to AI features and your website says that to appear as a supporting link in AI Overviews or AI Mode, "a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet". If you are not in the index, you are not in the AI answer either.

What is GEO?

Generative engine optimization is work aimed at the answers produced by AI assistants: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Copilot. The term was popularised by a research paper, GEO: Generative Engine Optimization, first published on 16 November 2023. It has since become the industry's name for this work.

An AI assistant is more likely to name a business it can reach, identify and find confirmed elsewhere. Reach means its search crawler is allowed in, which some sites block by accident in robots.txt or at the firewall. Identify means your name, site and profiles are stated consistently, including in structured data. Corroborate means other sources, such as directories, reviews, press and industry sites, say the same things about you.

What is AEO?

Answer engine optimization shapes a page so that a search engine or AI tool can lift a direct answer from it. In practice that means putting the answer in the first lines under each heading, phrasing headings as the questions people ask and keeping each section complete on its own. Structured data helps only where it describes what is actually visible on the page.

Google is clear that there is no secret format. Its AI features guide says: "There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary." AEO is mostly good, direct writing, applied to the questions that lead to a sale.

How do they overlap?

Think of three layers. Access comes first: crawlers must be able to fetch your pages and read the content, and AI crawlers in particular may not run JavaScript. Understanding comes second: the engine must know who you are and what each page is about. Answers come last: the page must state a clear answer worth quoting. SEO, GEO and AEO each lean on a different layer, but none works if the layer under it is broken.

Three myths worth ignoring

"GEO replaces SEO." It does not. Google's AI answers link to pages that are indexed and eligible for a snippet, so the SEO foundation is what gets you in. GEO adds work on top of it.

"AI search needs special schema." Google says no special markup is needed for AI Overviews or AI Mode, and lists overfocusing on structured data among the myths in its own AI optimization guidance. Markup still helps where it accurately describes the page, especially to say who you are.

"An llms.txt file gets you into AI answers." Google has said its Search ignores llms.txt, and no major AI search engine has documented using it. It can help coding and documentation tools, which is a different job. The full llms.txt article covers the evidence.

Which should you start with?

Start with access, because it is quick to check and costly to miss. The free AI visibility checker shows which crawlers your site lets in and how much of your homepage they can read. Then fix identity, then rewrite the pages that matter most around your buyers' questions. If you want it done for you, each of the SEO, GEO and AEO services starts with a fixed-price audit.