AEO vs GEO vs SEO: what's the difference?

What do SEO, AEO and GEO mean, in one sentence each?

SEO (search engine optimization)

The work that makes a site crawlable, indexable and relevant enough for Google and Bing to rank its pages for the queries people type.

AEO (answer engine optimization)

The work that makes a brand or a page the source of a direct answer, from Google's featured snippets and AI Overviews to the replies of chat assistants.

GEO (generative engine optimization)

The same goal seen from the language model's side: being named, described accurately and cited when ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or Copilot writes an answer.

AI SEO

A loose umbrella term. It sometimes means SEO for AI answers (the sense used here) and sometimes SEO done with AI tools, so check which one a vendor sells.

The glossary lists the related terms (LLMO, share of voice, mention rate, query fan-out). For the full guide to the discipline, read what is AEO.

Are AEO and GEO the same thing?

In practice, yes. Both describe the work of appearing inside AI answers, and the levers are the same. The difference is mostly where the word comes from. AEO grew out of featured snippets and voice assistants, when the goal was to be the one answer Google or a smart speaker read out. GEO took its name from a research paper titled "GEO: Generative Engine Optimization", which studied how content changes affect visibility in answers written by language models.

The word you use depends mostly on your market. In our keyword research of 10 November 2026 (Google Ads volumes through DataForSEO), people in the United States search "aeo agency" about 590 times a month, while French searchers type "agence geo" about 1,600 times a month and "agence aeo" 10 times or fewer. Dutch searchers say "GEO optimalisatie". English pages, including this one, say AEO first. Our French and Dutch pages say GEO first. The work behind both words is identical.

What does Google say about AEO and GEO?

Since its May 2026 guide, Google adds one condition: the site must be included in the "Search generative AI" setting of Search Console, which is the default for every property (AI optimization guide, 15 May 2026).

OpenAI says the same thing in fewer words: "ChatGPT ranks search results using multiple factors intended to help users find relevant, reliable information. Placement is not guaranteed." (Searching the web with ChatGPT, OpenAI Help Center, version of 30 October 2026.)

So for Google, AEO and GEO are SEO under a new name, and no file, markup or writing trick unlocks AI Overviews on its own. But Google is only part of the picture: ChatGPT relies on third-party search providers and its own crawler, Perplexity runs its own index, and each engine picks different sources. What changes is less the technique than where you work and how you measure.

AEO vs SEO: how do they differ in practice?

Three illustrative situations (not client cases) show where the two views split.

Example 1: a buyer asks for a shortlist

A finance manager asks ChatGPT for the best invoicing software for a small agency in Belgium. The SEO view asks whether your comparison page ranks on page one for that query. The AEO view asks whether ChatGPT names you among the four or five tools it lists, what it says about your price and languages, and which pages it cites to justify the list. In our collection of 10 November 2026, the pages ChatGPT cited were mostly vendor pages and self-published "best of" lists, rarely directories. It also ran its own background searches in English for French queries such as "meilleur outil AEO", and added a city drawn from the user's location to generic queries. OpenAI documents that ChatGPT "may use an approximate location based on your IP address".

Example 2: a definition question

Someone asks Google what a heat pump grant covers. A well-structured page that answers in its first paragraph can be cited as a supporting link in the AI Overview. The person may read the answer and never click. SEO counts that as a lost click. AEO counts it as an impression in the answer, and Search Console's generative AI report, rolled out to all sites by 31 August 2026, now shows those impressions (impressions only, no clicks or queries).

Example 3: a reputation question

A prospect asks Gemini whether your company is reliable. The answer can draw on reviews, forum threads and videos as much as on your own pages. We did not measure reputation questions, but in our 10 November 2026 sample of buyer questions (124 answers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews, 31 queries in English, French and Dutch), YouTube was cited in 24 answers and Reddit in 20, mostly by AI Mode and AI Overviews, ahead of any brand or agency site. Off-site work, which classic SEO treats as link building, becomes a major lever.

What stays the same in SEO, AEO and GEO?

Most of the foundation is shared, and the vendors that document anything document these points.

• Documented. Let the crawlers in. Googlebot is the control for AI Overviews and AI Mode. OpenAI requires OAI-SearchBot to be allowed, including at the CDN or firewall. Perplexity recommends allowing PerplexityBot, and Anthropic says blocking its search crawler "may reduce your site's visibility" (Anthropic, 7 April 2026).
• Documented. Put the important content in text that loads without JavaScript. Bing warns against "hiding critical content behind client-side rendering" because such content "may not be indexed or selected for grounding results" (Bing Webmaster Guidelines, read on 31 October 2026).
• Documented. Write content that is useful and original. Google's guide says content "that people find unique, compelling, and useful" will likely matter more than any other suggestion it makes (AI optimization guide, 15 May 2026).
• Documented. Structure pages for people: clear headings, tables and FAQ sections. Microsoft says these "help surface key information" (Bing Webmaster blog, 10 February 2026).
• Documented. Keep structured data true to the visible page. Google says it "isn't required for generative AI search" but still helps rich results.
• Documented. Do not manipulate. Google's spam policies now include "attempting to manipulate generative AI responses in Google Search" (spam policies, read on 31 October 2026).

What changes when you optimize for AI answers?

The shared base is necessary, not sufficient. These are the points where AEO and GEO work differs from a classic SEO plan.

• Documented. Treat each engine as its own channel. Google's AI Mode and AI Overviews "may use different models and techniques", OpenAI, Perplexity and Anthropic each run their own crawlers, and each vendor publishes separate allow and block rules.
• Documented. Write passages that stand on their own. Perplexity says it scores results "at both the document and sub-document levels" and surfaces "the most atomic units possible" to the model (Perplexity research, 25 September 2025).
• Heuristic. Work on the brand as an entity. Keep the same name, description, offer and facts on your site, your profiles and the directories engines cite, so every source tells the same story.
• Heuristic. Earn mentions on the sources engines read: comparison lists, YouTube videos, Reddit threads. Our citation counts point there, but they are observations, not proof of cause. Google also writes that seeking inauthentic "mentions" across the web "isn't as helpful as it might seem", so this means real presence, not planted posts.
• Heuristic. Work per market and per language. Answers change with the country and the language of the question, and a brand cited in English can be absent in French or Dutch.
• Documented. Skip the shortcuts Google rules out: it does not use llms.txt or other AI text files, and there is "no requirement to break your content into tiny pieces".

The practical version of this list, with the order to do it in, is in how to boost your AEO. For ChatGPT specifically, read how to appear in ChatGPT.

How do you measure AEO and GEO compared with SEO?

The last row surprises SEO teams: one answer is a single draw, not a position, and engines rarely agree on their sources.

A plan that only checks Google leaves the other engines unmeasured. GeckoBoost asks the same buyer questions every day to the engines your plan includes (ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot, with Claude as a paid option on some plans), in English, French, Dutch or German, and shows who is named, which sites are cited and which actions follow. The AI visibility tool page describes it, with plans on the pricing page and a 14-day free trial.

Does AEO replace SEO?

No. Google writes that its generative AI features are "rooted in our core Search ranking and quality systems", and Microsoft says the grounding behind its AI answers uses "the same crawlers, the same quality signals" as Bing search (Bing blog, 6 May 2026). A page Google cannot index cannot be a supporting link in an AI Overview. AEO and GEO add a layer on top of SEO: other engines, other sources, other metrics.

The reverse also holds: a strong SEO report says nothing about whether ChatGPT recommends you, what Gemini says about your prices, or which competitor Perplexity names instead of you.

Which one should you work on first?

1. Fix what keeps you out of every engine

   Documented. Blocked crawlers, a noindex tag, content that only appears with JavaScript or a firewall that refuses bots stop SEO, AEO and GEO at once. Check them before anything else.

2. Measure where you stand in AI answers

   Heuristic. Ask the questions your buyers ask, in their language and country, to several engines, several times. Note who is named and which sources are cited.

3. Correct what engines get wrong

   Heuristic. If an engine describes your offer, prices or markets wrongly, fix the facts on your site first, then on the third-party pages it cites.

4. Build presence where engines look

   Heuristic. Directories, comparison lists, videos and forum answers in your market. This is slow work, so track it over months, not weeks.

If you would rather have the work done for you, see our AEO and GEO services or start with a guided AI visibility audit.