New acronyms appear whenever search changes, and AI-generated answers have produced two: AEO and GEO. Some vendors present them as replacements for SEO; others dismiss them as rebranded SEO. Neither view is very useful. The three share most of their foundations, but each adds something specific, and the way you measure success differs. This article defines each term in plain language, shows where they overlap and where they diverge, explains how to measure each, and suggests a practical order of work for a typical B2B or D2C website.
SEO: earning rankings
Search engine optimisation is the practice of making a website discoverable and useful so that it ranks in search results for relevant queries. It covers technical access (pages can be crawled and indexed quickly), content (pages answer the query better than alternatives), and authority (other sites and sources reference you). Success is measured in rankings, impressions, clicks and the conversions that follow, using tools such as Google Search Console and analytics. SEO remains the base layer: AI answer systems that search the web before answering usually draw on pages that are crawlable, indexed and well regarded.
AEO: being the answer
Answer engine optimisation focuses on producing content that can be lifted directly as an answer: a featured snippet, a voice assistant response, a People Also Ask entry or a short answer inside an AI summary. The techniques are mostly about structure. Put a direct answer of a few sentences near the top of the page. Use headings phrased as the questions people ask, with the answer in the first lines below each. Use lists and tables for steps and comparisons. Mark up content with appropriate structured data. AEO does not replace SEO; it makes well-ranked content easier to extract and quote.
GEO: being cited by generative AI
Generative engine optimisation aims to have your brand, pages or data mentioned or cited when AI tools write an answer. These tools assemble answers from what they retrieve from the web at the time of the question and from what their models learned in training. That means GEO depends on more than your own site: whether credible third-party sources mention you, whether your facts are consistent across the web, whether your content contains specific, citable information such as original data, clear definitions and named methods, and whether AI crawlers can access your pages. The companion articles on getting cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini and on entity SEO cover these in detail.
Where they overlap and where they differ
Most of the work serves all three. The differences are in emphasis and measurement.
| SEO | AEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goal | Rank and earn clicks | Be extracted as the direct answer | Be mentioned or cited in AI-written answers |
| Main levers | Technical access, relevant content, authority | Answer-first structure, question headings, lists, tables, structured data | Citable facts, consistent entity information, third-party mentions, AI crawler access |
| Where it shows | Search results pages | Snippets, voice, answer boxes | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI features, Copilot |
| How to measure | Rankings, impressions, clicks, conversions | Snippet ownership, answer visibility | Mentions and citations for a prompt set, AI referral traffic |
| Depends on your own site? | Mostly | Mostly | Partly; third-party sources matter a lot |
What GEO adds that SEO alone does not
Three things stand out. First, third-party presence: AI answers often draw on review sites, directories, comparison articles, forums, news coverage and industry publications, so being mentioned accurately in those places matters as much as your own pages. Second, entity consistency: AI tools need to understand who you are, so your name, description, services, location and people should be described consistently across your site, profiles and listings. Third, citable specifics: answers tend to quote pages with clear definitions, original data, specific numbers with sources and distinct frameworks, rather than generic overviews that say what every other page says.
Measuring each
Measure SEO with Search Console and analytics as before. For AEO, track which priority queries show your content in featured snippets or answer boxes. For GEO, there is no single dashboard. Build a fixed set of prompts that buyers might ask, run them regularly in the main AI tools, and record whether your brand is mentioned, whether your pages are cited and what is said. Add AI referral traffic from analytics, which shows visits from AI tools that include links. The articles on tracking your brand in AI answers and on measuring AI search traffic in GA4 on this site explain both.
A practical order of work
For most websites, work in this order. Fix technical foundations: crawlability, indexing, page speed, and allowing the AI crawlers you want to be found by. Make your entity clear: consistent organisation and person information, structured data and sameAs links to your profiles. Restructure key pages answer-first, with question headings and tables. Add citable substance: original data, clear definitions, worked examples and sources. Then work on third-party presence: accurate listings, reviews, guest contributions and mentions in the publications your buyers read. Finally, set up measurement for all three. This order uses the shared foundations first, so each step helps SEO, AEO and GEO together.
Common mistakes
Treating GEO as a trick, such as stuffing pages with prompts or hidden text, which risks search penalties and rarely works. Abandoning SEO fundamentals in favour of AI-specific tactics, when AI systems often depend on the same signals. Blocking AI crawlers by accident through robots.txt rules or security settings, then wondering why AI tools never cite you. Publishing large volumes of thin AI-written content, which Google's spam policies address directly. And measuring GEO with one-off screenshots rather than a consistent prompt set over time.
What this means for content planning
In practice, the three disciplines change how each page is planned rather than adding separate workstreams. When briefing a page, start from the questions buyers actually ask, so the headings match how people search and prompt. Write the direct answer first, then the detail, so both search features and AI tools can extract it. Include at least one element that is genuinely yours: a dataset, a worked example, a decision table, a named method or a clear point of view, because these are what get quoted. Cite credible sources for facts, so the page can be trusted. And plan where the page's key points should also appear off your site, such as a guest article, a listing or a talk, so that third-party sources reinforce what your own page says. A content plan built this way serves rankings, answers and citations at once.
Who should own AEO and GEO
Because the three disciplines share foundations, they usually belong with whoever owns SEO and content, rather than in a separate team. The SEO or content lead owns technical access, page structure and the prompt set; whoever manages PR, partnerships and reviews owns third-party presence; and marketing operations owns measurement, including AI referral traffic. What changes is the brief: content plans should include answer-first structure and citable material for every important page, and PR and partnership plans should consider which sources AI tools cite for your category. A monthly review of rankings, snippet ownership and the prompt set together keeps the work connected.
FAQ
AEO structures content so it can be lifted as a direct answer in search features and assistants. GEO aims for mentions and citations inside answers written by generative AI tools, which also depends on third-party sources and entity consistency.
Yes. AI tools that search the web usually rely on pages that are crawlable, indexed and well regarded, so SEO foundations support GEO.
Run a fixed set of buyer prompts in the main AI tools on a schedule, record mentions and citations, and track AI referral traffic in analytics.
Mostly not. Answer-first structure, question headings, tables and citable specifics serve both. GEO adds work off your own site, such as listings, reviews and mentions.
If you want to be found and cited by AI search tools, allow their search crawlers. The GPTBot vs OAI-SearchBot article on this site explains which tokens control what.
Usually not. It builds on SEO foundations and is best owned by the SEO and content lead, with PR and partnerships contributing third-party presence.
Retrieval-based answers can change once new or updated pages are indexed; mentions that depend on training data change more slowly. Measure monthly over at least a quarter.
It helps machines understand what a page and organisation are, which supports both. It is not a guarantee of being shown, but it reduces ambiguity.