GEO vs SEO vs AEO: what actually differs (and what to do about it)
In short
SEO optimises for position in a list of links, AEO optimises to be the extracted answer on a search page, and GEO optimises to be named and cited inside an AI assistant's generated answer.
What is the difference between SEO, AEO and GEO?
SEO aims for a high position in a list of links. AEO aims to be the block of text a search engine extracts as the answer. GEO aims for your brand to be named, described well, and cited inside an answer written by an AI assistant.
SEO
Unit of success: a ranking position for a query. Measured per URL, per keyword, per location.
AEO
Unit of success: being the extracted answer, featured snippet or people-also-ask response.
GEO
Unit of success: being named inside a generated answer, ideally first and with a positive description.
Do the same tactics work for all three?
Partly. Clear structure, plain language and specific facts help everywhere. The difference is emphasis: GEO rewards being quotable and being cited by sources the model trusts, while SEO rewards crawlability, links and intent coverage on your own domain.
A page written to rank often buries the answer under an introduction. A page written for answer and generative engines states the answer in the first two sentences, then supports it. That single habit change tends to help all three at once.
The second habit is specificity. Assistants quote sentences containing concrete criteria, numbers and comparisons, because they are easy to attribute and hard to hallucinate.
How do you measure GEO progress?
Track a fixed question set per market, run it repeatedly on each engine, and record mention rate, position, sentiment and cited domains. Compare periods, not single answers, and keep the raw responses so any number can be traced back to its source.
If your GEO report cannot show the sentence that mentioned the brand, it is not a report, it is a guess.
Where should a team start?
Start with the questions that decide purchases, not the ones with the biggest search volume. Measure them across engines, find the gaps where competitors are named and you are not, and work the citations behind those specific answers first.
Week one
Define twenty buying-intent questions per market and baseline them across engines.
Week two
List the domains cited in the answers you lose. Rank them by how often they appear.
Ongoing
Earn placement in those sources, publish direct answers on your own site, and re-run the same question set.
Key takeaways
- The three disciplines share inputs but optimise for different outputs: a rank, a snippet, a mention.
- GEO success is measured as a mention rate per engine, not as a single position.
- Structured, specific, comparison-friendly content serves all three at once.
- Third-party citations matter more in GEO than in classic SEO.
Frequently asked questions
Is GEO replacing SEO?
No. Search traffic still exists and still converts. GEO adds a second surface where buyers form shortlists, so most teams run both, using the same content foundations with different success metrics.
What does AEO stand for?
Answer engine optimization: optimising content so a search engine extracts it as the direct answer, for example in a featured snippet or a voice result.
Does schema markup help with GEO?
It helps machines parse your page, which supports the search index many assistants draw on. It is not a shortcut to being named in an answer, but it rarely hurts and is cheap to add.
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