SEO, AEO and GEO are three ways to improve your search visibility. SEO (search engine optimisation) gets your pages ranking in Google's normal results. AEO (answer engine optimisation) gets your content picked as the direct answer, like a featured snippet or a voice answer. GEO (generative engine optimisation) gets your business mentioned or cited in AI-generated answers from tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews.
They overlap far more than the acronyms suggest. I'm Caleb, a local SEO specialist with 7+ years' experience, and I get asked about these terms almost every week. This guide explains what each one means, how they differ, and what a small business should actually do about them.
What is SEO?
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the traditional approach. It improves your website so it ranks in the organic search results on Google and Bing. The goal is simple: show up when people search for what you do, and turn those clicks into enquiries.
Good SEO covers three areas:
- Technical SEO. Making sure search engines can crawl and index your pages, and that the site is fast and works on mobile. More on my technical SEO page.
- On-page SEO and content. Pages that match the search intent behind what people type, with clear titles, headings and useful information. See on-page SEO.
- Off-page SEO. Links from relevant websites, reviews and consistent business details across directories, which tell Google your business is trusted. That's where link building and local citations come in.
For a local business, SEO also includes your Google Business Profile and the map pack. That's often where most of the calls come from.
What is AEO?
Answer engine optimisation (AEO) is about structuring content so a search engine can lift it out and show it as the answer. Think of the short answer box at the top of the search engine results page (SERP), the "People also ask" questions, or the answer a voice assistant reads out.
Answer engines want a clear, direct answer to a specific question. So AEO usually means:
- Putting a short answer near the top of the page, in plain language
- Using headings that match the questions people actually ask
- Adding FAQs, lists, steps and tables where they make the page easier to scan
- Using schema markup (structured data) so search engines understand what the page is about
None of this is new. Good SEO has been chasing featured snippets for years. AEO just puts a name on writing content that answers the question first and explains it second. It suits definitions, how-to steps and quick questions where people want a concise, direct answer.
What is GEO?
Generative engine optimisation (GEO) is about being one of the sources an AI search tool uses when it writes an answer. Instead of showing a list of links, generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, which run on large language models (LLMs), read several sources and write one response, sometimes with citations. GEO is the work that makes your business more likely to be included and described accurately in that response.
The term comes from a 2023 research paper by a group of university researchers, which tested ways to make content more visible in AI-generated answers. GEO mostly comes down to four things:
- Clear brand signals. Your name, services, locations and what you're known for, stated the same way on your website and everywhere else your business appears online. AI systems use this to work out who you are and what you do.
- Original, specific content. Real examples, prices, processes, original research and opinions from someone who does the work. AI tools have no reason to cite a page that says the same thing as a hundred others.
- Mentions on other websites. Brand mentions in reviews, directories, local news, industry sites and forums all help AI tools understand who you are and whether you're trusted.
- Accurate, current information. Out-of-date opening hours or services can end up repeated in AI-generated answers.
GEO vs AEO vs SEO: the main differences
Here's how GEO, AEO and SEO compare side by side:
| SEO | AEO | GEO |
|---|
| Main goal | Rank in search results and earn clicks | Become the direct answer | Get mentioned or cited in AI answers |
| Where it shows up | Google and Bing organic results, map pack | Featured snippets, People also ask, voice search | ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews |
| What matters most | Relevance, technical health, links, reviews | Short, clear answers and good structure | Authority, original content, consistent brand information |
| Content style | Helpful pages matched to search intent | Concise answers under question-based headings | Detailed content backed by evidence and real experience |
| How you measure it | Rankings, traffic, calls and enquiries | Snippets and answer boxes won | AI mentions, citations and AI referral traffic |
The simplest way I explain it to clients: SEO gets you ranked, AEO gets you quoted, and GEO gets you recommended.
Do you still need SEO?
Yes. Traditional SEO is still where most search visibility comes from, and it's the foundation the other two sit on. AI tools and answer engines still need to find your website, understand it and trust it, and that comes down to the same things SEO has always focused on.
Google says as much. Its guidance on AI features and your website says there are no extra requirements to appear in AI Overviews, and the usual SEO advice still applies.
What has changed is how many people click. A Pew Research Center study of US Google users found people clicked a normal search result in 8% of visits when an AI summary appeared, compared with 15% when it didn't. So rankings still matter, but being named in the AI-generated answer matters more than it used to.
What GEO and AEO mean for local businesses
Most of what you read about GEO is written for big brands and software companies. For a plumber, dentist or law firm, it looks a bit different.
When someone asks ChatGPT or Google for "the best electrician in Robina" or "a family lawyer near me", the AI tool needs to know which businesses exist, where they work and what people think of them. For local businesses, a lot of that comes from:
- Your Google Business Profile. Categories, services, service areas, photos and up-to-date details. My Google Business Profile optimisation page covers this.
- Your reviews. The number, how recent they are and what customers say about the work.
- Your business details everywhere else. Directories, industry associations and local websites that list the same name, address and phone number.
- Service and location pages that answer real questions. What you do, where you do it, what it costs and how long it takes, written by someone who actually does the job.
So the work that wins the map pack is the same work that gets a local business recommended in AI answers. I don't treat GEO and AEO as separate projects for local clients, and I'd be wary of anyone selling them as a completely different service. They're part of doing local SEO properly.
How to optimise for all three
You don't need three strategies. One well-built page can rank in Google, win a featured snippet and get cited by an AI tool. Here's where I'd start:
- Answer the question first. Put a clear two or three sentence answer near the top of each important page, then explain it in more detail underneath.
- Write headings people would search. Use the questions your customers ask you on the phone. "How much does it cost?" beats "Our pricing philosophy".
- Show real experience. Add your own examples, photos, prices and processes. Name the author and show why they know the topic. Google calls this E-E-A-T: experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. AI search tools look for the same signals.
- Get the technical basics right. Make sure pages can be crawled and indexed, load quickly and use schema markup where it matches the content. Don't block search engine bots by accident.
- Keep your business information consistent. Same name, address, phone number and services on your website, Google Business Profile and directories.
- Earn mentions on other sites. Reviews, local media, suppliers, associations and genuine community involvement all build trust with search engines and AI tools.
- Keep content up to date. Refresh prices, services and facts so AI tools aren't repeating old information.
If you're not sure where your website stands, an SEO audit is the quickest way to find out. My paid audit includes a review of how your business shows up in AI answers. I've also written a guide on what an SEO audit checks.
How do you measure GEO and AEO?
This is the part that's still messy. SEO has clear metrics. AEO and GEO results are harder to pin down. Google Search Console doesn't separate out AI Overview traffic, and AI tools don't give you a ranking report.
What I track instead:
- Featured snippets and People also ask for important questions, using rank tracking tools
- AI mentions by regularly asking ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity the questions your customers would ask, and checking whether your business comes up and how it's described
- AI visibility and referral traffic in Google Analytics, from sources like chatgpt.com and perplexity.ai
- Calls and enquiries, because that's what actually matters
Be wary of anyone who guarantees you'll appear in ChatGPT or AI Overviews. Nobody controls how these tools choose their sources, the same way nobody controls Google's rankings.
The bottom line
GEO, AEO and SEO aren't competing strategies. SEO is the foundation, AEO makes your content easy to quote, and GEO makes your business easy to recommend. For most small businesses, one content strategy covers all three: get the SEO fundamentals right, with a sharper focus on clear answers, real experience and consistent information across the web.
Want to know how your business shows up on Google and in AI answers? If you want help with it, see my AI SEO services. Start with a free audit and I'll show you what I'd fix first. For more on budgets, read how much SEO costs in Australia.
