New acronyms turn up in marketing every year, and most of them are old ideas with new names. GEO and AEO are different. They describe a real change in how people find businesses: more people now ask an AI assistant a question instead of scrolling through ten blue links.
SEO: being found in search results
SEO is still the foundation. It covers a site Google can crawl and understand, pages that match what people search for, and other sites linking to yours. If your pages do not rank in normal search, AI tools have far less reason to find and trust you.
GEO: being mentioned by AI tools
GEO, generative engine optimisation, is about being mentioned when someone asks ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or Google AI Overviews for a recommendation. These tools build answers from sources they consider trustworthy. That means:
- Clear, factual pages about what you do, who for and where.
- Mentions of your business on other trusted sites: reviews, directories, industry press and comparison articles.
- Consistent details everywhere, so the tools are confident it is the same business.
AEO: having your answer chosen
AEO, answer engine optimisation, is about structure. When a page states a question and answers it clearly in the first sentence or two, search engines and assistants can lift that answer directly. Schema markup, short answer paragraphs, FAQ sections and clear headings all help.
Which one do you need?
In most cases, all three, in this order:
- Fix the SEO basics: speed, structure, and pages for the searches that bring customers.
- Rewrite key pages so each one answers the questions customers actually ask. That is AEO.
- Build mentions on the sites AI tools trust, and track how often you appear in AI answers. That is GEO.
The good news is that the work overlaps. A clear, fast, well-structured site with a good reputation does well in all three.