SEO vs AEO vs GEO: what's the difference?
SEO, AEO and GEO sound similar but do different jobs. Here's a plain-English breakdown of each, how they overlap, and which your business needs.
Three acronyms are floating around digital marketing right now: SEO, AEO and GEO. They’re related, they overlap, and they’re often confused. Here’s the plain-English version.
SEO — Search Engine Optimisation
The classic. SEO is about ranking your website in the list of results on Google and other search engines. It covers technical health, on-page content, local SEO (Google Business Profile and Maps), and authority (links and mentions).
Goal: appear — ideally near the top — when someone searches.
AEO — Answer Engine Optimisation
AEO is about being the source an AI answer cites. When someone asks ChatGPT, Gemini or Google’s AI Overviews a question, the engine builds an answer from sources it trusts. AEO makes your content one of those sources.
Goal: be quoted or cited in the AI’s answer.
GEO — Generative Engine Optimisation
GEO goes one step further than AEO. It’s about being the business an AI recommends — the name that comes up when someone asks “who’s the best option for X?”. That depends on your brand entity, genuine reputation, and trusted third-party mentions.
Goal: be recommended, not just referenced.
How they fit together
| What it targets | The win | |
|---|---|---|
| SEO | Search results | You rank |
| AEO | AI answers | You’re cited |
| GEO | AI recommendations | You’re chosen |
The good news: they share foundations. Clean, fast, well-structured, authoritative content helps all three. That’s why we don’t sell them as three separate invoices — we build one strategy that covers search and AI together.
Which does your business need?
Honestly? Most need all three, in that order of maturity. Get your SEO foundations solid, layer AEO so you’re cited in AI answers, then build GEO so you’re recommended. If you’re not sure where you stand, book a free audit and we’ll show you — or check your AI visibility in 30 seconds.