GEO vs SEO vs AEO: 21 Questions Answered & What To Do

There’s a lot of noise around AI search, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. LinkedIn is drenched with dozens of posts on a daily basis, giving the impression it’s the next big thing and that you’re already missing out on it.

This raises lots of questions which need simple honest answers that are grounded in real-world SEO and successful search marketing experience.

So, that’s what we’re going to tackle in this article – questions and answers on Ai search, GEO vs SEO vs AEO, plus some myth-busting and fact-checking.

Key Takeaways

• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) are three parts of the same foundation: a solid technical SEO bedrock, direct-answer content tuning, and embedding trust signals on your website.
• Google says optimising for its generative Ai features is still SEO, and that no special optimisation is needed to appear in Ai Overviews or Ai Mode.
• Ahrefs found that Ai chatbots sent about 0.28% of web traffic in March 2026, so Ai search deserves a place in your organic plan but should not be considered a separate channel.
• Nobody can guarantee that ChatGPT or any other Ai assistant will recommend your brand, because answers vary from run to run and reputation is earned.

Contents

Part 1 - Definitions

1. What is SEO?
2. What is AEO?
3. What is GEO? And is it related to location targeting?
4. What's the difference between GEO, AEO and SEO?
5. What's the difference between AEO and GEO?

Part 2 - Myths & Facts

1. Is SEO replaced by Ai?
2. Do you need an llms.txt file to be cited by Ai?
3. Do you need to chunk your content for Ai?
4. Can you buy your way into Ai answers?
5. Can anyone guarantee ChatGPT will recommend you?
6. Is Ai search driving large volumes of traffic?
7. Is Ai search a new channel that needs a new budget?

Part 3 - What To Do About It

1. How do you do AEO and GEO?
2. How do you solidify your SEO for Ai search?
3. How do you optimise your content for AEO?
4. How do you set up for GEO and build trust and reputation?
5. What order should you do it in?
6. How do I rank in ChatGPT?
7. Which Ai platforms matter?
8. How long does it take?
9. How do you measure Ai search traffic?

Part 1 - Definitions

1. What is SEO?

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the work of making your website easy for search engines to find, understand and trust, so it appears when people search for what you sell.

It covers whether your site can be crawled and indexed, whether your pages answer what people want to know, and whether other sites vouch for you.

2. What is AEO?

Answer engine optimisation (AEO) is the work of structuring your content so search engines and Ai tools can lift a clear, direct answer from it. Those answers show up in features such as Google's Ai Overviews, featured snippets and People Also Ask boxes.

AEO relies on question-led headings, answers that come first and pages that are easy to scan.

3. What is GEO? And is it related to location targeting?

Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is the work of making your brand easy for Ai assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity to find, trust and describe accurately. In marketing, GEO depends on your own website and on what customers, reviewers and the press say about you elsewhere.

GEO in search marketing is not location targeting. Some people use "geo" to mean geographic targeting, such as ads for one city which has nothing to do with Ai search. You may also see GEO written as GEO SEO, LLM SEO or ChatGPT SEO, which usually describe the same work.

4. What's the difference between GEO, AEO and SEO?

SEO makes your website findable, AEO makes your answers quotable, and GEO means your brand can be cited by Ai tools (provided you have a trustworthy reputation).

A page that search engines can't index has no chance of being quoted, and a brand that Ai tools can't verify is unlikely to be recommended. Google takes the same view: it describes optimising for its generative Ai features as still SEO.

5. What's the difference between AEO and GEO?

AEO is mostly about search engines' answer features, such as Google's Ai Overviews, featured snippets and People Also Ask. It's won by how clearly a page answers a question.

GEO is mostly about Ai assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, and whilst it relies on the same technical foundations as SEO and AEO, it is heavily reliant on how trustworthy, authoritative and credible your brand is (i.e. laying said technical foundations won't necessarily see you get cited by Ai apps).

Part 2 - Myths & Facts

6. Is SEO replaced by Ai?

No. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is still how you get into Ai search. Google's Ai Overviews and Ai Mode sit inside Google Search, so the pages they draw on still need to be found, indexed and trusted first. Work that strengthens your SEO also supports your chances in Ai answers.

Google Search Central's guide to generative Ai features, last updated 10th Jul '26, says optimising for generative Ai search is optimising for the search experience i.e. SEO.

7. Do you need an llms.txt file to be cited by Ai?

No. An llms.txt file is a plain text file that some site owners add in the hope that Ai tools will read their site more easily. You can create one if you like, but Google Search ignores it, so it won't help you appear in Google's Ai features.

Google says creating llms.txt files will neither harm nor help your visibility in Google Search, although the guide covers Google only.

8. Do you need to chunk your content for Ai?

No. Chunking means splitting a page into tiny, standalone pieces in the hope that Ai tools can lift them more easily. Short paragraphs and clear headings help your readers get what they need from your content, so it's essential for this reason rather than anything to do with Ai. You don't need to cut a page into fragments for Google's Ai features.

Google says there is no requirement to break content into tiny pieces for Ai to understand it, because Google's systems can find the relevant piece of a page that covers several topics.

9. Can you pay to be included in Ai answers?

No. Advertising, brand marketing and PR is how you build real awareness via Ai citations, at least for now. Paying for mentions or seeding your name across the web to influence Ai tools is not possible at the moment. What Ai assistants repeat about you comes from what customers, reviewers, the press and experts say and is fuelled by the reputation you've earned as a brand.

10. Can anyone guarantee ChatGPT will recommend you?

No. Nobody controls what ChatGPT says, and the same question can produce a different answer each time. Treat any guarantee of Ai citations or recommendations as a serious warning sign, and look instead for a promise about the work done and how progress is measured.

A SparkToro and Gumshoe.ai study published on 28th Jan '26 had 600 volunteers run 12 prompts through ChatGPT, Claude and Google's Ai, 2,961 times in total. ChatGPT and Google's Ai gave the same list of brands in any two responses less than 1 time in 100.

11. Is Ai search driving large volumes of traffic?

No. In the data available, Ai assistants send a very small share of visits to websites. That's no reason to ignore Ai search, because it can influence which brands people look for before they click anything and is expected to continue growing in influence.

Ahrefs reported on 15th May '26 that Ai chatbots sent 0.28% of web traffic across 74,752 tracked websites in March 2026.

12. Is Ai search a new channel that needs a new budget?

No. Ai search is the next layer of good organic search, so it draws on the same work: pages that can be crawled, clear answers to real questions and a reputation worth repeating. Fund those foundations first and treat Ai visibility as part of your organic plan.

Google Search advises site owners to prioritise effective SEO strategies over "AEO/GEO hacks".

Part 3 - What To Do About It

13. How do you do AEO and GEO?

Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) take three layers of work, done in order. First, make your SEO solid so search engines and Ai tools can crawl, index and understand your site. Second, optimise your content for AEO, so each page contains as many direct answers as possible i.e. naturally and logically.

Third, continue building trust and reputation so the wider web describes your brand accurately and Ai apps are more likely to recommend it.

14. How do you solidify your SEO for Ai search?

Solidify your SEO for Ai search by making sure every page that matters is crawlable, indexable, snippet-eligible, fast and structured. Google's Ai features documentation says a page must be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet to appear in Ai Overviews or Ai Mode, with no additional technical requirements.

Structured data helps with rich results but isn't required for Ai features, according to Google, so fix the basics before adding markup. A technical audit finds what's wrong with your SEO and provides the remedial actions for fixing the findings thereafter.

15. How do you optimise your content for AEO?

Optimise your content for AEO by putting a direct answer at the start of each page, then adding the detail underneath. Write headings as the questions people really ask, add an FAQ for the follow-up questions buyers raise, and publish comparison content that helps people choose between options.

Build all of it on real buyer questions from Search Console, sales conversations and People Also Ask boxes. Google Search Central's guide, last updated 10th Jul '26, says unique, useful content will likely influence your presence in generative Ai search more than any other suggestion it makes and warns against recycling what others have said.

16. How do you set up for GEO and build trust and reputation?

Set up for GEO by making your brand easy to describe and easy to verify. Use the same plain description of what you do on your website, LinkedIn page and directory listings. Put named authors on your articles, collect genuine customer reviews and earn a place in the third-party articles, lists and discussions where your buyers already look.

Google says its generative Ai features can show what's being said about products and services across the web, including in blogs, videos and forum discussions.

Reputation starts with knowing what your buyers think and need to hear at each stage of their decision, which is what Edge, Paladin's audience mapping, is for.

17. What order should you do it in?

Do foundations first, then content, then reputation. Fix technical SEO so your site can be crawled and indexed, tune your content around real buyer questions, then build the reviews, named authorship and third-party presence that Ai tools can verify.

Reputation work is slow, so it often starts alongside the first two layers. That sequence is the thinking behind Foundation 90, explained in the last section.

18. How do I rank in ChatGPT?

You don't rank in ChatGPT the way you rank on Google, so there's no fixed position to climb. The SparkToro and Gumshoe.ai study (28th Jan '26) found that two lists of brands appeared in the same order roughly 1 time in 1,000.

Earn the trust of people first: be useful, be described accurately and be talked about by customers and independent sources. ChatGPT SEO and LLM SEO are other names for the same work.

19. Which Ai platforms matter?

The main Ai platforms to know are ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot, and Google's Ai Overviews and Ai Mode. Which ones matter most to you depends on where your buyers look, so test your brand across several and not only one.

Google's published guidance covers Google's own features only, so don't assume it applies to ChatGPT or Perplexity.

20. How long does it take?

Foundations often show early signs within a few months, in better indexing, more impressions and more clicks. Competitive searches take longer, and Ai visibility depends on reputation, which builds slowly.

Measure direction, not promises. Ask whether you're indexed, quoted and described more accurately than last quarter, and be wary of anyone who promises a date for Ai citations.

21. How do you measure Ai search traffic?

First, the Generative Ai performance report in Google Search Console, announced on 3rd Jun '26, which shows impressions in Ai Overviews and Ai Mode.

Second, the Ai Assistant channel in Google Analytics 4, which Google added in May '26 to report visits from recognised Ai assistants.

The third option is an Ai visibility baseline: record what ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot say about your brand for the questions your buyers ask, and repeat it on a schedule. But, given the random nature of citations within AI assistants (as mentioned earlier in this article), this method is limited i.e. it can only show that technical foundations are in place/working.