AEO vs SEO (and GEO): what's the difference?

What do SEO, AEO and GEO each mean?

SEO gets your pages ranked in search results; AEO and GEO get your business named and cited inside AI-generated answers — different labels for the same goal.

Most of the confusion is vocabulary. Each one in a line:

• SEO (search engine optimization): making your website and Google Business Profile rank in Google and Bing results so people click through and call.
• AEO (answer engine optimization): making your business the one that ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode name when someone asks for a recommendation. Our full explainer on AEO goes deeper.
• GEO (generative engine optimization): the academic name for the same work, focused on how content gets surfaced and cited in answers written by large language models.
• LLM SEO / AI SEO: marketing labels for the same goal. Different vendors prefer different words; the job does not change.

GEO comes from a research paper, “GEO: Generative Engine Optimization”, first posted to arXiv in November 2023 by researchers from Princeton University, IIT Delhi, Georgia Tech and the Allen Institute for AI, and later published at KDD 2024. The authors built a benchmark of 10,000 queries and reported that certain content changes could boost a source’s visibility in generative engine responses by up to 40%.

That paper studied general web content, not local businesses. It is useful as proof that citation in AI answers can be influenced. It is not a playbook for a plumber in Tampa.

How do SEO, AEO and GEO compare side by side?

SEO competes for positions on a results page measured in rankings and clicks; AEO and GEO compete for inclusion in one written answer, measured in how often you are named.

Search volume shows who uses which word. In Google Keyword Planner (US, September 2025 to August 2026), “aeo vs seo” averaged 1,900 searches a month, “answer engine optimization” 2,400, “generative engine optimization” 4,400, “ai seo” 6,600 and “llm seo” 720.

Where do AEO and SEO overlap?

AI engines retrieve pages from search indexes before writing an answer, so a page that cannot rank is rarely the page that gets cited.

Google says it plainly in its guidance on AI features: there are no additional requirements or special optimizations needed to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. A page must be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet in Google Search. That is SEO.

ChatGPT works in a similar way for local questions. It has been observed running Bing searches for local queries, then reading and citing the pages that come back. If Bing cannot find or trust your site, ChatGPT has less to work with.

The shared foundation looks like this:

• A fast, crawlable website with one clear page per service and per service area.
• A complete, accurate Google Business Profile.
• Consistent name, address, phone and hours on every listing.
• A steady flow of genuine reviews.
• Pages that say specific, checkable things: licenses, service areas, warranties, what a job involves.

Every item on that list helps you rank and get cited. The real question is sequencing, not choosing one.

Where does AEO work differ from SEO work?

AEO puts more weight on consistent facts across third-party sites, answer-shaped content, reviews and mentions, and it measures share of answer instead of rankings.

Entity consistency across directories

SEO cares about your own site first. AI answers pull heavily from everyone else’s. In Cheers’ analysis of 70,723 ChatGPT citations across 100 US and Canadian metros, 48.8% pointed to business websites, 44.7% to directories and review platforms such as Angi, BBB and Yelp, 4.3% to social and forum sites like Reddit, Facebook and Nextdoor, and 0.2% to google.com.

Almost half of what ChatGPT cites for local questions is someone else’s page about you. If Yelp lists an old phone number and BBB lists a different service area, the engine has two stories to reconcile. The same analysis notes that public evidence does not establish that ChatGPT reads Google Business Profile directly, so your profile alone is not enough.

Answer-shaped content

A page built for SEO can rank on a strong keyword and a long service description. A page built for AEO leads with the answer. It uses the questions buyers actually ask as headings, answers each one in the first sentence, and backs it with specifics an engine can quote.

“We serve the Jacksonville area” is hard to cite. “We install and repair central AC in Duval, Clay and St. Johns counties, with same-day service calls on weekdays” is easy to cite, as long as it is true.

Reviews and third-party mentions

Reviews matter in local SEO. In AI answers they also shape how the engine describes you. People check them too: the BrightLocal 2026 survey found 88% of AI users fact-check what the AI tells them, and 97% double-check against real reviews.

Mentions on credible local lists and publications also feed answers. Be careful here. Google AI Overviews for local searches have been seen citing low-quality, self-promotional listicles. That is a weakness engines are likely to close, not a tactic to build a business on.

Measuring share of answer instead of rankings

There is no position one in a ChatGPT answer. You are named or you are not. The practical measure is share of answer: of a fixed set of real buyer prompts, how often each engine names you.

The official tools are catching up. Google Search Console’s generative AI performance report shows impressions, pages, countries and devices for AI features, but no clicks or queries, and it is not live on every domain yet. Bing Webmaster Tools’ AI Performance report added Intents, Topics, Citation Share and Compare in June 2026.

Zero-click outcomes

In SEO, a ranking without a click is a partial win. In AEO, the answer itself is often the whole interaction. Pew Research Center found that users ended their browsing session on 26% of Google pages with an AI summary, versus 16% of pages with only traditional results.

So the goal shifts. A local business wants to be the name in the answer, then be easy to verify and call when the person goes looking.

Is AEO replacing SEO?

No. AEO is growing fast and changing how people find local businesses, but AI engines still rely on search indexes, and most buyers still verify what AI tells them through search and reviews.

The case that search is losing ground is real. Pew Research Center tracked 900 US adults’ Google searches in March 2025. When an AI summary appeared, users clicked a traditional result in 8% of visits, versus 15% when no summary appeared. They clicked a link inside the summary in just 1% of visits.

Adoption is moving just as fast. BrightLocal’s 2026 Local Consumer Review Survey of 1,002 US adults found 45% of consumers now use AI tools for local business recommendations, up from 6% the year before. ChatGPT was the most-used tool, at 31% of AI users, with Google AI Mode at 23%.

Many of the business owners who call Media Spearhead now tell us an AI assistant recommended us, and AI has become our biggest source of new clients.

The case against “replacing” is just as strong:

• In Pew’s data, 18% of Google searches in March 2025 produced an AI summary. The rest were ordinary results pages.
• Google’s AI features only cite pages that are indexed and snippet-eligible in Google Search.
• BrightLocal found that 88% of AI users fact-check and 97% check real reviews — which sends them back to search, Maps and review sites.
• Google is still changing the format. It is testing AI Overviews that expand straight into AI Mode. The surface is moving; the underlying index is not going away.

The honest read: SEO is becoming the entry ticket and AEO is becoming the scoreboard. A business that only does SEO will slowly lose visibility it cannot see. A business that skips SEO for AEO has nothing for the engines to retrieve.

How should a local business budget for SEO and AEO?

Fund the shared foundation first, then shift a growing share toward AEO work — listings, answer-shaped pages and share-of-answer tracking — as your SEO base gets solid.

For market context, WebFX puts AI search optimization at roughly $1,500 to $5,000 a month for small businesses. Where you start matters more than the number:

If one vendor handles everything, ask for two reports: rankings and calls for SEO, share of answer for AEO. If they can only show you one, you are only buying one.

What should you do if you already have SEO?

Audit what the AI engines say about you today, make sure they can crawl you, fix your directory facts and rewrite your top pages to answer first.

1. Ask the engines. Write 10 to 20 prompts a real buyer would use (“best emergency plumber in Orlando”) and run them in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Mode. Record who gets named. That is your baseline.
2. Check crawler access. Make sure robots.txt is not blocking OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, Claude-SearchBot or Bingbot. Blocking GPTBot only opts you out of OpenAI training. Google-Extended does not affect AI Overviews; Googlebot does. Our AI crawlers guide and AI Crawler Checker cover the details.
3. Set up Bing properly. Verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools and submit your sitemap. Many SEO programs only watch Google, and ChatGPT has been observed using Bing for local queries.
4. Clean up your listings. Match your name, address, phone, hours and services on Yelp, BBB, Angi and the directories that matter in your trade.
5. Rewrite your top pages to answer first. Question headings, a direct first sentence, then specifics. Start with the pages that already rank — they are the ones engines are most likely to retrieve.
6. Add structured data where it helps. LocalBusiness and FAQ markup make your details easier to read. Google says it is not required for AI features, so treat it as clarity, not a shortcut. The Schema Generator builds it in a minute.
7. Keep reviews coming, honestly. The FTC’s final rule banning fake reviews and testimonials, in effect since 2024, covers AI-generated fake reviews and reviews bought for a particular sentiment.
8. Re-run your prompts monthly. Share of answer moves slowly and unevenly across engines. Monthly is often enough to see the trend.

For a longer step-by-step, use the AEO checklist or read how to get recommended by ChatGPT.

What should you do if you have no SEO yet?

Build the foundation once, the right way: a complete Business Profile, a crawlable site with answer-shaped pages, consistent listings and a review habit — it serves search and AI at the same time.

Starting from zero lets you build every page answer-first instead of retrofitting later. Work in this order:

1. Claim and complete your Google Business Profile. Correct categories, services, service area, hours and real photos. Google is also testing a revamped Q&A with yes/no prompts for owners, so answer those when they appear. The AI Overviews guide for local businesses explains how this feeds Google’s answers.
2. Launch a real website. One page per core service and per main service area, each opening with a direct answer. Include licenses, warranties and what the job involves.
3. List the business consistently. Same name, address and phone everywhere, starting with the directories and review sites customers in your trade actually use.
4. Start a review routine. Ask every satisfied customer, every time, through a link that is easy to use. Never buy or fake reviews.
5. Do not mass-produce AI pages. Google’s August 2026 spam update reportedly targeted mass AI-generated content. Fewer, specific pages beat hundreds of thin city pages.
6. Measure from day one. Set up Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools and analytics, and log your first prompt test so you can see progress later.

If you would rather have one team handle both, that is what our answer engine optimization service does, alongside our SEO services.

Frequently asked questions

Is AEO the same thing as GEO?

For a local business, yes. Both describe getting your business named and cited inside AI-generated answers. GEO is the term from a 2023 research paper and is more common in tech and SaaS marketing, while AEO is more common among agencies and business owners. LLM SEO and AI SEO are other labels for the same goal.

Do I need a separate agency for AEO and SEO?

Not usually. The two share the same foundation: a crawlable website, a complete Google Business Profile, consistent listings and a steady flow of reviews. Splitting them between two vendors often means two teams editing the same pages and listings with different goals. One team running both, with separate reporting for rankings and AI answers, is simpler.

Can I do AEO without SEO?

Only partly. You can fix directory listings and reviews without touching your website, and those help AI engines describe you. But AI search tools retrieve pages from search indexes, so a site that is not indexed or cannot rank for anything is rarely the page they cite.

How long does AEO take compared with SEO?

Some AEO fixes show up quickly, because engines pick up corrected listings and reworked pages as soon as they recrawl them. Earning a consistent share of AI answers in a competitive market takes months of steady work, much like SEO. Nobody can honestly guarantee placement in either one.

Does Google require special markup or an llms.txt file to appear in AI Overviews?

No. Google says there are no additional requirements or special optimizations needed to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, and that a page must be indexed and eligible to show a snippet in Search. Structured data can still help engines read your business details clearly, but it is not a ticket in. llms.txt is a 2024 proposal that no major engine has confirmed changes local recommendations.

How do I measure AEO if there are no rankings?

Track share of answer: run a fixed set of real buyer prompts across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Mode each month and record how often you are named. Add the AI reports inside Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, and watch referral visits from AI tools in your analytics.

Sources: Aggarwal et al., “GEO: Generative Engine Optimization” (arXiv / KDD 2024) · Pew Research Center, July 22, 2025 · BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 · Cheers, ChatGPT local citation analysis · Google Search Central, AI features and your website · Search Engine Roundtable, Search Console AI report · Bing Blogs, AI Performance report · Search Engine Roundtable, AI Overviews and local listicles · Search Engine Roundtable, AI Overviews into AI Mode · Search Engine Roundtable, Business Profile Q&A · Search Engine Roundtable, August 2026 spam update · WebFX, GEO cost 2026 · FTC, final rule on fake reviews · Google Keyword Planner, US, Sep 2025–Aug 2026 (Media Spearhead data pull)