SEO, GEO and AEO all work on your visibility, but in different places. SEO ranks you in Google’s links. AEO aims to get you into direct answers. GEO works to get generative AI (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity) to mention and recommend you inside its answers. They do not compete: they complement each other.
The acronyms keep multiplying and it is easy to get lost. Almost everyone knows SEO; GEO and AEO sound new. In reality they describe three ways of working on the same thing, your visibility, in three places where your customer can find you. Seeing it clearly saves you from wrong decisions.
What each one is
SEO (Search Engine Optimization): the work of appearing as high as possible in a search engine’s list of links, like Google. It is the best known and still matters.
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization): the work of appearing in direct answers, like Google’s featured snippets or what a voice assistant reads out. Instead of a link, the goal is to be the answer.
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization): the work of getting generative AI (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude or Perplexity) to mention, recommend and describe you well inside its answers, against your competition.
The difference in practice
The gap between them is not technical, it is the moment you meet the customer. With SEO you compete for a click: the person sees several results and chooses. With AEO and GEO there is no list to pick from; there is an answer, and you are either inside it or outside it.
That difference matters because more and more decisions end in the answer, without ever passing through the list of links. If your brand is not there, for that person it does not exist, no matter how good your Google ranking is.
They do not compete, they complement
The most common mistake is to think GEO replaces SEO. It does not. SEO still brings search traffic and is still the foundation of good content. GEO covers a new place, the AI answer, where your customer increasingly decides.
In fact, they support each other. Clear, well-structured, useful content helps both Google and AI models. The difference is that GEO adds specific work SEO does not cover: data built for models, reputation in the sources AI consults, and measuring how it names you.
An example with the same question
Imagine someone who wants to buy invoicing software. With SEO, they search “best invoicing software”, see ten results and compare. With AEO, Google shows a box at the top with a direct answer. With GEO, they ask ChatGPT “which invoicing software do you recommend for a small business?” and get three names. Three paths to the same decision, and your brand can be present or absent in each one.
What changes for your brand
Working on SEO alone no longer covers the whole journey. You need to add GEO to be where the decision is made today: inside the AI answer. That does not mean abandoning what you had, but widening the view and starting to measure a new signal, how often and how AI names you against your competition.
Where to start
Before touching anything, measure. Choose the questions your customer would ask AI in your category and look at what it answers today and which brands show up. That tells you whether your problem is SEO (you do not appear in Google), GEO (AI does not mention you), or both. From there, prioritize by impact and work first where most decisions happen.
If you want to see how AI names you today and compare it with your position in search engines, we can analyze your brand and show you where your gaps are.