Learn · 2026-09-30 · 2 min read
What is the difference between AEO, GEO, and SEO?
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) gets a page ranked in a list of links on Google. AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) gets a brand named inside the single answer an AI engine writes. GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is the research community's name for the content practices that make AEO work. They overlap in the middle, plain pages that answer a question, and diverge at the edges: backlinks matter for SEO and barely for AEO; consistent facts across the web matter for AEO and barely for SEO.
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The three, side by side
| SEO | AEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Optimizes for | A ranked list of links | Being named in one generated answer | Content that generative engines draw on |
| Where it shows up | Google, Bing results pages | ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity answers | The same engines, plus AI Overviews |
| Unit of success | Position 1 to 10 | Named, or not | Cited as a source, or not |
| Strong signals | Backlinks, authority, technical health | Direct answers, comparison pages, fact consistency | Plain sentences, statistics, quotable structure |
| Measured with | Rank trackers | AI visibility tools, share of voice | Citation tracking |
| Who says it | Everyone | Operators, agencies | Researchers, some vendors |
The table is tidier than reality. Most people who say AEO mean AEO and GEO together, and most SEO agencies now sell some of both. The distinctions that matter are the middle two rows: what counts as success, and which signals move it.
See what the engines say about your brand.
Ten of your prompts on ChatGPT and Gemini, twice, with the actual answers and your brand highlighted.
Why the unit of success changes everything
A results page has ten slots and a long tail below them. Position 8 still gets clicks. A generated answer names three or four brands and stops. There is no position 8. That single change is why AEO feels different from SEO in practice: the work is not "move up", it is "get in".
It also changes how you measure. A rank is a position you hold. An AI mention is a sample: ask the same question tomorrow and the engine may name a different set. So AEO is measured as share of voice over many answers, not as a single position on a single day.
4.1% → 7.2% in 28 days
- Competitor A31%
- Competitor B18%
- Your Brand7.2%
- Competitor C4%
What carries over from SEO
- Pages that answer the question in the first sentence. Featured-snippet writing was the rehearsal for this.
- Comparison and alternatives pages. They win in Google and they win in AI answers, for the same reason: they match the prompt exactly.
- Structured data. FAQPage and Organization markup were nice-to-have for SEO and are close to required for AEO.
- Crawlability. Gemini and Perplexity lean on search indexes; a page Google cannot fetch is a page they cannot cite either.
What does not carry over
- Backlink volume. Engines cite the page that answers the question, not the page with the most links.
- Keyword density and exact-match domains. Engines read for meaning.
- A single canonical page per topic. AEO rewards several plain pages that each answer one prompt.
- Rank tracking as the only dashboard. It cannot see inside an answer.
The loop that works for both
Your prompts go to the engines on a schedule.
A competitor was named. You were not.
One specific page to write today.
Share of voice moves. Or it doesn't.
Scan the engines with the questions your customers ask. Find the prompt where a competitor was named and you were not. Publish the one page that answers it. Re-scan. Whatever you call the practice, that is the whole of it, and it is what helloAISearch turns into one move per day.