SEO, AEO & GEO: have a presence on search engines and AI search
What each one solves.
Search Engine Optimization
Positioning in Google: the technical layer (speed, schema, structure), the content, and the authority that make you rank. Still the foundation; without it, nothing else holds.
Answer Engine Optimization
Optimizing so AIs cite you when someone asks them a question. It's not won with keywords or backlinks, but with clarity, verifiable data, and entity authority. An AI cites the cleanest, most attributable statement, not the best-keyworded one.
Generative Engine Optimization
Working to get generative engines to use your content as a source when building a response. It's won by producing signal (a clear thesis, a proprietary data point) instead of generic volume.
Optimizing only for Google is already half a strategy.
Since ChatGPT went mainstream and Google started showing AI Overviews, a growing share of searches ends in a generated answer, with no click. For those searches, your position 3 on Google doesn't exist: what exists is whether the AI cited you or not. Technical SEO is the base; AEO and GEO are the half of the market that SEO alone doesn't cover.
What is AEO?
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) is optimizing your content so AI-powered answer engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews) cite you when a user asks them a question. Unlike SEO, it doesn't compete for a ranking position: it competes to be the source the AI attributes in its response.
How is AEO different from SEO?
SEO optimizes for a ranking algorithm that orders links; AEO optimizes for a model that synthesizes a response and decides whom to cite. SEO rewards keywords and backlinks; AEO rewards clarity, verifiable data, and entity authority. They're worked together: AEO is built on a solid technical SEO foundation.
What is GEO?
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is the work of getting generative engines to use your content as a source when building responses. The companies that build their entity and signal early have a structural advantage as these engines grow.
Let's look at where you stand today on Google and in the AIs, and what would move the needle first.