AEO and GEO.
AEO and GEO are about showing up when a search is answered by an AI instead of a list of links. It isn't a new channel, but the next layer of SEO: same foundation, new goal.
By Hans Sandblom · Senior SEO Specialist· Published · Updated Our view
AI search rewards the same things it always has: content that's easy to read, fetch and trust. New label, familiar discipline.
What AEO and GEO are.
AEO stands for answer engine optimization, GEO for generative engine optimization. Both describe the same work: making a page clear and credible enough for an AI to surface it when answering a question. “AI search” is the umbrella term. The foundations of how search engines understand content are documented at Google Search Central↗.
The difference from classic SEO is the goal, not the method. SEO aims to rank as a link in the results list. AEO and GEO aim to be cited in the answer that large language models↗ and generative AI↗ produce. Same foundation, but the last step differs: from ranking to being cited.
Search becomes an answer.
For twenty years the search result has been a list of links. With AI Overview↗, ChatGPT and Perplexity the result is increasingly a finished answer with a few cited sources instead. The user clicks less, the AI reads for them and points to the sources it trusts.
That doesn't mean SEO is dead, though it's sometimes claimed. It means the bar rises. When an AI cites only a handful of sources, ranking on page one isn't enough, you have to be one of the few it lifts up. The demands on clarity, structure and credibility get harder, not softer.
How AI picks which sources to cite.
An AI generating an answer in real time can't guess. It leans on sources that are easy to read, fast to fetch and clear to trust. In practice the same traits recur:
- Citability: one clear answer per section, not prose that meanders between topics. Definition first, detail after.
- Structure: headings, lists and structured data that let the machine see what is what.
- Technical access: clean, crawlable HTML that can be fetched without heavy JavaScript rendering.
- Identifiable author: a named writer, a clear organisation and traceable expertise (E-E-A-T↗).
- Authority: other credible sites refer to you, the same signal that drives classic ranking.
None of this is new. It's SEO hygiene, sharpened by an AI now reading and choosing on the user's behalf.
AEO, GEO and classic SEO.
The three overlap more than they differ. The same technical and content foundation, but different surfaces to appear on:
Classic SEO
The goal is to rank as a link in the search results list. Measured in position and organic traffic. The foundation: on-page, technical and off-page.
AEO (answer engine optimization)
The goal is to be cited in answer engines' direct answers and voice assistants. Built on the same SEO foundation plus extra-clear structure and schema.org↗ markup.
GEO (generative engine optimization)
The goal is to be one of the sources a generative AI like ChatGPT or Perplexity weaves into its answer. Here a credible author and citable structure weigh most.
How you work with AI search.
The approach resembles SEO, with one extra step. You map which sources an AI actually cites in the questions that matter to the business (reverse-engineering the answers), lay the foundation with tech, structure and schema, and create content that answers the audience's questions clearly.
What matters is measuring the right thing. Visibility in an AI answer is worth something only when it touches the business, that is leads and pipeline, not the count of AI mentions in itself.
Want to know where you show up in AI search?
Send us your URL. We'll show which sources get cited in your key questions and what it takes to become one of them. Free of charge.
Write to us →Frequently asked questions about AEO and GEO
What is AEO?
AEO (answer engine optimization) is the work of being cited in answer engines' direct answers, like AI Overview and voice assistants. It builds on the same foundation as SEO: clear structure, clean tech and a credible author, but the goal is to be cited, not just ranked.
What's the difference between AEO and GEO?
AEO refers to answer engines broadly, GEO specifically to generative AI answers that ChatGPT and Perplexity assemble. In practice the terms are often used synonymously, and the same work sits behind both: making the page easy to interpret, fetch and trust.
Is SEO dead now with AI?
No. AI search doesn't replace SEO, it builds on it. The same foundation (crawlable tech, clear content, authority) decides whether a page can be cited. The difference is the bar rises: an AI surfaces only a handful of sources.
How do you measure visibility in AI search?
By tracking which sources get cited in the questions that matter to the business, and tying that to the business (leads, pipeline) rather than the count of mentions itself. The tools are immature, so measurement combines manual checks with existing analytics.
Do you need structured data to be cited?
It helps. Schema markup lets an AI understand what is what on the page, which makes it easier to interpret and cite correctly. It's no guarantee, but a strong prerequisite, especially for definitions and FAQs.