SEO, AEO and GEO are three layers, not three choices.
The three acronyms are often presented as alternatives. They work as layers: a page has to be found before its answer can be extracted, and Google documents that eligibility for Search comes before a supporting link in its AI features.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) makes a page discoverable and competitive in search results. Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) structures the page so that a direct answer can be extracted from it. Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) improves whether a generative system uses and cites the content, and the entity behind it, when it writes an answer. For Google's AI features, the first is a documented condition of the third. None replaces the others.
The difference at a glance
| SEO | AEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The question | Can the page be found and ranked? | Can a clear answer be extracted from it? | Is the content, and the entity behind it, used and cited in a generated answer? |
| The unit | The page | The passage | The passage, and the sources about the entity |
| The surface | Search results | Featured snippets, direct answers | AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini |
| Main levers | Crawlability, indexing, content, links | Answer placed first, one question per section, self-contained sentences | Evidence on the page, an unambiguous entity, independent sources, crawler access |
| Documented dependency | A site that can be crawled | None stated; in practice, a page that is found | Google: indexed and snippet-eligible in Search. OpenAI: OAI-SearchBot not opted out |
| Measured by | Rankings, impressions, clicks | Snippets obtained; passages reused correctly | Presence, accuracy and citations in generated answers |
| What is documented | Search engines publish guidelines | Google documents snippets and their controls | The paper that introduced the term; provider documentation that differs by provider |
What each one requires
SEO. The page has to be crawlable, indexed and worth ranking. For Google's AI features it is a stated condition: Google states that, to be shown as a supporting link in AI Overviews or AI Mode, a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet (Google Search Central, AI features).
AEO. The answer has to survive being lifted out of its page. Google's documentation sets a limit worth knowing: a page cannot be marked as a featured snippet, because Google's systems determine whether it would make a good one (Google Search Central, featured snippets). The practices are set out in answer engine optimization.
GEO. The content has to be worth using. The paper that introduced the term reports that including citations, quotations from relevant sources and statistics "can significantly boost source visibility" in generated answers, in a controlled benchmark (arXiv:2311.09735). The same paper lists keyword stuffing among the methods it tested, and not among those it reports as effective. What the research did and did not measure is set out in generative engine optimization.
What they have in common
No special file or tag for Google's AI features. Google states: "There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary." It adds that no new machine-readable file, AI text file or special markup is needed (Google Search Central, AI features).
Text that says what it means. Among Google's best practices for AI features: important content in text form, and structured data that matches the visible text (Google Search Central, AI features).
Access. A page blocked from a crawler is absent from what that crawler feeds. OpenAI states that sites opted out of OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers (OpenAI, crawlers).
An identifiable subject. None of the three states who or what the page is about. That is the object of entity optimization, which the three acronyms leave out.
Where the acronyms mislead
"GEO replaces SEO." The requirement quoted above says the opposite for Google's AI features: eligibility for search comes first.
"AEO and GEO are the same thing." AEO stops at your own page. GEO also concerns sources you do not control. A perfectly structured page about an entity no one else confirms is extractable and unsupported.
"There is a GEO technique that works everywhere." The paper that introduced the term states that the efficacy of its strategies varies across domains, and the providers publish different rules.
"More acronyms, more disciplines." Other labels circulate for overlapping work, such as AIO and LLMO. On this site they are treated as names for parts of the same three layers. An earlier article on this site, in French, compares them: SEO vs AIO vs GEO vs LLMO.
Where to start
| What you observe | The layer to work on |
|---|---|
| Pages are not indexed, or do not rank for their own subject | SEO |
| Pages rank, and the snippet or the answer shown is partial or wrong | AEO |
| Pages rank and read well, and AI answers do not mention you | GEO, starting with independent sources |
| AI answers confuse you with another entity, or mix names, roles and dates | Entity optimization |
| You do not know which of these applies | Measurement first: AI search intelligence |
How they combine
In order: access and indexing, then structure, then evidence and sources, with measurement before and after. In The Authority Architecture System, which has its own six layers, the three are applied together at the fifth, AI Search Optimization, after the narrative, the entity and the evidence are in place. The summary table of all five disciplines is in AI visibility.
Other comparisons: AI reputation and online reputation management and executive reputation and personal branding. Visibility is whether you appear; what is said once you do is the subject of AI reputation. Related analyses are collected in Insights.
Frequently asked questions
Should I stop doing SEO and move to GEO?
No. Google states that a page must be indexed and eligible for a snippet to appear as a supporting link in its AI features. GEO is built on top of SEO.
Is AEO just a new name for featured-snippet optimization?
Featured snippets are its best-documented surface. The term is also used for any system that extracts an answer from a page. The principle is the same: an answer placed first, that makes sense on its own.
What is documented about appearing in ChatGPT search?
Access first: OpenAI states that sites opted out of OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers. Beyond that, OpenAI's documentation cited here does not publish how sources are selected.
Do SEO, AEO and GEO need three different teams?
Not necessarily. They share the same pages and the same facts. What differs is the question asked of each page, and GEO adds work outside the site, on independent sources.
Where does entity optimization fit?
Underneath all three. It establishes who or what the content is about, so that a ranking, an extracted answer or a citation is attributed to the right entity.
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