SEO vs GEO vs AEO -
what's different, what overlaps, when to use each.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) targets Google's 10 blue-link results - planned by keyword, measured by rank and organic sessions. GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) targets generative AI engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude - planned by prompt, measured by citation share. AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) targets answer engines and zero-click surfaces like Google AI Overviews, featured snippets, People Also Ask and voice - planned by question, measured by snippet and answer ownership. The three are complementary, not alternatives.

No. GEO targets generative AI engines that synthesise multi-source answers (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude) - weighting entity authority, source-grade content and prompt coverage. AEO targets answer engines that extract a single best answer (AI Overviews, featured snippets, voice, PAA) - weighting schema, direct-answer formatting and structured Q&A. They share many fundamentals but optimise for different retrieval mechanics.

Yes. Google still drives the majority of search sessions globally, and the same authority, content depth and technical hygiene that lift Google rankings also lift AI citations. SEO is now a foundation layer of any AI search programme - traditional Google + AI Overviews + standalone LLMs all reward the same underlying signals.

Run all three together if you can. If you must sequence: start with SEO foundations (technical hygiene, schema, content depth) because they feed every surface. Layer AEO next (it ships faster, 30-60 days) for AI Overviews and featured snippets. Layer GEO last - it compounds over 4-9 months but delivers the biggest long-term moat as LLM share grows.

Wrong question. They target different surfaces: SEO for Google blue links, AEO for zero-click answer surfaces, GEO for standalone LLMs. Importance depends on where your buyers actually search. B2B SaaS buyers increasingly use ChatGPT and Perplexity - GEO matters more. Local services buyers still rely on Google Maps - SEO and AEO matter more. An AI visibility audit shows you the actual mix.

GEO weights entity authority (Wikipedia, Wikidata, knowledge graph), prompt-landscape coverage, source-grade citable content and cross-LLM citation tracking. AEO weights schema depth (Organization, FAQ, HowTo, Article, Product), direct-answer formatting, structured Q&A and conversational coverage. SEO weights backlinks, on-page keywords, crawl and technical hygiene. The overlap is real - but the planning units and KPIs differ.

Often yes. Well-structured, definition-led, source-grade content with deep schema can rank on Google, get extracted into AI Overviews and get cited inside ChatGPT and Perplexity simultaneously. The key is content architecture: clear definitions, structured Q&A, comparison tables, original data, conversational coverage - all things that compound across surfaces.

No - they extend it. AI Overviews are on 58%+ of Google queries but the click still goes somewhere; ChatGPT and Perplexity capture research intent but Google still owns transactional intent in many categories. The smart play is GEO + AEO + SEO as one programme so you're visible regardless of which surface a buyer chooses.

SEO: keyword rankings, organic sessions, indexation, Core Web Vitals. AEO: snippet ownership, AI Overview citations, People Also Ask coverage, voice ownership. GEO: citation share per prompt per engine, share-of-voice vs competitors, AI-referral traffic. We ship one unified dashboard so you can audit all three surfaces in one view.

Hire an agency that runs all three. AI search is no longer a separate discipline - the same authority work, content engineering, schema deployment and Digital PR feeds every surface. Hiring three separate agencies fragments your authority signals and burns budget. One programme, three surfaces, one KPI dashboard.

SEO fundamentals first - crawl, indexation, site speed, schema - because both GEO and AEO depend on them. Layer AEO next (answer-first content and FAQ schema) since it produces visible wins fastest. GEO compounds on top over months as entity signals and citations build up.

Often yes, but not always. Pages that rank well in Google usually have the crawlability and authority LLMs also reward. But LLM citations require answer-first structure and clean entity language - a page can rank #1 and still not get quoted.

Google still dwarfs LLM traffic volume for now, but LLM-influenced buyers convert at 2-4x the rate because they arrive pre-qualified. The right question isn't 'which channel' - it's 'am I present in both when buyers switch mid-journey'.

No. One well-structured page (answer-first, entity-clear, schema-marked, cited on trusted sites) serves Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini simultaneously. Duplicating content per engine is a waste.