SEO gets your pages ranked in search results so people click through. AEO (answer engine optimization) gets AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Google’s AI Overviews to name, describe and cite your business in their answers. They share a foundation of crawlable, indexed, useful pages; AEO adds answer-first content, consistent facts and mentions on the sites AI cites, and it’s measured by how often you’re named rather than by rank.
What AEO and SEO mean
SEO (search engine optimization) is the work of getting your pages to rank in search results so people click through to your site.
AEO (answer engine optimization) is the work of getting AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode to name, describe and cite your business in the answers they give. You’ll also see it called GEO (generative engine optimization) or AI search optimization.
The main differences
| SEO | AEO | |
|---|---|---|
| What the user sees | A ranked list of links | A written answer, often a short list of names with reasons |
| Goal | Rank high and earn the click | Be named, described accurately and cited |
| Main levers | Crawlability, relevant pages, links | The same foundation, plus answer-first pages, consistent facts and mentions on the sites AI cites |
| Measured by | Rankings, clicks, traffic | Mention rate, position in the answer, citations, accuracy |
| Stability | Fairly stable day to day | Varies from run to run, so measured as rates over time |
Where they overlap
Basic hygiene
A lot. Google says its AI features draw on pages in its search index, and pages must be indexed and allowed to show a snippet to be eligible (see Google’s own guidance on AI features). Other AI tools also rely on crawling and search. So the basics serve both: pages that can be crawled and indexed, clear headings, fast and readable pages, accurate structured data, and content that genuinely answers the question.
Work that matters more for AEO
- Correlation evidence Third-party mentions. AI answers lean heavily on review sites, comparison articles, forums and directories. Being present and accurately described there often matters more than another blog post on your own site.
- Tested in research Answer-first writing. Put the direct answer in the first two sentences, then back it up with specifics such as prices, audiences and comparisons.
- Basic hygiene Consistent facts. One clear description of what you do, who it’s for and how you price, repeated everywhere.
- Basic hygiene AI crawler access. Make sure robots.txt and bot-protection settings don’t block the crawlers behind AI search, such as OAI-SearchBot for ChatGPT search.
Why it matters for your business
Customers and business buyers increasingly ask AI tools to build a shortlist: “best [category] for a [size] company”, “[competitor] alternatives”, “which suppliers can [capability]”. If you’re missing from that answer, you can be out of the running before a buyer ever visits a website, even if you rank well in regular search. The same applies in any industry; see two examples, software companies and manufacturers.
How to start
- Fix any crawl or indexing problems on your key pages. They hurt both.
- List the questions buyers ask before they know your name.
- Ask them in ChatGPT, Gemini and Google’s AI, several times each, and note who’s named and which sources are cited.
- Compare that with your search rankings. Where you rank but aren’t named, AEO is the gap.
Our AI visibility audit does this for you and shows what to fix first. Or let our AEO agency handle it for you.
Frequently asked questions
Does AEO replace SEO?
No. AI search features lean on crawlable, indexed pages, so SEO basics are still the foundation. AEO adds work on top: answer-first content, consistent facts and third-party mentions, measured by how often AI names and cites you.
Is GEO the same as AEO?
Mostly, yes. Generative engine optimization (GEO), AI search optimization and LLM optimization are different names for the same goal: getting AI tools to mention, describe and cite you accurately.
Which should a business start with?
If your site has crawl or indexing problems, fix those first: they block both. After that, check what AI tools say about you for real buyer questions. That shows whether AEO work is the bigger gap.
How is AEO measured?
By mention rate (the share of AI answers that name you), average position when named, share of voice against competitors, how often your pages are cited, and whether the facts AI repeats about you are right.
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