Will there ever be an end to new acronyms in digital marketing? It seems unlikely!
Just when we’d got used to AI (artificial intelligence) and LLMs (large language models), and the impact they’re having on SEO (search engine optimisation), some new ones came along.
Now, it’s not just about SEO, but GEO and AEO too. If you’ve arrived at this blog, you’ve probably encountered these terms already but might be finding that it’s difficult to get a clear answer on what they are, and what you need to do about them.
Ask an SEO expert about AI search
As SEO and PPC Manager at Splitpixel, I’ve been working in the SEO industry for nearly a decade. Keeping on top of the latest buzzwords and trends is all part of the job – and AI is one of the biggest minefields I’ve ever encountered.
We can’t just wave away AI as irrelevant, but we also have to be careful not to fire off in the wrong direction – there’s so much misinformation and bad advice out there.
So, what do they actually mean? How are they impacting your brand? And how can you make sure you’re not missing out? Let’s take a look.
By the end, you’ll be able to answer the question How is optimising for SEO different from GEO/AEO? as well as how to start going about it.
SEO vs GEO, SEO vs AEO, what’s the difference?
Before diving into the differences, let’s first cover the basics of what some of these key terms mean.
I wouldn’t usually do this, because we at Splitpixel much prefer writing our own content to using AI, but I thought it’d be fun to ask some AI LLMs for some definitions to see how they do:
GEO definition, according to Google AI
“Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the practice of structuring online content to be recognized, cited, and recommended by AI-powered search tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google’s AI Overviews. Unlike SEO, which aims for clicks on links, GEO focuses on being featured in direct, conversational answers, establishing brand authority in AI summaries.”
AEO definition, according to Claude
“Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the practice of optimizing your content so that AI-powered tools give your content as a direct answer to user questions, rather than just listing your site in search results.”
American spellings notwithstanding, those are pretty good answers.
So, what’s the difference compared to traditional SEO?
SEO is optimising your website for search engines – usually Google and Bing these days. No one uses Ask Jeeves anymore.
When a user types a query into the search engine, the objective is to get your website to rank organically at the top of the search engine results page (SERP), giving you a much better chance of that user clicking through to your site, often with the end goal of converting them into a customer or enquirer.
GEO and AEO, on the other hand, are focused specifically on improving performance in the results provided by LLMs, getting visibility and being cited across AI powered search engines such as ChatGPT, AI overviews, and Claude.
A more conversational approach to search
GEO and AEO are much more conversational.
For SEO, users typically type in shorter, keyword-based queries, such as ‘SEO Agency Near Me’, but this has and is changing over time.
AI powered search is much more conversational and centres around long form queries, where users will expect to get a direct answer to a question without having to visit a website.
Common search terms will often be informational in intent, i.e. question based searches, such as the who, what, why, where and when – funnily enough, returning to the kind of question based searches you used to do on Ask Jeeves before Google ate up their entire market share.
An example AI search prompt might be “Who would you recommend as an SEO agency near Huddersfield, who has experience within the care sector?”
Users are much more specific in their query, and can follow up answers with further prompts, to get even more refined answers and results.
The rise of zero click searches
Over the past 12 to 18 months, organic clicks have been significantly impacted. A major factor behind this is the rise of AI-generated answers.
If you search a question on Google today, there’s a strong chance you’ll be shown an AI-generated summary at the top of the results (as per my example earlier, asking Google “What is GEO”).
In many cases, this answers the query immediately, meaning users don’t need to click through to a website at all.
As a result, “zero click searches” are increasing rapidly.
So, what does this mean for SEO? Should we all now be focusing entirely on GEO and AEO?
SEO remains the foundation
When you want to improve a website’s SEO performance, you often cover not just content-driven SEO, but also technical SEO and offsite SEO.
My stance on the AI-driven elements of SEO is similar: GEO and AEO are not a replacement for SEO – they’re a part of it.
I like to use a handy tree analogy – think of SEO as the roots of a tree. It’s the foundation that supports everything else to enable it to grow. GEO and AEO are branches that grow from that tree.
Gardening is far from my wheelhouse, but for trees and plants to grow, you feed the roots, not the branches. The same should apply when reviewing your SEO strategy.
As they say in the horticultural industry (probably), no root = no fruit! Neglecting your SEO foundations in search of quick AI wins will more likely impact your ability to actually appear in AI-driven results.
So, how do you gain more search visibility in AI models?
This is the big question, isn’t it!
My simple answer? Keep focusing on SEO and do it well.
There’s currently a lot of noise in the industry. I feel “shiny object syndrome” is kicking in, with many claiming to be GEO experts who can guarantee visibility in LLMs.
Some of this advice relies on technical jargon to create the impression of a “secret winning AI formula”. My advice is to be cautious of this narrative – there is no quick fix that exists independently of already existing good SEO advice.
A good example was the recent push around adding LLM.txt files to your website, which was marketed as essential for AI crawling, but has since been shown to offer little to no real value. There’s no harm in adding one, but to say it’s the key to good performance is irresponsible.
We’re all wanting to find the secret ingredients to GEO success, but don’t be mis-sold. GEO is still in its early stages. Any bold claims about guaranteed optimisation should be treated with caution.
What might influence GEO?
I’m not suggesting that the factors influencing SEO have EXACTLY the same impact on GEO and AEO.
There is, however, clear overlap between the two.
I wouldn’t disagree that certain elements carry more weight when it comes to being cited by AI/LLMs, compared to ranking highly on traditional search engines.
A good way to think about this is the difference between Bing and Google. Both are search engines, but they rely on distinct algorithms with different priorities. If you rank in the top position on Google, that doesn’t mean you will also appear in the top position on Bing.
The same can be said for LLMs. But there is a huge overlap.
Early claims suggest the following factors can help improve visibility in AI-generated answers, although the words ‘early’ and ‘claims’ are crucial here:
• Building off-site authority by publishing and engaging on third party websites and relevant industry forums, that AI crawlers use for its citations. This can include strengthening digital PR, brand mentions and online reviews/reputation – put simply, not just relying on content from your own website.
• Creating non-commodity, unique content that targets conversational queries. This could include focusing on more longer-tailed, natural questions users are asking. It’s also about making sure your content is new, and not just automated or easily replicated.
• Using structured data (schema markup) to help AI systems better understand your content.
• Prioritising key information within content and making it easy to crawl. For example, placing clear answers or definitions at the beginning of your content.
But isn’t this just SEO?
This brings us back to the key question at the beginning: how is optimising for SEO different from GEO/AEO? Because when you look at the factors above, they all sound very familiar.
Brand mentions and positive reviews? Helps SEO.
Structured data? Helps SEO.
Clear, fresh and unique content that addresses user queries? Helps SEO.
Offsite Authority and PR? Also good for SEO.
You could argue that some of these elements may carry more weight in GEO, but they are not new concepts. They are not specifically GEO things; they are the things you should get right fundamentally for both SEO and GEO.
The core of what each of these two acronyms do are different – one is focused around search engine visibility, the other around AI/LLM visibility. But rather than thinking of GEO as something entirely separate, I see it as an extension to SEO.
Don’t sacrifice SEO for GEO
One thing is clear: you should not jeopardise your SEO efforts in pursuit of GEO.
If someone claims to be a GEO expert, a simple question to ask is, “What would you do for GEO that wouldn’t also benefit SEO?”, and vice versa.
Right now, there’s a strong correlation between high Google rankings and visibility in AI-generated answers. If you are ranking well for SEO, there’s a very strong chance you will be doing well for visibility across LLMs.
How AI visibility works – client case study
As a real-life example, we work with a care home provider with different homes located across the South East of England. We’ve been working on their SEO for a number of years now.
Have we worked on their GEO? Not directly – in that we haven’t created a specific GEO or AEO strategy. But, all the same, here are the results across different LLM platforms despite this:
They appear top for their Beechwood Grove Care Home, across both Claude and ChatGPT, for the prompt ‘best care homes in Eastbourne’. That’s pretty good!
We can’t take all the credit – Oakland Care also has strong recognition offsite, receives very positive reviews, and features across industry specific comparison sites, all of which will play a key part.
But we’re also confident that, because they have solid SEO foundations in place, they’ve been able to succeed. A combination of solid SEO and branding, gives you a huge advantage over your competition.
Hungry for more examples?
Oh, go on then, let’s have another real-life example. This time, we’ll look at Splitpixel – that’s us!
Again, we’ve not specifically worked on implementing GEO or AEO tricks, shortcuts or quick fixes. We simply have strong SEO foundations in place.
Based on the results, it would suggest the weighting for this query favours our reviews.
But much like our care home client, we perform quite strongly on AI results, despite not focussing on a specific GEO/AEO strategy.
How important is LLM visibility?
Despite the hype, LLM-driven traffic is still relatively small compared to Google. Recent studies suggest:
- LLM traffic accounts for less than 1% of total website sessions, compared to Organic search that drives around 32% of traffic.
- Another study found that ChatGPT handles around 66 million search-like prompts per day, compared to 14 billion daily searches on Google.
But it is growing, that can’t be denied.
I used the example of Bing versus Google earlier – how many websites do you know that prioritise SEO for Bing, rather than Google? Doing a good job for Google tends to help Bing too, but there are quirks between the two that mean they don’t rank everything the same way.
If you wanted to optimise perfectly for Bing, you might harm your Google rankings. I view it as the same for LLMs. Would you jeopardise your SEO for LLMs?
AI is growing – but traditional search still dominates!
In conclusion…
There’s no doubt that AI is changing how users find information. But when it comes to meaningful, bottom of funnel traffic, search engines still play a central role.
Yes, clicks may be declining in some areas. But SEO, and now GEO, should never just be about clicks or visibility.
It should be about attracting qualified, relevant traffic to your website.
If you’re seeing a drop in organic performance, dig deeper:
– Where is the drop happening?
– Which queries are affected?
– Is informational content being replaced by AI answers?
SEO has become more challenging in recent years. AI Overviews are taking clicks, and ads are dominating more space on the SERP. You can rank number one organically, and a user will still need to scroll half way down the results page to find you.
But the fundamentals haven’t changed. I encourage everyone to be wary of any claims that a single prompt into Claude or ChatGPT, or any other quick fix will solve your SEO/GEO woes. I am a bit concerned that we might see some cases of seriously mis-sold GEO services.
Build strong SEO foundations. Continue focusing on quality content. Make sure your website is technically sound. And ultimately, keep getting your brand out there in a positive light. Because in the end, GEO doesn’t replace SEO – it absolutely depends on it!
Can we help?
If you’d like to speak to us about how we can grow meaningful traffic to your website, whether that’s through SEO, Google Ads, or other channels, we’d love to chat. Get in touch – we’re always happy to get on a call to learn about what you’re struggling with and offer some advice.
