AEO, GEO & SEO: What’s the Difference?

While the purpose of each of these optimization techniques is to improve brand visibility in search results, they target different aspects of the search engine results page. So, which should you use?

For a long time, search engine optimization (SEO) was what we primarily focused on. SEO strategies like keywording and backlink building gave us a way to directly influence how well the pages of our websites ranked in search engine results pages (SERPs).

If you’ve spent any time in Google search these last couple of years, then you know how much it’s changed since ChatGPT and other LLMs came onto the scene. As a result, marketers and designers are not only talking about GEO and AEO, they’re prioritizing them.

In this post, we’re going to unpack the differences between these different types of search engine optimization techniques and why and when you should consider using each.

Why Search Engine Optimization Matters

Why is it so important to get your website onto the first page of search results? And, not only that, at the top of the results page?

According to Backlinko research, 91% of Google searches never go past the bottom of the first page. And only 0.44% of people will click to the second page. They’re more likely to start a new search than to keep digging. According to the data, 17% will go back to the search bar.

Something else to consider is that Google users react quickly. 50% of users will click on a page within 9 seconds of seeing search results. So, it’s absolutely critical that your page appears as close to the top of the first SERP as possible.

While you should always aim to be as close to the #1 spot in organic listings, there are other ways to get to the top.

Google has integrated a number of search featurettes at the top of the SERP in recent years. For example, you may see a number of the following in your search results:

• Sponsored posts or products
• Places
• Knowledge Graph
• Google Shopping products
• People Also Ask accordions
• Image and Video search results
• Discussions and forums results

For instance, here’s what the above-the-fold section looks like on the first SERP for “where to buy cocktail dress”:

The first thing users see (not visible in the screenshot) is a horizontal line of filters. You can see them in full along the left side of the screen.

Below and beside the filters is a rotating carousel of matching Sponsored product images.

Beneath these products is an embedded Google map showing Places where the user can buy a cocktail dress. Even though my search does not contain “near me” or any other localized keywords, Google has made this a priority in showing me search results.

We’ve seen these kinds of results in Google for years. What’s new, however, is the AI Overview that’s been added to the very top of some SERPs.

For instance, here’s the top search result for “printer not working but new cartridge”:

The AI Overview automatically shows an abbreviated answer along with links to sources on the right. Below it, there’s a “Show more” button. This allows users to get a more comprehensive answer to their question.

Because of how much information Google now puts into the top of results pages (including the AI Overview), more than half of all searches result in no clicks. So, you’re no longer competing with your competition for top spots in Google. You’re fighting for visibility among all of the content and recommendations that Google includes.

AEO & GEO

Answer engine optimization (AEO) and generative engine optimization (GEO) are the big buzzwords in marketing this year. While the terminology may be relatively new in the SEO space, these trends are likely here to stay. So, let’s have a look at what they entail:

What Is AEO?

Answer engine optimization refers to tactics that help content and links appear in more prevalent parts of the SERP. They can also add more relevant and prominent details to search results in the form of featured snippets.

In order to do AEO, you have to first think like your target users. You have to know what kinds of natural language queries they’re going to make that will lead them to your website. You’ll then use on-page SEO techniques along with structured data to position your website in those spots.

You also need to familiarize yourself with the ways in which Google can include your links in its AEO search results sections. Let’s look at how this content may show up:

I just did a search for “best sushi restaurant orlando fl.” There are a number of AEO blocks that appear on the first SERP.

The Places results are the closest to the top of the page:

The Places box shows a map with pinned results along with three top recommendations. Not only can you see that they have top reviews from thousands of reviewers, but Google also highlights matching keywords within the page descriptions.

Below this is a featured snippet for Reddit:

A featured snippet includes extra info for a search result. Sometimes it may be a matching image or video. In other cases it can provide extra details like pricing or address. In this case, we see other questions that may answer the original query.

Further down the page are “People also ask” and “Discussions and forums” sections:

In the first section, Google provides alternative questions that may help the user refine their original query. If they’ve reached this point on the page and haven’t clicked anything yet, this can help them get back on track instead of having to start all over again.

The second section directs the user to similar questions on social media sites like Facebook and forums like Reddit. If they happen to scroll past the Reddit featured snippet, this will give them another chance to find out what other people have to say.

Lastly, at the very bottom of the page are sections with “Short videos” as well as “People also search for.”

The videos mainly point to Instagram and TikTok where real people and influencers offer their suggestions on the top sushi restaurants in Orlando.

Remember that stat earlier about only 0.44% of people clicking to the second page? That’s likely because of the “People also search for” block. If users make it to this final section on the first SERP and they click on one of these links, the search starts all over again.

Google strategically includes these AEO blocks to keep users from clicking through multiple SERPs. In an ideal world, your website will land in at least one of these answer engine blocks as well as in the top organic links.

What Is GEO?

Generative engine optimization refers to techniques that improve the chances of your page appearing in an AI response. Since we’re mainly talking about Google in this post, we’re going to focus strictly on the AI Overview box that appears at the top of relevant search results.

Here’s an expanded AI Overview for the query “spring break flight deals”:

Unlike the default summary response, the expanded version provides a complete answer to the query. Essentially what it does is take other search results and summarize them into short sections with bolded headlines and bullet points. The sources are available in a list on the right. Or users can refer to the summary right here in search results.

For some brands, this is the holy grail. It makes sense why.

According to data from Search Engine Land, 27.2% of searches done by U.S. consumers in March 2025 resulted in zero clicks. A year prior it was 24.4%.

With AI dominating the SERPs for many queries, some users never see any of the AEO or SEO results below it. They take the answers from the top of the SERP and run with it. So, brands are desperate to get a mention in this top spot.

There are a number of problems with this.

For starters, we know that AI isn’t always reliable, that it “hallucinates.” This means that many users could be walking away from Google with incorrect answers because they never bothered to explore other sources.

That means it’s especially pertinent to try to get your website to be referenced in the AI Overview. This will give you a chance to get the right information (and your brand) into the hands of users who see the rest of the SERP as an inconvenience.

Here’s where the second problem comes in.

To do GEO, you have to create content specifically for AI engines and not humans. So the structure you see in the answer above is realistically close to what you’ll end up with. Or you’ll have to place FAQs into each of your pages (even if they wouldn’t otherwise belong there).

The reason why this is problematic is because this doesn’t appeal to many users. There’s a reason why Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year 2025 was “slop.”

According to Search Engine Land, 10.55% of U.S. users preferred traditional search versus only 0.55% who preferred AI tools. So while AI is gaining some ground, it’s not as popular as all the generative AI tools online would have us believe.

So, you can certainly do GEO in order to increase your chances of appearing in AI Overviews. However, it may come at the expense of creating content that humans find worth exploring.

Is SEO Still Worth It?

If Google’s answer engine and generative AI results dominate the top of SERPs, is SEO even worth it anymore?

SEO is a complex technique for improving how well web pages rank in search results. For the most part, when we do SEO, our aim is to get our pages to appear as one of the top 10 blue organic links that appear on the first SERP.

These days, those search results may appear halfway down the first SERP, as in this search for “best places to vacation tennessee”:

While this may make SEO seem useless compared to AEO and GEO, it will always be a worthwhile investment. AEO and GEO would not exist without SEO. And not everyone is so keen to get their queries answered by Google’s recommendation engines, so they’ll continue to search for organic results.

Let’s take a quick look at the three types of SEO. They’ll help us better understand the value of SEO:

On-page SEO refers to the changes we make to the content on our pages. For example, we can:

• Integrate target keywords within the body text and headings.
• Write keyword-optimized SEO metadata, which includes the page title, description and permalink.
• Add alternative text to images that describes what users “see” while including relevant keywords and phrasing.
• Add captions or transcripts whenever incorporating video into the page.
• Include internal links on each page.

All of these tactics send a stronger signal to search engines to communicate what a page is about. When it comes to images and videos that crawling bots can’t see, we fill in the gaps with alt text and transcripts. When it comes to crawlable text, we reinforce the ideas of the page so that there’s no confusion about what someone will find there.

Technical SEO refers to the work we do to improve the website from the backend. Specifically, we use code and other technical enhancements to do things like:

• Create fully responsive content.
• Add structured data to key pages to enhance search results.
• Optimize HTML, CSS and JavaScript for speed.
• Resize and compress images to keep pages loading quickly.
• Embed videos from YouTube versus self-hosting to improve page performance.
• Create and send XML sitemaps to search engines (like through Google Search Console).
• Use HTTPS for security purposes.
• Make content navigable and accessible.

Google’s Page Experience Update some years ago took direct aim at many aspects of technical SEO. The goal was to get marketers to move away from just focusing on on-page SEO. Content quality and cohesion matters, but not if technical obstacles like security, speed, responsiveness and accessibility get in the way.

Off-page SEO refers to everything we do outside of our website to improve how it ranks. Some tactics include:

• Create business pages and collect reviews on sites like Yelp.
• Claim and manage a Google Business listing to improve visibility in “near me” and local Maps results.
• Add your website to online industry directories.
• Participate and answer questions in popular forums like Quora and Reddit.
• Create content regularly on social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.
• Write content for high-authority websites in exchange for backlinks.

The longer your website has been live, the more authority it will gain over time. But your website doesn’t have to do all the work on its own. You can use these off-page SEO tactics to help improve your brand’s visibility and reputation.

Wrapping Up

Google search is always evolving. The SEO tactics and tools I once used 15 years ago are not the same ones I use today. And, so, GEO and AEO are just another step in the evolution of Google search.

That said, this evolution is not replacing SEO with AEO and GEO. Instead, it’s adding extra layers on top of it. You need to decide what your priorities are and then adapt your strategy with bits of AEO and GEO sprinkled on top of SEO.