AEO vs SEO vs GEO: What Each One Optimizes and Where to Start

Quick quiz

Is SEO right for you, and how should you start?

Question 1 of 425%

Do people search Google for what you sell?

Yes, I think soNo, it is new or very nicheI don't know

The AEO vs SEO question comes up because search results now answer before anyone clicks. Google has shown direct answers in featured snippets for years, and since 2024 it adds AI Overviews; assistants like ChatGPT go one step further and write the whole answer. Each acronym describes one of these surfaces. This guide sets out what each discipline optimizes, how they overlap and how to run them as one plan.

What is the difference between AEO and SEO?

SEO aims to rank a page high in Google or Bing so the user clicks through. AEO aims to have a passage of your page selected as the answer itself, the box at the top of the results, the sentence read aloud by a voice assistant or the summary in an AI Overview. SEO is judged on positions and clicks; AEO is judged on how many answer slots you hold.

The two rarely conflict, because Google picks answers from pages that already rank well: a passage is only chosen when its page is indexed and relevant. The difference lies in the format. An SEO page can rank with a long introduction; an AEO page puts the answer first, in 40 to 60 words, right under a heading phrased as the question. Our glossary entry on answer engine optimization gives the full definition.

What is the difference between AEO and GEO?

AEO and GEO overlap so much that many people use the words interchangeably. The useful distinction is the type of answer. AEO targets extractive answers: the engine lifts one passage from one page and shows it, often with a link. GEO targets generative answers: a language model reads several sources, then writes its own text and names a few brands. The term GEO comes from the research paper GEO: Generative Engine Optimization (KDD 2024), which showed that adding citations, quotations and statistics to a page raises its visibility in generative answers by up to 40%.

In practice, the consequence is this: AEO is mostly on-page work (how you write and structure each answer), while GEO adds off-page work (what other sites say about you), because a model cross-checks reviews, comparisons and forums before recommending a brand. We cover the second part in our guide GEO vs SEO.

Do you need SEO before AEO and GEO?

Yes. Google says in its guide to AI features and your website that there are no extra requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode beyond being indexed and eligible for a snippet. Featured snippets come from top-ranking pages, and most assistants that browse the web start from a search index. A page that is not crawled, not indexed or not trusted has little chance in any of the three.

The shared base is the same list as in SEO basics: crawlable pages (including for AI crawlers), fast loading, clear headings, internal links and useful content. Everything that follows builds on it.

How do you optimize for AEO?

AEO is a writing discipline. On each page that targets a question:

1. Phrase the heading as the question people ask ("How long does SEO take?"), using the wording you see in People Also Ask and in the related searches.
2. Answer in the first 40 to 60 words under that heading, in a complete sentence that makes sense out of context.
3. Use the right format: a paragraph for a definition, a numbered list for steps, a table for a comparison.
4. Add an FAQ for secondary questions, with FAQ schema consistent with the visible text (the free FAQ schema generator writes the code).
5. Keep answers current: dates, prices and figures that age lose the slot.

Before publishing, the free AEO audit checks whether a page has question headings, short answers and the structure answer engines reuse. For voice in particular, see our review of voice SEO software.

How do you optimize for GEO?

GEO keeps the AEO formats and adds three layers:

• Citable facts: sourced figures, dated studies, clear definitions and comparison tables, the elements the GEO paper found most effective.
• Presence on third-party sources: reviews, comparison articles, directories, Reddit, press. Seeding your expertise where models read is called LLM seeding.
• Tracking by question: a fixed list of prompts checked in each assistant to see whether you are named and who is named instead.

Each assistant also has its preferences: our Perplexity citation study shows which sites Perplexity quotes most, and the guide on how to rank in Perplexity turns it into actions.

Which should you prioritize: SEO, AEO or GEO?

Work in layers, in this order:

A small business with a young site should spend most of its effort on steps 1 and 2 and simply track a few prompts. A brand whose buyers compare options in ChatGPT (software, B2B services, high-ticket products) should start step 3 early, because the shortlist is now often built before the first click.

How Sorank covers SEO, AEO and GEO

Sorank is SEO and GEO software that runs on autopilot. It finds your keywords and questions automatically, then writes and publishes answer-first articles with question headings, tables, sources and FAQ, which serve SEO, AEO and GEO at once. The GEO optimization features and AI mention tracking follow 25 to 150 prompts in ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini (plus Perplexity and Grok from the Pro plan), and Sorank obtains natural backlinks automatically from its network of 5,000+ users. You can also check how Google's AI answers treat your brand with the AI Overview tracker.

The bottom line: SEO gets you found, AEO gets your answer shown, GEO gets your brand named, and the same answer-first content serves all three. See the Sorank plans, with a 3-day free trial.