Explainer. Reviewed 6 November 2026
GEO vs SEO: what changes, what stays
Someone on your team says search is dead. An agency says you need GEO. Google’s documentation says that optimizing for its AI features is still SEO. All three can be partly right, depending on what you mean. This page separates the terms from the work.
On this page
SEO, AEO and GEO, defined once
- SEO
- Search engine optimization. Work that helps your pages be found and chosen in a search engine’s results: useful content, a crawlable site, clear structure, a reputation other sites vouch for.
- AEO
- Answer engine optimization. Work aimed at being the source, or the named option, in a direct answer rather than a list of links.
- GEO
- Generative engine optimization. The same aim, for answers written by generative AI systems such as assistants and AI search features.
These are marketing labels with no formal standard behind them, and agencies use them loosely. Google addresses them directly: in its guidance it says that optimizing for generative AI search is optimizing for the search experience, and so is still SEO. It also advises checking any third-party AEO or GEO advice against its own guidance.
What stays the same
Google says its AI Overviews and AI Mode draw on its core search systems. A page needs to be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet, and no special files or schema markup are needed.
- Pages that search engines can reach, index and show.
- Original content that goes beyond what everyone else already says.
- A clear structure, and accurate, consistent facts.
- A reputation that exists outside your own site.
- For local businesses and products, complete listings such as Google Business Profile and Merchant Center, which Google points to for those cases.
What changes in practice
The foundation is shared. What differs is what the buyer sees, how you tell whether you won, and where the proof lives.
best boutique hotel near the old town
Ten boutique hotels in the old town
travel-guide.example
Competitor A: rooms and rates
competitor-a.example
Where to stay in the old town: a local view
city-blog.example
Competitor B: official site
competitor-b.example
The buyer sees a page of options and chooses. Your page competes with others for a click.
| Classic search | Answers from an assistant | What it means for you | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What the buyer sees | A page of links to choose from. | One composed answer with a few names and sometimes links. | You may be chosen or skipped before a visit ever happens. |
| Unit of success | Position and click. | Named, described correctly, cited. A click may not follow. | Track mentions and accuracy as well as visits. |
| How stable it is | Rankings move but can be checked. | The same question can return a different list on the next run. | Look at frequency across many runs, not one result. |
| Question shape | Short keywords. | Full sentences, comparisons and multi-part requests. | Write pages that answer the full question, trade-offs included. |
| Where proof lives | Links to your pages. | Your pages plus what review sites and directories say about you. | Earn coverage on the sites others read, without gaming it. |
| How you measure | Search Console, rank tools. | Sampling. For most assistants, no impression data is shared with outsiders. | Treat any single score with suspicion. |
A measurement detail that matters: Google says traffic from AI Overviews and AI Mode is counted in the Web search type of Search Console’s performance report, with no line of its own. Most other assistants offer no report like that.
Google also says these features may issue several related searches to build one answer. In practice that widens the set of pages that can be pulled in, so a page can be useful without ranking first for the buyer’s exact phrase.
Where the labels mislead
Some advice sold under the GEO banner is contradicted by the documentation of the largest provider. Here is the common advice next to what Google says.
| Advice you may hear | What Google’s documentation says |
|---|---|
| Create an llms.txt file | Google Search itself does not use it. It will not help or hurt your Search visibility. |
| Add special schema for AI | No special schema.org markup is needed. Structured data remains useful for ordinary SEO. |
| Break pages into tiny chunks | There is no requirement to split content into small pieces for AI. Length should suit your audience. |
| Rewrite pages in AI-friendly phrasing | Special phrasing and extra long-tail keywords are not needed, since systems understand synonyms and meaning. |
| Publish pages for every question variation | Mass-producing pages to target query variations can violate Google’s scaled content abuse policy. |
| Seed mentions across the web | Seeking inauthentic mentions isn’t as helpful as it might seem, and Google’s other systems block spam. |
| Use a tool that reveals the ranking factors | Google says no third-party tool has access to its internal ranking or AI systems. |
What we would measure that SEO tools do not
SEO tools are built to answer “where do I rank for this keyword?” The planned product is built for a different question: “across many runs of what my buyers ask, how often am I named, accurately, with a source?” See how it would work and the methodology.
A practical split of the work
- Content owner
- Complete product, service and comparison pages, with one page for each question buyers ask.
- Web or SEO lead
- Indexing, crawler rules, site structure, structured data for ordinary reasons, Search Console.
- Catalog or operations
- Specifications, prices, hours, locations, kept identical across every channel.
- Marketing or PR
- Coverage on the review sites and directories your buyers read. See your industry page for examples.
Sources and how we used them
Checked on 6 November 2026. Where a primary document exists, we link it. A figure from a company that sells into this market is labeled vendor data, since whoever sells the measuring has an interest in the result.
Primary documentation
Google: optimizing for generative AI searchSource for the GEO/AEO statement, llms.txt, schema, chunking, scaled content and third-party tools. The page shows no date.
Primary documentation
Google: AI features and your websiteEligibility, query fan-out and where AI traffic appears in Search Console. The page shows no date.
Primary documentation
OpenAI: overview of OpenAI crawlersOAI-SearchBot, GPTBot and ChatGPT-User, and independent robots.txt settings for each.
Secondary reporting
Search Engine Journal on the SparkToro and Gumshoe studySource for the run-to-run variation described on the methodology page. The study was done with an AI tracking vendor and is not peer reviewed.
Keep reading
- AI search visibility
The buyer’s guide, with a hand check you can run today.
- Methodology
What can and cannot be measured.
Questions people ask
Is GEO a replacement for SEO?
No. Google’s documentation treats it as a part of SEO. What is new is the measurement problem: being named in an answer is harder to observe than a ranking.
Is AEO different from GEO?
In practice the terms are used interchangeably, and Google treats both as names for AI search visibility work. Ask any agency using them what, specifically, they will do.
Do I need a GEO agency?
Possibly not. Fix your facts and pages and check your crawler settings first. If you hire anyone, use the questions at the end of the buyer guide.
Want a second opinion on what to fix first?
A call about your market and your buyers’ questions. If it isn’t worth your time yet, we’ll tell you.
Talk to us about your buyers