GEO and AEO are different names for the same practice
AI search optimisation is the umbrella term that covers all approaches to visibility
Traditional SEO still matters, but you need to adapt for AI
The terminology confusion comes from marketing
Focus on structured, authoritative content with clear answers
If you’ve searched for information about optimising for ChatGPT or Google’s AI features, you’ve probably encountered a confusing mix of acronyms.
- GEO
- AEO
- LLMO
- AI search optimisation
Different articles use different terms, and it’s genuinely hard to know whether these represent completely different strategies or just marketing spin for the same approach.
The problem is that when small business owners can’t tell whether they need one strategy or three, many do nothing at all.
The good news is that the truth is far simpler than the terminology suggests. This article explains what these terms actually mean, whether they’re really different, and what action you should take.
Table of Contents
What Does AI Search Optimisation Actually Mean?
AI search optimisation is exactly what it sounds like: making your content visible when people use AI-powered search tools.
This includes Google’s AI Overviews (sometimes still called SGE or Search Generative Experience), ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Microsoft Copilot.
GSO [GEO/AEO] is really more about ensuring the AI crawlers have enough information to be able to answer a potentially more complex question written by the user.
Digiday, “WTF are GEO and AEO? (and how they differ from SEO)”
https://digiday.com/media/wtf-are-geo-and-aeo-and-how-they-differ-from-seo/
These AI platforms work differently from traditional search engines.
Instead of showing you a list of websites to click through, they generate complete answers by pulling information from across the web and synthesising it into a direct response. If your content isn’t structured and authoritative enough, AI tools will skip past you and recommend your competitors instead.
Research from Studio 36 Digital found that roughly 42% of UK searches now include AI-generated summaries, particularly for informational queries. That figure keeps growing as more people turn to AI assistants for recommendations and answers.
For businesses that rely on being found online, this shift changes everything about how you think about visibility.
The goal of AI search optimisation isn’t to rank first on a results page. It’s to become the source that AI platforms trust enough to cite and reference when generating answers for users.
What is Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)?
The term GEO emerged from academic research published by researchers at Princeton University, Georgia Tech, the Allen Institute for AI, and IIT Delhi in November 2023.
They coined the term while studying how content creators could improve their visibility in AI-generated responses.
Their research was significant because it provided hard evidence.
Specific optimisation methods could boost visibility in generative engine responses by up to 40%. Adding statistics, including expert quotations, and citing authoritative sources all made measurable differences to how often content appeared in AI answers.
How GEO Works in Practice
Normal search engines rank pages and show them in order.
You use SEO to optimise and climb that ranking. Generative engines work differently.
They synthesise information from multiple sources and present a combined answer, often citing where specific information came from.
This changes what optimisation looks like.
With GEO, you’re not competing for position 1 on a results page. You’re competing to become the source that AI platforms consider authoritative enough to quote directly in their responses. Your content needs to be easily extractable, clearly structured, and backed by credible evidence.
The shift also affects how you measure success.
Instead of tracking rankings and click-through rates, you’re looking at citation rates and brand mentions in AI-generated content. Different metrics for a different kind of visibility.
What About Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO)?
AEO predates GEO by several years. The term emerged when Google started showing featured snippets at the top of search results and voice assistants like Alexa and Siri became mainstream.
The idea was straightforward: optimise your content so search engines could extract clear answers and display them directly to users.
Featured snippets, knowledge panels, People Also Ask boxes, and voice search results all fall under AEO. When someone asks their phone “What time does Tesco close?” and gets a spoken answer without clicking anything, that’s an answer engine at work.
The same principles now apply to Google’s AI Overviews. These AI-generated summaries appear at the top of many search results, providing instant answers without requiring a click.
Research from Semrush shows that AI Overviews appeared in 13.14% of all US desktop searches in March 2025, up from 6.49% in January, representing a 102% surge in just two months.
AEO optimisation focuses on structuring your content so it can be easily extracted and quoted. This means using clear question-and-answer formats, implementing FAQ schema markup, and positioning key information within the first 100-200 words of your content.
Are GEO and AEO the Same Thing?
Functionally, yes.
GEO and AEO are solving the same problem using largely the same methods. Both focus on making your content visible in AI-generated responses rather than traditional search rankings.
Good SEO is good GEO, or AEO, AIO, LLM SEO, or LMNOPEO. What you’ve been doing for search engines generally, and you may have thought of as SEO, is still perfectly fine and is still the things you should be doing. Good SEO is really having good content for people.
Danny Sullivan’s keynote at WordCamp US, 28 August 2025
https://searchengineland.com/google-danny-sullivan-good-seo-good-geo-461464
The main difference is historical rather than practical.
AEO emerged during the featured snippet and voice search era, focusing on Google’s answer-first features.
GEO emerged later with the rise of ChatGPT and other large language models, focusing on getting cited in conversational AI responses.
But the optimisation techniques?
They overlap so significantly that maintaining separate strategies makes little sense for most businesses.
Some industry professionals argue they’re distinct approaches requiring different tactics.
In practice, if you’re structuring content to win featured snippets, you’re also structuring it well for ChatGPT citations. The underlying principles are the same. As Digiday noted in their analysis, “GEO/AEO is really more about ensuring the AI crawlers have enough information to be able to answer a potentially more complex question written by the user.”
Why the Terminology Gets Confusing
Marketing loves new acronyms and when AI search became a hot topic, different agencies and platforms adopted different terms to sound cutting-edge.
Some preferred GEO because it sounded fresh and technical. Others stuck with AEO because it was more established. A few introduced entirely new terms like LLMO (Large Language Model Optimisation) or CAIO (Conversational AI Optimisation) to differentiate their services.
GEO also has a practical naming problem.
Search for “GEO” online and you’ll get results about geography, geology, and geo-targeting. As one industry commentator pointed out, you simply can’t own that acronym.
AEO is clearer and more distinctive, which is why some professionals prefer it.
The terminology debate will likely continue for years. What matters for your business is understanding that these terms describe overlapping practices, not fundamentally different strategies requiring separate budgets and approaches.
How Does This Differ from Traditional SEO?
Standard SEO aims to get your website ranked highly so people click through to your pages.
Success is measured by rankings, organic traffic, and click-through rates. You optimise for keywords, build backlinks, and improve technical performance to climb the results page.
AI search optimisation has a different goal.
You’re trying to get your content quoted directly in AI-generated answers. The user might never visit your website, but they’ll see your brand recommended or your information cited as the authoritative source.
This creates what some call the “zero-click paradox”.
Your visibility increases but your website traffic might not.
Research from Ahrefs analysing 300,000 keywords found that the presence of an AI Overview correlates with a 34.5% reduction in click-through rate for position one results. Yet businesses optimising for AI search report that visitors who do click through convert at significantly higher rates. Ahrefs data shows AI search visitors convert at dramatically higher rates than traditional organic traffic.
The encouraging news is that SEO and AI search optimisation work together rather than against each other.
Good traditional SEO practices still help with AI visibility. Quality content, technical performance, and authority signals matter for both approaches. You’re building on your existing foundation, not starting from scratch.
New metrics matter as well so you’ll want to track brand mentions in AI responses, citation rates, and referral traffic from AI platforms alongside your traditional SEO metrics. Tools like Semrush and Ahrefs now offer features specifically for tracking AI visibility.
What Should UK Small Businesses Actually Do?
Whether you call it GEO, AEO, or AI search optimisation, the underlying principles are identical.
Focus on creating genuinely helpful content that’s well-structured and demonstrates your expertise.
The businesses winning in AI search aren’t necessarily doing anything revolutionary.
They’re executing the basics exceptionally well: clear content structure, authoritative information backed by evidence, and consistent presence across trusted platforms. That’s achievable for any small business willing to put in the work.
How Can You Optimise for AI Search?
Start with your content structure. Use clear headings, preferably phrased as questions that match how people actually search. Break content into distinct sections that each answer a specific question. AI systems extract information in chunks, so make your content easy to parse and quote.
Include statistics and cite your sources. Research shows that adding quantitative data can boost AI visibility by over 40%. Don’t just make claims; back them up with numbers from credible sources.
Build authority signals beyond your website. AI platforms look at what third parties say about you, not just what you say about yourself. Get mentioned in industry publications. Respond to journalist requests through services like HARO or ResponseSource. Participate meaningfully in relevant communities and forums where your expertise adds genuine value.
Keep your Google Business Profile complete and accurate. For local businesses, this remains one of the most important factors for AI visibility. Make sure your name, address, phone number, and opening hours are correct everywhere they appear online. Inconsistencies confuse both traditional search engines and AI platforms.
Create dedicated FAQ sections with clear, direct answers. FAQ content performs exceptionally well in AI search because it provides structured, easily extractable information in exactly the format AI systems prefer. Use FAQ schema markup to help search engines understand your content structure.
Getting Started Without Getting Overwhelmed
The terminology might be confusing, but the path forward is straightforward.
GEO, AEO, and AI search optimisation all describe the same fundamental shift: AI tools now influence how millions of people find information, and your content needs to work for these platforms as well as traditional search engines.
You don’t need separate strategies for each one.
You don’t need to hire different specialists for GEO and AEO.
Focus on being helpful, structured, and authoritative. Make your content easy for AI systems to understand and cite.
Keep building your traditional SEO foundation while adapting to how AI platforms source and present information.
Frequently Asked Questions
SEO focuses on ranking your website in traditional search results so people click through to your pages. GEO focuses on getting your content cited and referenced in AI-generated answers from platforms like ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews. With SEO, you measure success through rankings and traffic. With GEO, you track brand mentions and citation rates in AI responses. Both approaches work together rather than replacing each other.
No. GEO complements traditional SEO rather than replacing it. Good SEO practices still help with AI visibility because both approaches value quality content and authority signals. Most AI platforms draw information from indexed web content, so your SEO foundation matters. The most effective strategy combines both, optimising for traditional search while adapting your content structure for AI platforms.
Both AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) and GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) focus on making your content visible in AI-generated responses. AEO emerged earlier with featured snippets and voice search. GEO appeared later with ChatGPT and large language models. The optimisation methods overlap significantly, so you don’t need separate strategies for each term.
AI search optimisation is the practice of making your content visible when people use AI-powered search tools. This includes Google’s AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude. The goal is getting your business cited or recommended when AI platforms generate answers to user questions. It’s the umbrella term covering GEO, AEO, and related approaches.
Structure your content with clear headings, preferably phrased as questions. Include statistics and cite credible sources. Create dedicated FAQ sections with direct answers. Build authority through third-party mentions and citations. Keep your Google Business Profile accurate and complete.
LLMO stands for Large Language Model Optimisation. It’s another term describing the same practice as GEO, focused on optimising content for AI platforms like ChatGPT and Claude. Different marketers and agencies use different acronyms to describe their services. LLMO, GEO, AEO, and AI search optimisation all describe overlapping approaches with the same fundamental goal: visibility in AI-generated responses.
Not worry. If customers find your business through online searches, AI visibility matters increasingly. Over 40% of UK search interactions are now influenced by AI. Focus on creating well-structured, authoritative content rather than chasing every new acronym. Good content practices serve both traditional SEO and AI search simultaneously.
FAQ sections, how-to guides, comparison articles, and data-driven research perform well in AI search. Content structured with clear question-and-answer pairs is easily extractable and quotable. Statistics and expert quotations boost citation rates significantly. Short, focused sections that each answer a specific question work better than long, unstructured blocks of text.
Read more: How to Optimise Your Website for AI Search Engines
No. You don’t need separate content strategies for each approach. The same well-structured, authoritative content works for both traditional search and AI platforms. Focus on clear organisation, credible sources, and genuine expertise. Add FAQ schema markup and ensure your content answers specific questions directly.
Results vary depending on your starting point and competition level. Some businesses see AI citations within weeks of restructuring their content. Building authority signals through third-party mentions takes longer. Unlike traditional SEO rankings, AI visibility can be less predictable because AI platforms update their methods frequently. Consistent quality content published over time delivers the most reliable results.