What are GEO and AEO?

GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) and AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) are the names given to the practices that make content citable by AI-generated answers: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google's AI Overviews. The question they answer is new: no longer "how do I rank first among ten blue links?" but "how do I become the source the AI cites when it answers instead of the links?". Both acronyms emerged almost in parallel in 2024, pushed by people who noticed a growing share of searches ending without a single click to a site: the user read the generated answer and moved on. In practice GEO and AEO are not two separate disciplines but two names for the same problem seen from different angles, that of generative engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity) and that of direct-answer engines (Google's AI Overviews, voice snippets): both reward content that is structured, self-contained and verifiable more than they reward ranking position alone.

What changes compared to SEO

Less than the sellers of the new acronym claim. The foundations remain technical SEO: crawlable sites, clear content, structured data, authority. Google itself put in writing that optimizing for AI Overviews is still SEO. Practical differences do exist though: AI answers reward self-contained passages (crisp definitions quotable as they are), question-and-answer formats, entity clarity (who you are, what you cover) and content accessibility for AI crawlers. Above all, what you measure changes: citations and mentions inside answers, not just clicks.

Why it matters for your business

A growing share of searches ends in an AI answer without ever reaching traditional results: if you are not citable you disappear from those answers, even with good classic rankings. The serious move is not buying the tool of the day but writing content that genuinely answers, with structure and sources. On the blog I dismantled the fake dichotomy: SEO vs GEO vs AEO, why that's the wrong question.