Short answer
The difference in GEO vs SEO is the goal: SEO gets your pages into the list of results and earns clicks; GEO gets AI engines to mention and cite you inside their answer. GEO depends on SEO, because AI searches an index before it answers. Without SEO there is no GEO.
What is the difference between SEO and GEO?
| Criterion | Traditional SEO | GEO |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Ranking in the list of results and clicks | A mention or citation inside the AI answer |
| Where it happens | Google and Bing | ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and AI Overviews, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot |
| What is optimised | The page and its links | The quotable paragraph, the facts about your business and mentions beyond your site |
| Metric | Ranking, impressions, clicks | How often you are named or linked in a fixed question panel |
| Timeframe | Weeks or months | The same on your site; months for third-party mentions |
| Risk | Algorithm changes | Answers that vary between runs: you have to measure trends |
If you need the definitions first, they are in what is GEO.
Is GEO replacing SEO?
No. Google says in its documentation on AI features that AI Overviews and AI Mode have no extra requirements: the page must be indexed and eligible for a snippet. ChatGPT reads the web with its crawler and third-party search engines. If an engine cannot find your page, it cannot cite it.
- Google
AI Overviews and AI Mode
They rely on Google’s index: no indexing, no citation.
- OpenAI
ChatGPT
It reads the web with OAI-SearchBot and third-party search engines.
- Perplexity
Perplexity
It uses its own index and its crawler, PerplexityBot.
What changes is the focus: less obsession with the exact ranking, more with your content being the best quotable answer, and with being present where AI looks for evidence.
AEO vs SEO and GEO vs AEO: where does AEO fit?
AEO (answer engine optimisation) sits between the two: it shapes your page so that it is the answer that gets extracted, with the definition in the first sentence, question-shaped headings, lists and tables. What wins you a featured snippet on Google usually helps an AI cite you too. GEO goes one step further: it works on authority and presence beyond your site.
You will see other names for the same AI visibility work:
- Acronym
LLMO
Large language model optimisation: optimising for language models.
- Market term
AI SEO
The most common name in English-speaking markets.
- My service
Search & AI Visibility
What I do in Search & AI Visibility.
Where should you invest, depending on your case?
| Criterion | Where to put the effort first |
|---|---|
| Your site is not indexed well or has technical issues | Technical SEO: without it, neither Google nor AI can read you |
| You rank on Google but not in ChatGPT or AI Mode | GEO: AI crawler access, quotable content and third-party mentions |
| You sell to businesses and your buyer compares before deciding | SEO and GEO together, with comparisons, cases and question pages |
| Local business with “near me” searches | Local SEO first; GEO matters less for now |
| You live off traffic to informational articles | Diversify: AI answers reduce clicks on informational searches |
Start by measuring
Before you split the budget, check whether AI can read your site. The AI visibility checker does it for free in 30 seconds.
Frequently asked questions
Will GEO replace SEO?
Not in the short term. AI engines rely on search indexes to find the pages they cite, so SEO is still the base. What changes is what gets rewarded: quotable content and the presence of your brand beyond your site.
Which matters more, SEO or GEO?
It depends on how your customer searches. If your buyer already asks ChatGPT or AI Mode before choosing a supplier, GEO matters more than it did a year ago. If your site has technical issues, SEO comes first, because without it there is no GEO.
What is the difference between AEO and SEO?
SEO gets you found and indexed; AEO makes your page the answer that gets extracted, with the definition first, question headings, lists and tables. AEO is a specialisation of SEO: it works on pages the engine already crawls.
What is the difference between GEO and AEO?
AEO works on the format of the answer on your own page. GEO adds authority and presence beyond your site, so that the model names or cites you when it combines several sources. They are worked together.
This article was created with the help of AI and reviewed by José Galán. I take great care over every post and every translation, but the odd mistake can still slip through. If you find one, write to me: you will be helping me improve.
Free check · 30 seconds
Can AI read your website? Check it now.
The AI visibility checker reviews your robots.txt, llms.txt, sitemap and home page HTML the way an AI crawler would. You get a score out of 100 and what to fix first. It only needs your website and a work email.
Run the free check