SEO vs AEO vs GEO: what each term means and how to measure it

SEO vs AEO vs GEO is mostly a question of where your content ends up. SEO aims for a ranked link in search results, AEO aims to be the direct answer to a question, and GEO aims to be named or cited inside an answer that an AI system writes. Much of the work is shared, and Google says its AI results are rooted in the same ranking systems as its ordinary results. The measurement is different for each, and that is where the terms are most useful.

SEO vs AEO vs GEO at a glance

What is SEO?

Search engine optimization is the work of getting pages crawled, indexed and ranked for the searches your readers make. It covers technical access, content that answers the search and the signals that show a page deserves its position.

The result is a link in a list, and success is most often measured in clicks. Search Console reports clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position for each query and page.

What is AEO?

Answer engine optimization aims at the answer itself rather than the list below it. On Google, its best-known target is the featured snippet, which Google's documentation describes as a result where the format is reversed, showing the descriptive snippet first.

The usual work is structure: a question as a heading, a short direct answer under it, then the detail. For each question you target, the result is simple to check. Your page holds the answer box, or another page does.

What is GEO?

Generative engine optimization takes its name from a 2023 research paper, GEO: Generative Engine Optimization, by Pranjal Aggarwal and colleagues. The paper describes generative engines as systems that gather information from several sources and summarize it into one answer, and it proposes ways to measure and improve how visible a source is inside that answer.

In practice, GEO asks three questions about an AI answer. Does it mention your brand? Where does it place you, and how does it describe you? Does it cite your page?

These can come apart. An answer can recommend you without linking to your site, or cite your page while recommending a competitor.

GEO vs AEO: where they differ

The two terms are often used interchangeably, and both are about answers rather than links. The difference shows up in what you compete for and how you measure it.

• One slot or a written answer. AEO competes for one answer box that quotes one page. GEO competes for a place in an answer that blends several sources and can name several brands.
• A yes or a rate. For AEO, you hold the answer box for a question or you don't. For GEO, the useful number is a rate: how often answers mention or cite you across engines and repeated checks.
• One reading or a trend. Generated answers can change between runs, engines and countries, so one check of an AI answer is a sample. Treat it as one reading, not your standing.

Where SEO, AEO and GEO overlap

For Google, the overlap is close to total. Google's guide to optimizing for generative AI features, last updated on July 10, 2026, says AI Overviews and AI Mode are rooted in its core Search ranking and quality systems. They retrieve pages from the Search index. To appear, a page must be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet, and the site must be included in Search generative AI features in Search Console.

The same guide addresses AEO and GEO by name. It says many suggested "hacks" for them don't match how Google Search works, and that for Google Search you can ignore tactics like "chunking" content, creating AI text files such as llms.txt, or pursuing inauthentic mentions. For Google, good SEO is the AEO and GEO work.

Other engines are separate systems with their own crawlers. ChatGPT search uses OpenAI's OAI-SearchBot, and Perplexity uses PerplexityBot to surface and link sites in its results.

Both companies say these settings are independent of their other crawlers. OpenAI says sites that block OAI-SearchBot are not shown in ChatGPT search answers, and Perplexity recommends allowing PerplexityBot for a site to appear in its results. A strong Google ranking does not change either rule.

What about AIO?

AIO has no settled meaning. hibu's comparison of SEO, GEO, AEO and AIO uses it for artificial intelligence optimization, a wider label that looks at everything AI tools use to judge a business, including its website, reviews and listings. When someone sells AIO, ask which of the measures below they will report.

How to measure SEO, AEO and GEO

Each term needs its own measure. Mixing them into one score hides which part changed.

1. SEO. Use the Search Console Performance report for clicks, impressions and average position by query and page.
2. AEO. List the questions you want to answer and record who holds the answer box for each one. Use a rank tracker that records results features, or check by hand for a short list.
3. GEO on Google. Use the Generative AI performance report in Search Console. Google rolled it out to all sites on August 31, 2026, and it reports impressions of your links in AI Overviews and AI Mode by page, country, device and date.
4. GEO on Bing and Copilot. Bing Webmaster Tools added an AI Performance report in public preview in February 2026. It counts how often your pages are cited in Microsoft Copilot, Bing's AI-generated summaries and some partner integrations.
5. GEO on ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and others. Where an engine offers no report for site owners, check the answers themselves. Fix a set of questions your buyers ask and send the same ones to the engines your audience uses. For each answer, record whether it mentions you, where it places you, how it describes you and which pages it cites.

For the fifth check, keep the questions, engines and country the same from one round to the next, and report each engine separately. A handful of questions is a sample of how engines answer, not a market share. You can run these checks by hand or through an API such as heeb, which sends one question to several model families and returns each answer's mentions, positions, sentiment and citations. The AI search visibility guide explains how to define those measures before you start.

Next step

Write down five questions your buyers ask before they know your brand. For each one, note your Google position, who holds the answer box and whether AI answers mention or cite you. Then open the Generative AI performance report in Search Console to see which of your pages already appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode.