Glossary
GEO vs AEO vs SEO: what's the difference?
AI search has brought a wave of new terms. Here's what each one means in plain English, how they fit together, and where to start.
SEO gets your pages ranked in Google's links. AEO makes your content easy for answer engines to quote. GEO gets your brand named in answers written by AI like ChatGPT and Gemini. They build on each other: SEO is the foundation, AEO shapes the content, GEO measures and wins the AI answer.
SEO, AEO and GEO compared
| SEO | AEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goal | Rank your pages | Be quoted as the answer | Be named in AI's answer |
| Where you win | Google and Bing results | Snippets, answer boxes, AI answers | ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews |
| Main levers | Content, links, technical health | Clear questions, direct answers, structured data | Third-party mentions, consistent facts, answering buyer questions |
| How you measure | Rankings, clicks | Snippet wins, quotes | AI share of voice, questions won and lost |
AI search glossary
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| SEO (search engine optimization) | Improving your pages so they rank higher in search engines like Google. Success is measured in rankings, impressions and clicks. |
| AEO (answer engine optimization) | Structuring content so answer engines, featured snippets and AI assistants can quote it directly: clear questions, short direct answers and consistent facts. |
| GEO (generative engine optimization) | Getting your brand into answers written by generative AI such as ChatGPT and Gemini. It covers your own content, the third-party sources AI reads, and measuring how often AI names you. |
| LLM SEO / LLMO | Other names for GEO, focused on large language models (LLMs), the technology behind ChatGPT and Gemini. |
| AI search optimization | An umbrella term for GEO, AEO and AI Overviews work: anything that improves how your brand appears in AI-powered search. |
| AI visibility | How present your brand is in AI answers. Measured with metrics such as AI share of voice or AI shelf share. |
| AI shelf share | AnswerShelf's name for the percentage of AI answers, across real buyer questions, that mention your brand. |
| Prompt | The question or instruction someone types into an AI assistant. In AI visibility tracking, prompts are the buyer questions you monitor. |
| Citation | A source (web page, video or document) that an AI answer links to or draws on. Being cited is different from being recommended. |
| Google AI Overviews | AI-written summaries at the top of some Google results. They draw on web pages, so SEO still matters for them. |
| Answer engine | Any tool that answers a question directly instead of listing links: ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot and AI Overviews. |
Where to start
- Measure first. Find out how often AI names you today with a free AI visibility check.
- Fix the foundations. Make sure your key pages are indexed, fast and clear (SEO).
- Answer buyer questions directly on your site (AEO).
- Earn mentions in the sources AI reads, and track your share of voice (GEO). Our GEO guide covers the steps.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between GEO and SEO?
SEO aims to rank your pages in a list of search results. GEO aims to get your brand named inside an AI-written answer. Good SEO helps GEO, but it isn't enough on its own, because AI draws on many sources and names only a few brands.
Is AEO the same as GEO?
They overlap. AEO focuses on making content easy to quote directly; GEO is broader and includes earning mentions in third-party sources and measuring how often AI recommends you.
Do I still need SEO if I focus on GEO?
Yes. When AI assistants search the web, they rely on pages that search engines can find and trust. SEO is the foundation; GEO builds on it.
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Check my brand free →Last updated: 30 September 2026 · By the AnswerShelf research team