SEO optimises for ranking in a search engine's list of links. AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) optimises for being the extracted answer in featured snippets, voice assistants, and AI Overviews. GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) optimises for being cited or recommended inside a fully generated, conversational answer from an assistant like ChatGPT or Perplexity. In practice, the three overlap heavily and most serious teams run them as one programme.
The three surfaces, defined
Each term targets a different way a person can encounter an answer online, and the underlying mechanics differ enough to matter operationally.
| Term | Target surface | Example |
|---|---|---|
| SEO | Ranked list of links on a search results page | Ranking on page one for "aesthetic clinic Central" |
| AEO | A single extracted answer — snippet, voice reply, AI Overview | Being the featured snippet for "how much does pico laser cost" |
| GEO | A synthesised, conversational answer from an AI assistant | Being named when ChatGPT is asked "best clinic in Central for pico laser" |
Why the lines blur in practice
AEO predates GEO and is popular among SEO agencies rebranding existing snippet-optimisation work. GEO is the broader, more recent term — it originates from a 2023 Princeton/Georgia Tech/Allen Institute paper and has become the dominant umbrella label industry-wide.1 Google's own AI Overviews sit somewhere between AEO and GEO: they extract from ranked pages, similar to a snippet, but present a generated, multi-source synthesis, similar to a chat answer.
The practical consequence: the signals that earn a mention inside a generative answer — accurate structured data, third-party authority, clear entity information — are largely the same signals that earn a featured snippet or a strong search ranking. Sites that treat the three as entirely separate disciplines tend to under-invest in the foundational work common to all three.
Where they genuinely diverge
- Measurement. SEO has decades of tooling for tracking ranking position. GEO measurement is younger and noisier — it typically means running a fixed set of prompts across multiple assistants and logging whether and how a brand is mentioned, since there is no public "rank" to check.
- Competitive field. SEO competes against millions of indexed pages. A generative answer typically names one or two sources — the competitive field is much smaller, but so is the number of "slots."
- Volatility. Model providers update retrieval and generation behaviour without notice or changelog, more frequently and less transparently than search engines publish ranking algorithm updates.
Which term should a business use?
For most professional practices, the label matters less than the outcome: does a prospective client, asking a real question to ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity, hear your name — accurately described? We use "AI search visibility" or "GEO" interchangeably in conversation and reserve "AEO" for the narrower snippet-specific work, but a provider fixating on terminology over evidence is a weaker signal than one who can show you, live, what the assistants currently say about your business.