I keep seeing these emails flooding my inbox — companies touting their "GEO Playbook" or "Winning AEO Strategy," claiming you need to pick a side. And clients are asking: "What's the difference? Are you doing GEO? AEO? Or are you still doing SEO? Which one should we be doing?"
Here's the truth: all of them.
While the acronyms have different meanings and serve different goals, they overlap significantly. When it comes down to it, these aren't separate strategies you choose between — they're all part of a holistic approach to search visibility.
Let's break down what these acronyms mean, how they differ, where they overlap and how they work together to help you show up for the right audience.
What Do These Acronyms Mean?
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the practice of improving a website’s content, structure and visibility to rank higher in organic (non-paid) search engine results on platforms like Google and Bing.
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) targets answers. It's the practice of optimizing content to appear as the answer within AI-driven search engines.
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) focuses on optimizing your content so that AI systems can find it, trust it and use it as a source when generating responses.
AEO vs GEO In Action
Since AEO and GEO are the newest acronyms and tend to cause the most confusion, let's look at a real-world example. Below, you'll see how AI references the manufacturing company Odawara Automation in two distinct ways.
In this first example, Odawara's website provides the answer to the question. That’s AEO – be the answer. Note that the brand logo and website are on the right.
In this next example, Odawara’s website is a source and is linked within the AI answer. That’s GEO - be the source.
It’s Not One or the Other – It’s All
You need all three working together.
Here's why: optimizing your website structure, content and technical performance for traditional SEO simultaneously strengthens your AI visibility. When you rank at the top of search results, you're more likely to be cited in AI-generated responses. When you structure content to answer questions clearly for AEO, you're also improving your traditional SEO. When you build authority and earn quality backlinks for GEO, you're boosting your search rankings too.
You're not choosing between strategies — you're layering complementary tactics that amplify each other's impact. It all weaves together.
Our Evolution to an SEO AI Visibility Program
Our SEO service has evolved into an SEO AI Visibility Program – a comprehensive approach that helps brands appear wherever their audience is searching, whether that's traditional search engines, AI Overviews, ChatGPT or emerging platforms.
Essentially, we implement the relevant tactics and prioritize them for each client based on what will drive the best results. It’s not about the latest trend or which acronym matters most — we focus on what moves the needle.
At its core, visibility optimization has always been about understanding how people seek and consume information. The technology changes, but the fundamental goal remains the same.
I love this perspective tweeted by SEO Consultant Greg Boser:
"At the end of the day, the core foundation of what we do always has been and always will be about understanding how humans use technology to gain knowledge.
We don't need to come up with a bunch of new acronyms to continue to do what we do. All that needs to happen is we all agree to change the 'E' in SEO from 'Engine' to 'Experience'.
Then everyone can stop wasting time writing all the ridiculous SEO/GEO/AEO posts, and get back to work."
Why Should You Care Now?
Competitive advantage is up for grabs. Many businesses are optimizing exclusively for traditional SEO or pivoting entirely to GEO or AEO. Becoming an early adopter of a holistic SEO + AI visibility approach gives you a significant edge in today's search landscape.
Start implementing best practices:
- Produce authoritative, high-quality content
- Structure content for easy scanning with clear hierarchy
- Answer questions directly and concisely
- Make content machine-readable with consistent formatting and helpful schema markup
- Build topic authority through multiple high-quality pieces
- Capture positive reviews and testimonials
And start tracking results. While traditional SEO focuses on keyword rankings and clicks, AI visibility tracking relies on monitoring referral traffic and manual prompt testing. Benchmark scores can also be helpful as AI optimization tools continue to develop and evolve.
They’re Not Competing, They’re Complementary
Therefore, stop worrying about whether you should do SEO, AEO or GEO. The answer is: yes, all of the above. They're not competing strategies — they're complementary tactics within the same overall mission to help your ideal audience find you.
The fundamentals haven't changed. We're still optimizing for humans using technology to find information. We're just adapting our approach as that technology evolves.
So let's skip the acronym wars and focus on what actually matters: creating valuable, authoritative, well-structured content that serves your audience — whether they find it through traditional search or ask an AI assistant for help.
