AI search fix
GEO vs AEO vs SEO: how the terms differ
SEO (search engine optimization) focuses on ranking and indexing in traditional search, especially Google Search. AEO (answer engine optimization) emphasizes appearing in direct answers—featured snippets, AI Overviews, and assistant responses—through clear, citable pages. GEO (generative engine optimization) prepares your site for AI crawlers and retrieval: robots.txt for GPTBot-class bots, accurate schema.org JSON-LD, optional llms.txt, and answer-first copy. The three overlap on crawlability and trustworthy HTML, but none guarantees citations or a fixed position in ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google.
Teams should not chase three separate playbooks. Fix shared fundamentals first—public 200 URLs, unblocked crawlers, Organization and FAQ schema where truthful—then add GEO-specific bot rules and optional llms.txt if you care about non-Google assistants.
| Term | Primary focus |
|---|---|
| SEO | Rankings, keywords, backlinks, Google Search indexing and technical SEO. |
| AEO | Answer surfaces: snippets, AI Overviews, assistant citations when retrieval picks you. |
| GEO | AI crawler access, WAF/robots policy, schema, optional llms.txt, machine-friendly facts. |
| Shared base | Fast, crawlable HTML, honest claims, no bot blocks on pages you need discovered. |
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Frequently asked questions
Is GEO just rebranded SEO?
No. GEO adds AI user-agent policy, parser-oriented structure, and optional llms.txt on top of SEO fundamentals. Strong SEO helps but does not replace AI-specific crawl checks.
Is AEO the same as GEO?
Related but not identical. AEO stresses answer formatting and citation potential; GEO stresses whether AI systems can fetch and interpret your site at all.
Which should a small business prioritize?
Baseline SEO and crawl health first, then GEO checks for AI bots if you rely on ChatGPT-class discovery. Track each channel separately without guaranteed outcome claims.
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