A few years ago, “being found online” meant one thing: showing up on the first page of Google. That still matters. But a growing number of people now skip the results page entirely. They type a question into ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity, read a written answer, and only then decide who to contact.
So a new set of letters has appeared. GEO, AEO, LLMO. If you run a business and you’ve been hearing these terms in meetings or on LinkedIn, here’s what they actually mean, and what you should do about them.
Key points
- SEO gets your pages ranked in search results, so people click through to your site.
- GEO gets your business understood by AI assistants, so they mention you in their answers.
- AEO gets your words used as the direct answer, in answer boxes, voice search and AI summaries.
- Most of the work is shared. A clear, honest, well-built website helps with all three.
What is SEO?
SEO (search engine optimisation) is the work of helping search engines find your pages, understand them and decide they deserve to rank. It has three broad parts:
- Technical: a fast site that search engines can crawl, with clean addresses and no broken pages.
- On the page: content that matches what people search for, with clear titles, headings and descriptions.
- Off the page: other reputable sites mentioning you and linking to you.
When it works, someone searches for what you do and finds you near the top, with a title that makes them want to click. The goal is the visit.
What is GEO?
GEO (generative engine optimisation) is about the tools that write answers instead of listing links. When someone asks an AI assistant “Which agencies can help me rebrand a small restaurant?”, the assistant pulls together what it has learned from the web and writes a reply. Sometimes it names businesses. Sometimes it cites the pages it relied on.
You can’t buy your way into that answer, and there’s no single setting to switch on. What you can do is make it easy for the assistant to be confident about you:
- Say plainly who you are, what you do and who you do it for, on your own site.
- Make sure the same facts appear elsewhere: your Google Business Profile, directories, social profiles and articles that mention you.
- Publish pages that genuinely answer the questions your customers ask, in clear language.
The goal of GEO isn’t the click. It’s the mention.
SEO earns you a place on the results page. GEO earns you a place in the answer.
Where AEO fits in
AEO (answer engine optimisation) sits between the two. It’s about writing so that a search engine or assistant can lift a short, direct answer from your page. Think of the box at the top of Google that answers a question before you scroll, or the sentence a voice assistant reads aloud.
The trick is simple, and it’s also good writing: answer the question first, in a sentence or two, then explain. It’s why this article opens with a short answer. It helps you, the reader, and it hands search tools a clean passage to quote.
SEO, GEO and AEO side by side
| SEO | GEO | AEO | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where you show up | Search results | AI assistant answers | Answer boxes, voice and AI summaries |
| What success looks like | A visit to your site | Your business is named | Your words become the answer |
| What helps most | A fast, well-built site that matches the search | Clear, consistent facts about you across the web | Direct answers, FAQs and clean structure |
Do I need to choose one?
No, and it would be a mistake to treat them as separate projects. AI assistants still lean heavily on pages that search engines can find and trust. A site that’s slow, thin or confusing struggles with all three.
If anything, GEO rewards the basics that SEO has always rewarded, just more strictly. Vague pages full of buzzwords were always weak. Now they’re close to invisible, because an assistant can’t confidently summarise a page that doesn’t say anything.
What to do first
- List the questions your customers ask. Before they buy, what do they want to know? Price ranges, timelines, how you work, what’s included. Write them down.
- Answer each one on your site. Put the direct answer at the top of the page or section, then add the detail.
- Check your facts match everywhere. Your name, services, location and contact details should read the same on your site, your Google Business Profile and any directory you’re listed in.
- Use structure. Clear headings, short paragraphs, lists, tables and FAQs help people skim and help search tools understand the page.
- Fix the foundations. A fast, mobile-friendly site that search engines can crawl is still the starting point for everything else.
None of this is a trick. It’s the work of being clear about what you do, and saying it in the places people (and machines) look.
Questions people also ask
Does GEO replace SEO?
No. AI assistants still depend on pages that search engines can find and trust. Good SEO is part of what makes GEO possible, so the two work together.
Can I check whether AI assistants mention my business?
Partly. Ask a few assistants the questions your customers would ask, in their words, and note who gets named and which pages are cited. Do it every month or two, because the answers change. Some SEO tools now track this too.
How long does it take to see results?
It depends on your site, your market and how much needs fixing. Technical fixes can show up within weeks. Content and reputation build over months, so it’s worth starting with the pages that answer your customers’ most common questions.