What is the difference between AEO, GEO and SEO?
They differ in what they aim at: a ranked link, an answer, or a generated passage.
| SEO | AEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Search engine optimization | Answer engine optimization | Generative engine optimization |
| Aim | Rank pages as links | Be the answer a feature or assistant returns | Be named accurately in generated text |
| Surfaces | Classic results | Featured snippets, voice answers, AI Overviews, chat | ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews |
| Unit | The page | The fact or entity | The entity and its source base |
| Metric | Rankings, clicks, traffic | Mention rate, cited sources | Mention rate, accuracy, share of voice |
| Control | Direct on your pages | Indirect | Indirect and probabilistic |
The terms are not standardized. Different vendors use AEO and GEO for the same work, and some add others such as LLMO or "AI search optimization". The useful distinction is not the label but what you can control: your page (SEO) versus the sources an answer is built from (AEO and GEO).
Why can't AEO and GEO be guaranteed like SEO?
Because the output is composed fresh each time from sources you do not control. An assistant draws on training data, retrieved pages and structured records, and the generation step is sampled, so the same prompt can return different brands on different days. How that mix works is explained in how AI decides which brands to cite.
SEO is not fully deterministic either, but a page you control can be directly improved and tracked against a position. For AEO and GEO the honest goal is a higher chance of being surfaced accurately. Treat any provider that promises a particular answer, or "guaranteed AI placement", as a red flag; see AI visibility agency red flags.
Does SEO still matter in the age of AI answers?
Yes. Google states that AI features in Search rely on its existing indexing and quality systems and that standard SEO best practice remains relevant; see its page on AI features and your website. A page that cannot be crawled, indexed or understood is unlikely to be used as a source anywhere.
What has changed is the scoreboard. When the answer is delivered on the results page or in a chat, clicks understate how often you appear. A brand can be named more often while sessions fall, so traffic alone misleads. SEO is now one layer of the problem rather than the whole of it.
How do you measure AEO and GEO?
Use a fixed panel of prompts and score three things on each run: whether you are named, whether the facts are right, and which sources are cited.
- Mention rate: in how many of N relevant prompts you are named at all.
- Accuracy: share of answers whose key facts (what you do, where, since when, who leads) are correct.
- Citation share: of the sources cited for category questions, how many are yours or describe you.
Build the panel from 15 to 30 prompts in three kinds: definitional ("what is [brand]?"), category ("best [service] providers in [country]") and evaluative ("is [brand] good for [use case]?"). Run it across several assistants, because they behave differently, and repeat monthly. Results are noisy: read a trend across months, as with a polling average. Tools that automate this are compared in AI brand monitoring tools. Be wary of any "real-time AI visibility score" offered without a method, prompt list and run counts.
What should I do first?
Do the shared groundwork before any channel-specific tactic. In order:
- Baseline. Run the prompt panel and record what is said today. If the facts are wrong, start with ChatGPT wrong about your company.
- Consistency. Align name, founding date, location, leadership and description across your site, profiles and directories.
- Structure your own pages. Put a direct answer in the first paragraph, phrase headings as the questions customers ask, add FAQ and Organization schema where it fits. This is the SEO and AEO overlap, and it is the layer you fully control.
- Independent coverage. Earn mentions in reliable outlets that have no stake in you. Check where you stand with the media list and the Notability Index (in our own assessments of 2018 to 2026, 98% of Crypto / Web3 brands rated low notability against 19% in Finance / Fintech / Investment).
- Encyclopedic and entity records. Add a Wikidata record or Wikipedia article only where the criteria are met.
- Community. Take part genuinely and openly in the forums where your category is discussed.
The step-by-step version with costs is in how to improve brand visibility in AI search.
Where does Wikipedia fit in AEO and GEO?
It sits at the base of the source layer, and it is available only to organizations that meet its notability rules. Wikipedia is a documented part of training data for major models (about 3% of the GPT-3 training mix and about 4.5% of LLaMA's, per the GPT-3 and LLaMA papers), and search-based assistants often retrieve it. That makes a neutral, well-sourced article a strong input, but not a lever you can pull on demand.
The conditions are strict. Notability requires significant coverage in independent reliable sources (WP:NCORP for companies), and editing about your own company brings a conflict of interest under WP:COI and a disclosure duty under the Wikimedia Terms of Use. Details on the mechanisms are in Wikipedia AI visibility.
Frequently asked questions
Answer engine optimization: shaping your content and sources so search features and assistants use your brand or facts as the answer. Featured snippets and voice answers were early forms; AI Overviews and chat assistants are the current ones.
Generative engine optimization is working to be represented accurately in text produced by a large language model. In practice it overlaps almost completely with AEO and is often used as a synonym.
No. AI features in search use the same indexing and quality systems as classic search, and a page must be crawlable and clear to be used as a source. SEO becomes one layer of a larger source-building job.
No. Output is generated and varies between runs, models and accounts. You can improve the inputs, but nobody can guarantee the answer.
Run a fixed set of 15 to 30 prompts across ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity every month. Record mention, factual accuracy and cited sources, and compare the trend. A paid AI visibility audit does this with a source trace.
It helps machines read your facts and is good practice, but it does not substitute for independent sources, and it carries no guarantee of citation.
No. It is useful when your company genuinely meets the notability criteria, and many companies do not yet. Independent coverage, Wikidata where eligible and consistent facts come first.
How WikiBusines helps
We work on the source layer behind AEO and GEO, not on rankings or content retainers. Paid editing is always disclosed on Wikipedia in WikiBusines' name, and we never guarantee that an article will be published or what an AI will say.
- AI visibility audit, €490: what the main assistants say about you, which sources they use, which layer to fix first. Not credited toward packages.
- Notability audit, from €490, credited toward page creation from €2,400 (English, 4 to 5 weeks), if ordered within one month; Wikidata from €680.
- Annual support, from €720/year: up to four updates and a 12-month guarantee.
To start, use contact.
Authors and editorial policy
Bohdan DubylovskyiCo-founder and CBO, WikiBusines→
Roman MelnykCo-founder & Chief Editor, WikiBusines→The article was prepared by the WikiBusines co-founders. We sell paid Wikipedia services, so we disclose this interest: paid editing is always declared on Wikipedia in WikiBusines' name, and claims about the rules are backed by links to primary sources.
Editorial policy: payment disclosure, conflicts of interest, sources