GEO vs SEO: what changes and what doesn't

SEO is the work of getting pages to rank in search results. GEO, short for generative engine optimisation, is the work of getting a business cited and described accurately in answers written by AI systems such as ChatGPT, Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode. GEO is not a replacement for SEO. It rests on the same foundations, adds a few habits on top, and changes how success is measured.

The terms

• SEO, search engine optimisation: improving a site so its pages appear in the unpaid results of search engines.
• GEO, generative engine optimisation: improving the chance that AI-generated answers mention, cite or recommend a business.
• AEO, answer engine optimisation: an older term for much the same idea, first used for featured snippets and voice answers. In practice AEO and GEO now describe the same work.

Other labels are in use as well, including AI SEO and AI search optimisation. They all point at the same goal.

What does not change

AI answers are built largely from web pages that a search system has already found. If a page cannot be crawled and indexed, it cannot be cited.

Google is direct about this. Its documentation on AI features and your website says there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode and no special optimisations necessary. A page needs to be indexed and eligible to appear in Search with a snippet. Google also says site owners do not need to create new machine-readable files, AI text files or special markup for these features.

OpenAI describes a similar dependency. Its ChatGPT search documentation explains that ChatGPT searches the web, rewrites questions into targeted queries, and links to sources. To be eligible, a site must allow OpenAI's search crawler, OAI-SearchBot, to access it. OpenAI adds that placement is not guaranteed.

So the foundations of SEO carry straight over:

• Pages that load, can be crawled and are indexed.
• One clear topic per page, with no pages competing against each other.
• Content written from real knowledge of the subject.
• Consistent business details across the website and other listings.
• Mentions and links from other credible sites.

A site that is weak on these will be weak in AI answers too.

What does change

One question becomes many searches

Google explains that AI Overviews and AI Mode may use a technique it calls query fan-out, issuing several related searches across subtopics to build one response. ChatGPT also breaks a question into more specific queries. A business is therefore more likely to be found if its site covers a topic in depth, including the detailed follow-up questions, and not only the main keyword.

The answer comes before the click

In classic search, the result is a list of links and the user chooses one. In an AI answer, the system writes a summary and cites a few sources. Passages that state an answer plainly, near the top of a page, are easier to quote. Long introductions and vague marketing copy are not.

Being described accurately matters

An AI answer may describe a business without the user ever visiting its site. Clear facts on the site help: what the business does, where, for whom, and who is behind it. So does consistency across other sources the systems read, such as profiles, directories and reviews.

Measurement is harder

SEO has rankings, clicks and impressions. AI answers vary with the wording of the question, the user and the day, and many are read without a click. Visibility can be sampled by testing a set of prompts over time, but it cannot be tracked with the precision of a ranking report. The dependable measure is still enquiries, calls and bookings.

More than one system to consider

SEO has mostly meant Google. AI answers come from several systems that use different search sources and crawlers. Access needs checking for each: a firewall or robots.txt rule that blocks a crawler removes the site from that system's answers.

What to be sceptical about

GEO is new and attracts confident claims. A few points are worth holding on to.

• No one can guarantee a mention in an AI answer. The companies that run these systems say so themselves.
• There is no special file or tag that gets a site into Google's AI features. Google's documentation says this plainly.
• Publishing large volumes of machine-written pages is not a strategy. Google's guidance on generative AI content warns that producing many pages without adding value may breach its spam policy on scaled content abuse.
• A GEO service that ignores technical SEO and content quality is working on the wrong layer.

Where to put effort

Focus on SEO fundamentals when

• The site has crawling, indexing, speed or structure problems.
• Pages overlap or compete for the same search.
• Important services or locations have thin pages or none.
• The business has few mentions or links elsewhere on the web.

Add GEO work when

• The fundamentals are sound and the site already ranks for its main searches.
• Customers in your field ask long, specific questions before they choose.
• You want pages to open with a short, direct answer and include genuine questions and answers.
• You want to check and correct how AI systems currently describe your business.

How Stryx approaches it

Stryx treats GEO as part of SEO, not a separate product. The order is fundamentals first: pages built correctly, one topic per page, no bought links and no mass-generated copy. Once that is in place, summaries are added at the top of pages along with questions and answers, and visibility in AI answers is reviewed. Stryx makes no promise of inclusion in any AI answer.

Related reading

• AI search optimisation
• AI visibility audit
• What generative engine optimisation is
• Does llms.txt matter
• Answer engine optimisation in the glossary

For a view on how your business appears in AI answers today, contact Stryx.