What is AI SEO? A starter guide to GEO and AEO
GetSeoHit team · Updated:
SHORT ANSWERAI SEO is the work of making your content easier for answer engines like ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity to find and cite. GEO and AEO are different names for the same effort. No method guarantees a mention.
The difference between GEO and AEO
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) means preparing content for systems that answer directly. GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) focuses on appearing in generative AI answers. In practice they largely overlap.
Start with access
If a crawler can’t reach your site, nothing else matters. Check these:
- Does robots.txt block search crawlers?
- Is important content in raw HTML, or only delivered by JavaScript?
- Do pages respond quickly and without errors?
Citable content
Answer the question directly in the first paragraph. Use clear headings, dates, authors and sources. Write numbers with context. This is good for readers too, and doesn’t by itself earn a mention.
What can and can’t be measured
Crawler access and AI referrals can be measured. Tests with chosen questions are sampled observations, not impression counts. Not appearing in a test doesn’t mean you’re never shown.