SEO vs AEO vs GEO: What's the Difference for a Small Business?
SEO, AEO and GEO are three names for making sure customers can find your business. SEO is about being found in Google's search results. AEO is about being named in the answers AI tools give. GEO is a research term for being visible in answers that generative AI writes. For a small business they share one foundation: a website that says clearly what you do, for whom and where.
Here's how they differ, so you can judge what anyone offering them is actually selling.
What is SEO?
SEO, search engine optimization, is the work of helping people find your website when they search on Google and other search engines. For a small business, that usually means service pages written in the words your customers use, accurate business details, a complete Google Maps listing and a site that works well on a phone.
What is AEO?
AEO, answer engine optimization, is the work of making accurate information about your business easy for AI tools to find and use, so that when someone asks a relevant question, there's a useful page about you to draw on. What is AEO? explains it in full.
What is GEO?
GEO, generative engine optimization, comes from a research paper, GEO: Generative Engine Optimization, presented at the KDD conference in 2024. The authors studied how the way content is written affects whether it shows up in AI-generated answers, and in their tests their methods lifted visibility by up to 40%.
That's one study's result, not a promise about any particular AI tool. In everyday use, AEO and GEO mean much the same thing.
How are SEO, AEO and GEO different?
| SEO | AEO and GEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the customer is | Searching on Google | Asking an AI tool a question |
| What they see | A page of results, sometimes with an AI overview | A written answer, sometimes with links to sources |
| What you can check | Whether you appear for the searches customers make | Whether an answer mentions or links to you |
| What nobody can promise | A particular position on Google | A mention in any given answer |
In practice the overlap is bigger than the difference. For its own AI features, Google recommends the same foundations as for Search overall and says no special AI files or markup are needed (Google's guidance). Other AI services run their own systems, but a clear, accurate website is what they all have to work with.
What do all three need from your website?
The same things your customers need:
- Service pages that say plainly what you do, for whom and in which areas.
- Current business details that match your Google Maps listing and directories.
- Answers to the questions customers actually ask, including the conditions and limits.
- A site that can be reached and read, by visitors and by the services that index it.
That's why the work starts with the website. Website design explains what we build, and SEO services explains the monthly work of keeping it findable on Google and in AI answers.
Do you need separate SEO, AEO and GEO services?
Usually not. Because the foundations overlap, most useful work serves all three at once. If a proposal sells them as three separate packages, ask what each does that the others don't, and what you'd see change.
How can you check where you stand?
Two free checks, done the same way each time:
- Search Google for your main service and area. Note where you appear and who's above you.
- Ask ChatGPT the same thing the way a customer would. Note whether you're mentioned or linked, and whether the description is right.
Save the question, the date and the answer. One missing mention is a clue, not a verdict; why ChatGPT doesn't mention your business explains how to dig into it.
Frequently asked questions
Is AEO replacing SEO?
Nobody knows exactly how search will change, but for now Google's guidance for its AI features is that the usual SEO fundamentals still apply, so the same work serves both.
Is GEO the same as AEO?
In everyday use, very nearly. GEO comes from a research paper on visibility in AI-generated answers; AEO is the more common term with business owners. Both are about making accurate information about your business easy for AI tools to find and use.
Can anyone guarantee my business will appear in AI answers?
No. Nobody controls which sources an AI tool uses for a given answer. What can be promised is the work: clear pages, accurate details and a site that can be read.
Where should a small business start?
With the website. If your pages don't say clearly what you do and where, neither Google nor an AI tool has much to work with. The free website check-up is a practical first step.
See where you stand
Our free check-up looks at how your website appears to Google and to AI tools, in plain language. Run the free check-up, or talk to me about what the results mean for your business.