SEO — search engine optimisation
The oldest and still the largest. The goal is a position in a results page: relevant content, a site that loads quickly and renders on a phone, sensible titles and descriptions, links from places that matter, and no technical obstacles between the crawler and your content.
SEO is not dead, despite the yearly claim that it is. Most commercial queries still end in a click on a link.
AEO — answer engine optimisation
The goal is being quoted in a generated answer rather than listed. The work overlaps with SEO — an assistant cannot cite a page it cannot read — but diverges in emphasis.
Where SEO rewards a page that is comprehensive, AEO rewards a page that is extractable. A clear answer stated in two sentences, backed by structured data, beats two thousand words that bury it.
GEO — generative engine optimisation
Here is where the honesty is required: in most usage, GEO and AEO describe the same work. GEO is the term that spread through academic and enterprise writing; AEO spread through SEO agencies. If someone quotes you separately for both, ask what differs.
One genuine distinction is worth keeping. GEO is also used for the geographic side — local visibility, "near me" searches, map results. That work is real and separate: a claimed business profile, a consistent name, address and phone number everywhere, LocalBusiness structured data, and reviews.
What overlaps, and what does not
- Shared by all three: content in server-sent HTML, fast loading, clear structure, genuine expertise.
- SEO only: link acquisition, competing for high-volume head terms, ranking-position reporting.
- AEO and GEO only: structured data as a first-class deliverable, answer-shaped content, monitoring what assistants say about you.
- Local GEO only: business profile, map presence, NAP consistency, review management.
The practical order
Fix the foundation first, because all three depend on it. If your content is not in the HTML, or your site takes four seconds to load, or you have one URL for five pages of content, nothing else you buy will work.
Then add structured data, which is cheap and serves AEO and local GEO at once. Then publish content that answers real questions. Link acquisition comes last, and it is the part most agencies sell first.
A reasonable question to ask any agency
Ask them to show you their own site. Check whether it has a sitemap, structured data, a page per service, and content in the source. An agency that has not done this for itself is selling you something it has not tested.
Want this checked on your own site?
We will look at it and write back within one business day — speed, search visibility, and what the AI assistants currently say about you.
Start a conversation →