AEO (answer engine optimisation) is structuring content so search features and assistants can extract a direct answer from it. GEO (generative engine optimisation) is improving how often generative AI models mention and cite a business when they compose an answer. Both build on SEO: a site that cannot be crawled and understood will not be quoted.
Why this matters now
A search results page gives a buyer ten links to compare. An AI answer gives them a short list, often three to five names, sometimes one. If the question is "which companies can supply contract React developers in India?", the businesses in that answer get the enquiry. The rest are invisible to that buyer.
That changes what visibility means. Ranking on page one still matters, because many AI systems draw on search results. But being clearly described, consistently cited and easy to quote now matters as much.
SEO: the foundation
Search engine optimisation makes pages rank in search engines. The fundamentals still apply:
- Pages that can be crawled and indexed, with clean URLs, canonicals and sitemaps.
- Fast, accessible pages that work well on mobile.
- Content that matches what people search for.
- Links and mentions from other trustworthy sites.
Without this, AEO and GEO have nothing to work with.
AEO: be the answer that gets lifted
Answer engine optimisation focuses on the direct answer. Search engines show featured snippets and AI overviews; voice assistants read one answer aloud; chat assistants summarise. All of them prefer content that answers a question clearly and early.
In practice:
- Lead with the answer. One or two sentences that fully answer the question, then the detail.
- Use the question as the heading when the page is answering a specific question.
- Use structure: short paragraphs, lists, tables and definitions.
- Mark it up with structured data such as FAQPage, Article, Organization and BreadcrumbList, matching the visible text exactly.
Every page on this site opens with a "quick answer" block for exactly this reason.
GEO: be the business the model names
Generative engine optimisation is about how large language models represent your business. Models build their picture from what they were trained on and, increasingly, from live searches. You influence both by making the facts about you clear and consistent everywhere.
- Entity clarity. State plainly who you are, what you do, where, for whom and since when. Use the same name, description and contact details everywhere.
- Disambiguation. If other businesses have similar names, say clearly that you are not them.
- Specifics. Models quote concrete facts: named clients, numbers, dates, prices or ranges with sources. Vague marketing copy gives them nothing to say.
- Third-party corroboration. Profiles on directories, review sites and industry publications confirm what your own site says.
- Crawler access. Allow AI crawlers such as GPTBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot in robots.txt if you want to be cited, and consider an llms.txt summary.
SEO, AEO and GEO compared
| SEO | AEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goal | Rank pages in results | Be the extracted answer | Be named and cited by AI models |
| Where it shows | Search results pages | Snippets, overviews, voice | ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity |
| Key levers | Technical health, content, links | Answer-first structure, schema | Entity facts, specifics, corroboration |
| Measured by | Rankings, clicks | Snippet and overview presence | Mentions and citations in AI answers |
A practical checklist
- Fix crawling and indexing issues in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
- Add Organization structured data with your name, alternate names, logo, contact details and social profiles.
- Write a short, factual "who we are" paragraph and use it consistently across your site and profiles.
- Open key pages with a direct answer to the question they target.
- Add FAQ sections that answer real buyer questions, with matching FAQPage markup.
- Replace vague claims with specifics: clients, numbers, dates, ranges and sources.
- Allow AI crawlers in robots.txt and publish an llms.txt summary.
- List your business on relevant directories and keep the details identical.
- Every month, ask the main AI assistants about your category and note whether, and how, you appear.
What nobody can promise
No one controls what a search engine ranks or what an AI model says. Be wary of anyone guaranteeing a top ranking or a ChatGPT mention. What good work does is remove the obstacles and build the signals these systems rely on, so that over time you become the obvious, well-documented answer in your category.
If you want help, see our SEO, AEO and GEO service.
Frequently asked questions
What does AEO stand for?
AEO stands for answer engine optimisation: structuring content so that search features, voice assistants and AI assistants can extract a direct answer from it.
What does GEO stand for?
GEO stands for generative engine optimisation: improving how often and how accurately generative AI models such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity mention and cite a business or source in their answers.
Is GEO replacing SEO?
No. GEO builds on SEO. Many AI systems use search results as a source, and a site that cannot be crawled, understood and trusted is unlikely to be cited. Think of SEO, AEO and GEO as layers of the same work.
Should I allow AI crawlers on my website?
If you want AI assistants to describe and cite your business, generally yes. Blocking crawlers such as GPTBot, ClaudeBot or PerplexityBot reduces the chance your own content shapes what they say about you. Some publishers block them for licensing reasons; for most service businesses, visibility matters more.
Jatin Kumar is the founder of TechNimbus and an engineer who has built production systems for Sony LIV, Jio, ACI Worldwide and Swiggy. About TechNimbus.