SEO vs. AEO vs. GEO: What's the Difference?

The acronyms are multiplying. Here's a clear, no-hype breakdown of SEO, AEO and GEO — and how they fit together.

SEO — Search Engine Optimization

The original discipline: optimizing content and technical signals to rank in traditional search results. Still essential — those same pages are often what AI engines cite.

AEO — Answer Engine Optimization

Optimizing to be named and cited inside AI-generated answers — ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Gemini and similar. The unit of success shifts from "ranking a page" to "being the answer."

GEO — Generative Engine Optimization

Often used interchangeably with AEO, GEO emphasizes optimizing specifically for generative models and how they synthesize sources into a response. In practice, AEO and GEO describe the same goal from slightly different angles.

How they overlap

| | SEO | AEO / GEO | |---|---|---| | Target | Ranking algorithms | Language models | | Goal | Rank a page | Be cited in the answer | | Success metric | Position, clicks | Mentions, citations, share of voice | | Content style | Keyword-aligned pages | Clear, factual, citable answers |

Where to focus

Don't abandon SEO — strong pages feed AEO. But start measuring your AI visibility now, because it's the metric most brands are flying blind on. You can't optimize what you can't see.

That's the problem Nova Visibility Suite solves: continuous measurement of your brand across every major AI engine, so your AEO and GEO work has a number to move.