Quick answer
SEO vs AEO vs GEO: SEO helps your pages rank in regular search results; AEO shapes your content so search features can lift a direct answer from it, such as a featured snippet or a Google AI Overview; GEO makes your business more likely to be named or cited when an AI assistant such as ChatGPT writes an answer. Nobody can guarantee any of them; do them in that order. Part 2 covers Google AI Overviews and Part 3 covers ChatGPT recommendations.
TorontoCustomers in North York, Scarborough, Etobicoke, East York, Downtown and the Beaches can find your business in a map pack, an AI Overview or a chat reply. BuildSites makes websites and runs the free SEO audit for businesses across Toronto. We work with you by video and on site where it helps.
What do SEO, AEO and GEO mean?
They are three names for being found when a customer searches, each aimed at a different result: a page ranked in regular results, a direct answer lifted from your page, or your business named by an AI assistant.
SEO (search engine optimization) is helping search engines find, understand and rank your pages in their regular results.
AEO (answer engine optimization) is shaping your content so search features and AI assistants can lift a direct answer from it, such as a featured snippet or an AI Overview.
GEO (generative engine optimization) is making your business likely to be named or cited when an AI assistant such as ChatGPT writes an answer.
Why the acronyms confuse people
The same letters mean other things too: AEO is also the name of a customs program for importers, and GEO is easy to read as "geographic". AIO (AI optimization) and LLMO (large language model optimization) name overlapping work.
Where the names came from
GEO comes from a research paper by Pranjal Aggarwal and co-authors (arXiv), first posted in November 2023 and presented at KDD 2024, a data-science research conference.
AEO is older: the term was in use by February 2018, when Search Engine Watch reported on it.
How do SEO, AEO and GEO compare?
They share one foundation, pages that Google and other crawlers can read, but they show up in different places and are measured with different reports. The table compares them on five points.
| Question | SEO | AEO | GEO |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it optimizes for | Pages that rank for the words customers type | Passages a search feature can quote | Your business, named or cited by an assistant |
| Where results appear | Regular results and the map pack in Google and Bing | Featured snippets, AI Overviews and AI Mode in Google; Copilot answers in Bing | Replies in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and Microsoft Copilot |
| What it rewards | Indexable pages that match the search; locally, relevance, distance, prominence | An indexed page with a passage that answers the question | Crawlable pages, consistent business facts, key facts stated plainly on the page |
| How to measure | Search Console's Performance report: clicks, impressions, position | Search Console's Generative AI performance report (impressions) | The AI Assistant channel in Google Analytics 4 (GA4), Bing's AI Performance report, a monthly prompt check |
| How much a small business should invest | First, and the bulk of your time | Second: rewrite key page openings as direct answers | Third, and ongoing: directory listings, review sites and local mentions |
Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and prominence (Tips to improve your local ranking on Google). A page must be indexed and eligible for a snippet to appear as a link in AI Overviews or AI Mode (AI features and your website).
OpenAI says a site must let OpenAI's search crawler, OAI-SearchBot, read it to be eligible for ChatGPT search, and the Bing Webmaster Guidelines ask for key facts stated plainly on the page itself.
Where these results appear in Canada
Google's AI answers reach Canadian searchers. Google began rolling out AI Overviews in Canada on October 28, 2024, and AI Mode followed on August 21, 2025, in English (Introducing AI Mode in Canada).
When AI Overviews launched here, Google said French was not yet supported (AI Overviews in Search are coming to Canada); its AI Overviews help page now lists French.
What happens when a Toronto customer asks one question?
Classic results show a map pack and a list of pages, an AI Overview writes a summary with links, and a chat assistant replies with a few named businesses and its sources.
Hypothetical example Take a hypothetical Toronto flooring store whose site follows our flooring company websites structure: one page per product and per area, and a quote form. A customer asks:
Who installs hardwood floors in Toronto?
In the classic results (SEO and local SEO)
The store can appear twice: in the map pack through its Google Business Profile, and in the list of pages through its hardwood installation page. Its map listing can show reviews, hours and a phone number.
Google Business Profile vs website explains why it needs both. Google says complete profiles and more reviews can help local ranking.
In an AI Overview (AEO)
Google writes a short summary and links to pages that support it. The store's hardwood page can be one of those links only if Google has indexed it and can show a snippet from it.
A page that opens with a direct answer, such as "We install solid and engineered hardwood across Toronto", gives Google a passage it can use. Google says its AI features can run several related searches at once, which it calls query fan-out, and pull pages from the Search index (Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search).
In a chat assistant (GEO)
The customer gets a conversational reply that may name two or three stores and show the sources it used.
Directory listings, reviews and local roundups that name the store give an assistant more pages to find it on; no vendor documents this as a factor. OpenAI says ChatGPT ranks search results on several factors aimed at relevant, reliable information and that placement is not guaranteed. The Bing Webmaster Guidelines ask for consistent business names.
The diagram below follows this question; the explorer at the top of this page shows four more, as illustrations.
- Classic result. Pages ranked for the words typed, with the map pack on top for a local search.
- AI-generated answer. Google calls an AI Overview "an AI-generated snapshot with key information and links to dig deeper", and warns it can be wrong.
- Chat assistant. A reply that can name businesses and list its sources.
What does Google say about AEO and GEO?
Google says optimizing for its AI features is still SEO. Its guide for site owners names AEO and GEO, then lists no special steps beyond the usual Search requirements and advice.
The one addition is a setting: your site must stay included in Search Console's Search generative AI control, which is the default. The guide says that from Google Search's perspective, optimizing for generative AI search is "still SEO" (Google Search Central). The AI features page adds that there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, and no guarantee of being shown.
Nobody can guarantee a place in an AI Overview, a chat answer, a featured snippet or the top of the rankings. That includes us, so skip packages that promise AI placement.
What Google says you can ignore
Google's guide lists tactics you can ignore for Google Search: llms.txt and other special files, chunking content into tiny pieces, rewriting pages only for AI systems, chasing inauthentic (fake or paid) mentions and over-focusing on structured data.
It also warns that no third-party tool has access to Google's ranking or AI systems.
What Microsoft says about AEO and GEO
Microsoft's Bing Webmaster Guidelines treat GEO as work on whether content can be used as a source (Microsoft calls this grounding) and cited in AI answers, and say plainly that "GEO does not guarantee grounding or citations in AI experiences".
They also say SEO fundamentals still apply to AI experiences.
What should a small business do first, second and third?
First, the SEO foundations: an indexable site, a complete Google Business Profile, a page per service and area, consistent contact details and reviews. Second, answer blocks for customer questions. Third, mentions on other sites. Each step builds on the last.
Our own audit data shows gaps at step one. In October 2026 we ran Google PageSpeed Insights and the crawler behind our free SEO audit on 79 flooring company websites found while researching outreach prospects: 33 in the Toronto area, 31 in British Columbia, 13 in Florida and 2 we could not place.
Of the 78 PageSpeed could test, half scored 57 or less out of 100 on mobile. At least 21 of the 79 had no structured data on any page we sampled, and at least 56 had a missing, too short or too long page title or description. Speed scores are from one lab run per site; the sample is prospects, not a random slice.
First, be eligible: the SEO foundations
Start with what every later step depends on: pages Google can crawl and index, and the same business details everywhere. Google's AI features use the same Search index as the regular results.
Google's guide says a Business Profile can help your services show in AI responses. Our local SEO basics checklist has the details; the short version:
- Indexable pages. Googlebot is not blocked, and no important page carries a noindex tag by mistake.
- A complete profile. The right category, hours, service area, photos and description.
- A page per service and per area. Hardwood installation, refinishing, and each city you drive to.
- Matching contact details. The same name, address and phone number everywhere.
- Titles, markup and speed. A title and description per page, LocalBusiness structured data, and fast loading on a phone.
- Reviews asked for fairly. Ask every customer after the job, and never pay for a review.
Second, be quotable: the AEO answer blocks
Next, rewrite the opening of each key page so it answers one customer question in a short paragraph under a heading that asks it.
It comes second because it is a small edit to pages already indexed. Part 2 of this series walks through the pattern, with a tool that builds the block.
Google has not documented a required length or format for a quotable passage; short answers under question headings are a practitioners' convention, and this page follows it.
Third, be recommended: the GEO mentions
Last, work on what other sites say about you: directories, review platforms and local roundup lists for your trade. It comes last because it depends on other people, and an assistant still needs a site it can read.
Assistants with web search read pages beyond your own site and can cite them. The Bing Webmaster Guidelines say links from relevant websites support how Bing evaluates authority and whether a page is eligible for grounding. No assistant vendor documents mentions as a ranking factor, so this step is a working assumption SEO practitioners share. Earn mentions; never buy them.
How do you measure SEO, AEO and GEO?
Use Search Console for rankings, clicks and AI Overview impressions, GA4's AI Assistant channel for visits from assistants, and a monthly manual prompt check for mentions. Each one sees only part of the picture.
Search Console: rankings, clicks and AI impressions
Search Console counts clicks from AI Overviews and AI Mode inside its normal Performance report, under the Web search type, with no label of their own.
Every link in one AI Overview shares a single position (Google's help page). Since August 31, 2026, Search Console has offered every site a Generative AI performance report (hidden until a site has enough AI impressions): impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode, not clicks. Part 2 covers both reports.
GA4 and Bing: visits and citations from AI assistants
GA4 files visits from recognized AI assistants into an AI Assistant channel. Google's examples are ChatGPT, Gemini, Deepseek, Copilot and Grok; visits from AI Overviews and AI Mode count as Organic Search.
Google does not publish the full list (Default channel group; What's new in Google Analytics); Part 3 has a ready-made filter (a regex) that adds others, such as Perplexity. Bing Webmaster Tools has an AI Performance report, in public preview since February 2026, that counts citations in Copilot.
Manual prompt checks in four assistants
Once a month, ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot the questions your customers ask, and note whether your business is named and which sites are cited.
Part 3 of this series has a prompt pack for your trade and city. Our recommendation: use Search Console, GA4 and this monthly check for a few months before paying for any AI visibility tracker.
What the numbers can and cannot tell you
They show direction, not a full count. The AI report counts impressions without clicks, GA4 only labels visits that arrive with a referrer it recognizes, and a manual check samples a handful of questions.
If you do not show up when you search your own service and city, fix that first: the 60-second test in why your website isn't getting calls shows whether customers cannot find you or find you and pick someone else.
The scorecard below turns these checks into twelve questions (Not sure counts as No) with three sub-scores, a band and what to fix first; the free SEO audit reads its technical checks from your site.
Glossary: the terms you will meet
These short definitions cover the terms that come up in advice about AI search, in the sense this series uses them.
- SEO
- Search engine optimization: helping search engines find, understand and rank your pages in their regular results.
- AEO
- Answer engine optimization: shaping content so search features and AI assistants can lift a direct answer from it.
- GEO
- Generative engine optimization: making your business likely to be named or cited in AI-written answers. Not geographic.
- AI Overview
- A summary Google writes for some searches and shows in the results, with links to its sources.
- AI Mode
- A Google Search tab where AI answers longer questions, with links.
- Featured snippet
- A Google result that shows a short passage from a page above its link.
- Grounding
- Building an AI answer from pages a search returns, not from training data alone.
- Query fan-out
- Running several related searches at once to build one AI answer.
- Crawler
- A program that fetches pages for a search engine or AI company, such as Googlebot or GPTBot.
- llms.txt
- A proposed file listing a site's key pages for AI tools; Google Search ignores it.
Score your site with the visibility scorecard above, or book a call and we will tell you which step your site is on.
Sources and the dates we checked them
Every product claim on this page, tools included, comes from one of these pages, listed with its own date where it prints one.
- Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search, Google Search Central (page dated 2026-07-10). Checked 2026-11-04.
- AI features and your website, Google Search Central (page dated 2025-12-10). Checked 2026-11-04.
- Featured snippets and your website, Google Search Central (page dated 2025-12-10). Checked 2026-11-04.
- Robots meta tag, data-nosnippet, and X-Robots-Tag specifications, Google Search Central (page dated 2026-03-24). Checked 2026-11-04.
- A guide to Google Search ranking systems, Google Search Central (page dated 2025-12-10). Checked 2026-11-05.
- Find information in faster & easier ways with AI Overviews in Google Search, Google Search Help. Checked 2026-11-04.
- AI Overviews in Search are coming to Canada, Google Canada blog (page dated 2024-10-28). Checked 2026-11-04.
- Google Search: Introducing AI Mode in Canada, Google Canada blog (page dated 2025-08-21). Checked 2026-11-04.
- Tips to improve your local ranking on Google, Google Business Profile Help. Checked 2026-11-04.
- Edit your Business Profile, Google Business Profile Help. Checked 2026-11-04.
- What are impressions, position, and clicks, Search Console Help. Checked 2026-11-04.
- Generative AI performance report (Search), Search Console Help. Checked 2026-11-04.
- Default channel group, Analytics Help. Checked 2026-11-04.
- What's new in Google Analytics, Analytics Help (entry of May 13, 2026). Checked 2026-11-04.
- Bing Webmaster Guidelines, Bing Webmaster Tools. Checked 2026-11-04.
- Introducing AI Performance in Bing Webmaster Tools Public Preview, Bing Webmaster Blog (page dated 2026-02-10). Checked 2026-11-04.
- Searching the web with ChatGPT, OpenAI Help Center (page dated 2026-10-20). Checked 2026-11-04.
- GEO: Generative Engine Optimization, Aggarwal and co-authors, arXiv (first posted 2023-11-16); KDD '24 version, ACM. Checked 2026-11-04.
- The rise of Answer Engine Optimization: Why voice search matters, Search Engine Watch (page dated 2018-02-07). Checked 2026-11-04 (read from the Internet Archive copy).
Questions and answers
Is AEO or GEO replacing SEO?
No. Google's own guide says optimizing for its generative AI features is still SEO, and its AI features page lists no extra requirements beyond being indexed and eligible for a snippet; its 2026 guide adds only that your site must stay included in Search Console's Search generative AI control, the default. AEO and GEO add work on top of a site that already ranks; they do not replace it.
Are AEO and GEO the same thing?
They overlap, and the people who use the terms do not all define them the same way. In this series AEO means having a direct answer lifted from your page, as in a featured snippet or an AI Overview, and GEO means your business being named when an assistant such as ChatGPT writes an answer.
Does GEO mean geographic or local SEO?
No. GEO here stands for generative engine optimization, a term introduced in a November 2023 research paper, presented at KDD 2024, about visibility in AI-written answers. Local SEO, which covers your Google Business Profile, map results and reviews, is a separate discipline; our local SEO basics guide covers it.
Which should a small business do first?
SEO first: an indexable site, a complete Google Business Profile, one page per service and area, and the same contact details everywhere. Then answer blocks for the questions customers ask, then mentions on other sites. Google says its AI features draw on its Search index, and assistants with web search need the same crawlable pages, so the first step supports the other two.
How do I know if Google's AI Overviews or ChatGPT mention my business?
Check three places. Search Console's Generative AI performance report shows the number of times links to your site appeared in AI Overviews and AI Mode, GA4's AI Assistant channel shows visits from assistants such as ChatGPT and Copilot, and a monthly manual check in each assistant shows whether you are named.
Next step
Talk to us about your business
A 20-minute call. We'll tell you what we'd build, how long it takes and what it costs. Toronto, the GTA and Montréal.