Blog, category: Search
What are AEO and GEO, and what should you tell clients?
Sooner or later a client asks why they don’t show up when someone asks an AI assistant about their industry. You don’t need to become an expert overnight, but you do need an accurate answer. Here are the terms, and what you can honestly say.
SEO, AEO and GEO in one place
SEO (search engine optimization) helps a client’s pages rank in traditional search results.
AEO (answer engine optimization) structures content so it can be used as a direct answer: featured snippets, voice results and AI answer summaries.
GEO (generative engine optimization) works on how generative AI tools understand, describe and cite a brand or topic.
How they overlap
They aren’t three separate jobs. Clear structure, real depth on a topic, well-defined entities (the brand, its products, its people, its location) and consistent information across the web help all three. That’s why a good plan treats them as one capability.
What to check first
- Can search engines crawl and understand the site? Technical problems block everything else.
- Does the content answer the questions people actually ask? Direct, well-structured answers are easier to use as answers.
- Is the brand described consistently? Names, descriptions and facts that differ from page to page confuse both people and machines.
- Is there real depth on the topics the client wants to be known for? Thin coverage rarely earns trust.
What you can’t promise
Nobody outside the companies that run these systems controls what an AI tool chooses to cite, and rankings in traditional search aren’t guaranteed either. Be wary of any provider, including us, who guarantees a position, a traffic number or a citation.
What you can promise is an audit, a prioritized plan, careful implementation, and reporting on what changed and what to watch.
What to tell the client
Keep it short. Explain the three terms, say that they overlap, describe the four checks above, and be clear about what can’t be guaranteed. A client who hears an honest answer is more likely to trust the rest of your advice.