The short version
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is making your pages easy for search engines to find, understand and rank. AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) is shaping your content so a search engine can lift a direct answer from it. GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is making your business easy for AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity to read, trust and recommend.
They aren't three separate projects. AEO and GEO both depend on pages that search engines can already crawl and trust, so good SEO comes first and the other two build on it.
SEO, AEO and GEO compared
| SEO | AEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full form | Search Engine Optimization | Answer Engine Optimization | Generative Engine Optimization |
| Goal | Rank your pages in Google and Bing results | Be the direct answer: featured snippets, People also ask, voice | Be named and cited by ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity |
| Where it shows | The list of blue links | Answer boxes above or inside the results | Inside AI chat answers, with or without a link |
| Main levers | Keywords, titles, descriptions, links, speed, crawlability | Questions as headings, 40–60 word answers, FAQ schema | AI crawler access, llms.txt, clear facts, consistent mentions |
| How you measure it | Rankings, clicks and impressions in Search Console | Snippets and PAA boxes you own | How often AI assistants mention or link to you |
How to do SEO
- Give every page one main keyword that matches what the page offers, and don't reuse it on another page. The free keyword research tool shows what people actually type.
- Write a title and meta description for each page: the keyword near the start, under about 60 and 155 characters. Check them in the Google result preview.
- One H1 per page, with headings that follow in order. The heading checker finds gaps.
- Alt text on images that says what the image shows. Find missing ones with the alt text checker.
- Let Google crawl and index the pages that matter: a sitemap, a sensible robots.txt, and no stray noindex tags. Test a page with the indexability checker.
- Keep pages fast, especially on mobile. See your Core Web Vitals in the page speed checker.
How to do AEO
- Find the questions people ask about your topic with the question finder.
- Use the question as a heading and answer it in 40–60 words straight underneath. Add detail after the short answer, not before.
- Mark up questions and answers with FAQ schema. The FAQ schema generator writes the JSON-LD.
- Add structured data for your business, products, articles and breadcrumbs with the schema markup generator.
How to do GEO
- Let AI search crawlers in. If robots.txt blocks GPTBot, ClaudeBot or PerplexityBot, those assistants can't read or cite you. Check with the AI crawler checker, and decide separately whether AI training bots may use your content with the AI robots.txt rules tool.
- Publish an llms.txt: a short, plain summary of who you are and your key pages, for AI assistants. Make one with the llms.txt generator.
- State the facts plainly: what you offer, where, for whom, prices if you publish them, and what makes you different. AI assistants repeat clear, specific facts; vague marketing copy gets skipped.
- Be mentioned in the same words everywhere: your site, Google Business Profile, directories and press. Consistency is how assistants become confident enough to name you.
Do all three at once
SEO Studio checks every page of your site for SEO, AEO and GEO together and writes what's missing: keywords, titles, descriptions, FAQ answers, schema, image alt text, llms.txt and AI crawler rules. It's free, and you don't need an account.
Questions
What is the full form of SEO, AEO and GEO?
SEO is Search Engine Optimization, AEO is Answer Engine Optimization and GEO is Generative Engine Optimization.
Is AEO replacing SEO?
No. Answer boxes and AI assistants still pick their answers from pages that search engines can crawl and trust, so AEO and GEO build on good SEO rather than replacing it.
What is GEO in SEO?
GEO is the part of search work aimed at AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity: making your site easy for their crawlers to read and giving them clear, quotable facts so they name and cite you.
What is AEO in SEO?
AEO is writing and marking up pages so search engines can lift a direct answer from them: question-style headings, short answers under them, and FAQ schema. It wins featured snippets, People also ask boxes and voice answers.
How do I check my site for SEO, AEO and GEO?
Paste your homepage into SEO Studio. It checks every page for all three and writes the titles, answers, schema, llms.txt and AI crawler rules it's missing, free.