The landscape has shifted recently and there are now three main digital marketing strategies that work together to improve online visibility across different search environments. These are Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). While SEO focuses on traditional search engine rankings, AEO optimizes content for voice search and direct answers, and GEO focuses on making content clear and trustworthy for AI-powered tools and generative responses.
You might be wondering how they are interrelated. Well, they are all built on high quality, authoritative content, and user intent with the goal of making a business visible to consumers using different methods of interaction. These could be classic web searches, AI summaries, or voice assistants.
Here is an example of using the three combined techniques as part of a customer acquisition strategy:
A local business optimizing for “best pizza” uses SEO to rank for the term on a search engine. It uses AEO to get its FAQ section, which directly answers, “Is [Restaurant Name] open on Sundays?”, featured. It uses GEO to ensure its yelp page and blog posts are clear and factual enough for the AI to pull its information from to answer a user’s request for, “best pizza nearby”.
To better understand each of these, I have provided basic definitions and key focus areas for consideration.
SEO: Search Engine Optimization – The process of optimizing content to rank higher in traditional search engine results pages (SERPs) for typed queries.
Key focus: Making sure content is discoverable and relevant through keyword research, link building, and on-page technical optimization.
AEO: Answer Engine Optimization – An evolution of SEO that focuses on getting content to appear in direct answers, especially for voice search queries.
Key focus: Creating content that directly and concisely answers user questions, often in a conversational tone for inclusion in “featured snippets” or “answer boxes”.
GEO: Generative Engine Optimization – An optimization strategy for the new generation of AI search tools, which generates answers rather than just listing links.
Key focus: Ensuring content is clear, trustworthy, and factual so that AI tools can easily understand, quote, and reference it in their generated summaries.
In summary, marketers should focus on SEO, AEO, and GEO together as they are complementary strategies for comprehensive search visibility and not mutually exclusive.