For twenty years, being found online meant one thing: ranking on Google. That is no longer the whole picture. A customer today might type a search, read the answer box at the top without clicking anything, or ask an AI assistant to recommend someone. Each of those paths works differently, and each has a name.

SEO: search engine optimisation

SEO is the work of getting your pages into the list of results when someone searches. It is the foundation the other two stand on, because answer engines and AI models both read the same web that search engines index.

  • Fast pages that work well on phones
  • One clear topic per page, written in the words customers actually type
  • Clean technical structure: titles, descriptions, sitemaps and canonical URLs
  • Links from other reputable sites that point to yours

AEO: answer engine optimisation

AEO is about being the answer, not just a result. Featured snippets, "People also ask" boxes, voice assistants and AI overviews all lift a short passage from a page and show it directly. AEO makes your content easy to lift.

  • Phrase headings the way people ask questions
  • Answer in the first sentence, then explain
  • Mark up questions and answers with FAQ structured data
  • Keep each answer self-contained so it still makes sense when quoted alone

GEO: generative engine optimisation

GEO is about being recognised and cited by AI models like ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude when they write an answer. These models build a picture of a business from everything written about it. If that picture is consistent and well sourced, they mention you. If it is thin or contradictory, they skip you.

  • Use exactly the same name and description everywhere: website, social profiles, directories
  • Publish organisation structured data that links all your official profiles together
  • Write pages that explain what you do in plain, factual language
  • Provide an llms.txt file that summarises your site for AI crawlers
  • Earn mentions on other sites, because models trust what others say about you

Do you need all three?

Yes, and the good news is that they reinforce each other. The work that makes a page rank also makes it quotable, and the work that makes it quotable also makes your business easier for AI to understand. A well-built website does all three from the start, instead of patching them in later.