If you’re in marketing, you’ve spent years mastering Search Engine Optimization (SEO). But as AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity become the new starting point for customer discovery, a new acronym is entering the conversation: AEO. This guide breaks down what AEO is, how it differs from SEO, and what you need to do to make sure your brand shows up in the new era of AI-powered search.
What is SEO?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of optimizing your website and content to rank higher in traditional search engine results pages (SERPs) like Google and Bing. The primary goal of SEO is to drive organic traffic to your website by appearing in the top results for relevant keywords. This involves a wide range of tactics, including on-page optimization (content, keywords, meta tags), off-page optimization (backlinks, brand mentions), and technical SEO (site speed, crawlability, mobile-friendliness).
For years, SEO has been the cornerstone of digital marketing. It’s about winning the click on the results page. But as AI continues to change how users find information, simply ranking on Google is no longer enough.
What is AEO (and is it the same as GEO)?
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the process of optimizing your content and data to be found, understood, and recommended by AI-powered answer engines. Unlike SEO, which focuses on driving clicks from a list of results, AEO is about getting your brand mentioned directly within the conversational answers generated by AI models.
You may have also heard other terms floating around, like Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) or AI Search Optimization (AIO). The industry is still settling on a standard term, and different people use different acronyms. For example, Microsoft Advertising has published a guide on , defining them as two sides of the same coin:
