AI search
AEO vs SEO vs GEO: What Changes for Answer Engines
What answer engine optimization, search engine optimization and generative engine optimization share, where they differ, and which checks to run first.
By Starry Research Labs · Published and reviewed
What do AEO, SEO and GEO mean?
AEO stands for answer engine optimization, SEO for search engine optimization and GEO for generative engine optimization. The three labels describe work on the same page. They differ in what you read after publishing, not in whether the page can be crawled, indexed and understood.
SEO asks whether a page ranks in a results list. AEO asks whether an answer engine can lift one clear answer from the page. GEO asks whether a generated answer names the brand or cites the page. A page can rank and still never be quoted, so the readings stay separate even when the fixes overlap.
Google says its AI search features use the same core ranking systems. A page outside the index, or one that loses on intent, does not become a source because it added a new file or a schema block.
What stays the same across all three?
Crawl access, a canonical URL, one clear main heading, readable text and a reason for the page to exist. These decide whether an answer engine can read the page at all.
Search intent still decides the page type. A query that asks for a tool needs a working tool. A query that asks what something means needs an explanation that answers it in the first paragraph.
Links and brand mentions still shape whether a page is part of the candidate set. An answer engine draws on sources it can find and trust, and many of those sources are not the brand's own site.
What changes when an answer engine reads the page?
Passage structure matters more than it does in a results list. Each section should answer one question, with the claim in its first sentence and the evidence under it. A heading that only sounds promotional gives the engine nothing to lift.
Facts have to be visible. A price, a limit, a date or a definition that exists only in JSON-LD is not a fact a reader or an engine can check. Put the value in a sentence or a table, then mark it up.
Source quality is part of the answer. Reviews, comparison pages, community threads and video transcripts give an engine a second place to check what your page claims. A visible question and answer still helps a reader even when the old FAQ result slot is gone.
Which checks come first?
Start with access. Fetch robots.txt and the page as a crawler would, and confirm the page returns a normal status with a canonical URL that matches the public domain. A blocked crawler or a wrong canonical makes every later step irrelevant.
Then check the page itself. One H1, headings that match real questions, facts in visible text, and internal links from pages a crawler already visits. Our AEO and GEO audit reports these signals for one URL.
After the page is readable, measure answers. Collect real responses to a fixed prompt set, record the engine, market and date, and count mentions and citations separately. Our AI visibility checker counts them in answers you paste.
How should you report the three?
Keep search clicks, AI mentions and business outcomes in separate columns. Search Console shows clicks and impressions from search. A prompt set shows how often an answer names the brand or links to the site. Signups and orders show whether either reading changed a business number.
One answer is a sample, not a rate. Repeat the same prompts on a schedule before describing a trend, and keep the raw answer so a later run can be compared with it.
Sources and method
External references were reviewed for this guide. Examples and tool workflows are our own. The launch audit records our public website observations, with no ranking or citation claim.