SEO and AI search: what AEO and GEO mean for your website
Search engines and AI assistants increasingly answer questions directly. Google shows AI-generated overviews for some searches, and many people now ask tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity instead of, or as well as, searching. This has led to new terms, AEO and GEO, and the question many business owners ask: is SEO dead?
Is SEO dead?
No, but it is changing. AI answers are built from information on the web, and the systems that produce them still rely heavily on crawling, indexing and judging which sources are trustworthy, the same foundations as traditional search. What changes is that a single answer may summarise several sources, and some simple questions may lead to fewer clicks.
What AEO and GEO mean
- AEO (answer engine optimisation): making your content easy to use as a direct answer, for featured snippets, voice assistants and AI answers.
- GEO (generative engine optimisation): improving the chances that AI systems understand, mention and cite your brand and content in generated responses.
Both are best understood as extensions of good SEO rather than replacements for it.
Practical steps
1. Keep the technical foundations strong
If search engines cannot crawl and index your pages, AI features built on them cannot use them either.
2. Answer questions clearly
Put a short, direct answer near the top of a page, then explain in depth. Use descriptive headings that match the questions people ask.
3. Show real expertise and original information
Generic content is easy for AI to replace. First-hand experience, original data, clear examples, local knowledge and expert opinion are much harder to replace and more likely to be cited.
4. Make your brand easy to understand
Keep your name, services, location and contact details consistent across your website, Google Business Profile and other profiles. Use structured data such as Organization, LocalBusiness and FAQ markup where it genuinely fits.
5. Build a reputation beyond your site
Mentions in respected publications, genuine reviews and participation in your industry help both search engines and AI systems see you as a credible source.
6. Measure differently
Track enquiries and sales, not just clicks. Watch branded searches and direct visits, which can grow when people see your brand in AI answers.
What not to do
Mass-producing AI-written pages with little human input is risky. Google’s spam policies cover scaled content created mainly to manipulate rankings, however it is produced. Use AI to work faster, but publish only content that a knowledgeable person has checked and improved.
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