If you read marketing news, you have probably seen a lot of new acronyms: GEO, AEO, LLMO, AIO. Some people say “SEO is dead, you need GEO now.” So beginners ask me: “Are these a new kind of SEO? Do I need a completely new strategy, or a new agency?”
Let me clear this up in plain words. In this lesson, I will explain what each term means, what is genuinely new and what is just good SEO with a new label, and how you can measure your visibility in AI answers. By the end, you will be able to judge any “GEO” advice on its merits and set up a simple way to track how AI tools talk about your brand.
This lesson builds on the two before it: AI Overviews and AI Mode and SEO for ChatGPT, Perplexity and other assistants. If you haven’t read those yet, I suggest starting there.
What do GEO, AEO and LLMO actually mean?
All of these terms describe the same broad goal: getting your brand and content to show up in answers written by AI. They come from different angles, though. Here is a simple guide.
| Term | Stands for | What people usually mean by it |
|---|---|---|
| GEO | Generative Engine Optimization | Improving how often AI tools that generate answers (like ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google’s AI features) mention or cite you |
| AEO | Answer Engine Optimization | Making your content the direct answer to a question, whether in a featured snippet, a voice assistant or an AI answer |
| LLMO | Large Language Model Optimization | Influencing what large language models (the technology behind AI chatbots) “know” and say about your brand |
| AIO / AI SEO | AI optimization / AI search optimization | A general label for any of the above |
A large language model, or LLM, is the AI system that reads and writes text, such as the model behind ChatGPT or Gemini. A generative engine is just a search tool that writes (generates) an answer instead of only listing links.
In brief, the names differ, but the overlap is huge. In this course, I will use “GEO” as the umbrella term, since it is the most common. I go deeper on definitions and examples in my practical guide to generative engine optimization.
What is really new, and what is just good SEO?
This is the most important question in the lesson. Let me be honest: most of what is sold as GEO is the same work this course has been teaching. But a few things really are different, and you should know them.
The parts that are the same
AI search tools still need to find, read and trust your pages. That means:
- Your pages must be crawlable and indexed, as covered in the lesson on getting pages indexed.
- Your content must be genuinely helpful and written for people, as in the lesson on helpful, people-first content.
- Your site must show trust and expertise, as in the lesson on E-E-A-T.
- Your brand must have a good reputation on other sites, through links, mentions and reviews.
Google is direct about this for its own AI features. Its documentation says there are no additional requirements and no special optimizations needed to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, and that you don’t need new machine-readable files, AI text files or special schema markup. The usual SEO best practices still apply.
The parts that are genuinely different
- There is one answer, not ten links. You are aiming to be mentioned or cited, not to sit at a position. Being third on a results page still gets you seen; not being in the AI answer means you are invisible for that question.
- Other people’s pages matter more. AI answers often cite review sites, forums and comparison articles. Your brand can be described well, or badly, without your own site being involved.
- More crawlers to manage. AI companies have their own bots, and you decide which ones to allow, as we saw in the previous lesson.
- Measurement is harder. There is no single “AI Search Console” for every assistant. You have to combine several imperfect signals, which I cover below.
- Answers change a lot. Ask the same question twice and you may get a different answer. So you track trends across many questions, not one result.
So do you need a new strategy? I would say you need a wider strategy, not a different one. Keep doing solid SEO, then add brand building and AI visibility tracking on top.
What GEO work actually looks like
If you take away the buzzwords, GEO work falls into a few practical buckets. Here is how I would describe each one to a client.
- Access: make sure Google and the AI search crawlers can reach your important pages, and that nothing blocks them by mistake.
- Clarity: write pages that answer questions directly, with clear headings and short, self-contained sections. I explain this in answer-first writing and writing passages AI can quote.
- Coverage: answer the follow-up and sub-questions people ask, not just the main one, since AI tools often run several searches for one question.
- Facts: keep key facts about your business (services, prices, locations, people) accurate and consistent on your site and your profiles.
- Reputation: earn reviews, press mentions and spots in trusted comparison pages, as covered in the lessons on digital PR and off-page SEO.
- Measurement: track how often AI tools mention and cite you, and what that traffic does on your site.
Notice that only the last one is truly new. The rest are long-standing SEO and marketing tasks, with a sharper focus.
Claims to be careful with
Because this field is new, it attracts a lot of bold promises. Be wary of anyone who says they can:
- guarantee your brand will appear in ChatGPT or Google’s AI answers
- get you in with a “secret” file, tag or schema type
- show you an exact, fixed “AI ranking” for a keyword
- fix everything with lots of AI-written pages
If you are comparing agencies, my post on how to choose an AI search agency lists good questions to ask.
How do you measure visibility in AI answers?
Here is the part that is new for most beginners. Since there isn’t one perfect tool, I suggest combining four signals. None of them is complete on its own, but together they give you a fair picture.
| Signal | Where to find it | What it tells you | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google AI features data | Search Console Performance report (Web search type) | Clicks and impressions, including those from AI Overviews and AI Mode | Not shown as a separate AI-only report |
| AI referral traffic | GA4, “AI Assistant” default channel | Visits that arrived from recognized AI assistants, and what those visitors did | Visits with no referrer, such as from some apps, can land in “Direct” |
| Prompt tracking | A spreadsheet or an AI visibility tool | How often you are mentioned or cited for a set list of questions | Answers vary, so it is a sample, not a census |
| Brand demand | Branded searches in Search Console | Whether more people are searching for your name over time | Many things affect it, not only AI |
Google’s AI features in Search Console
Google counts clicks and impressions from AI Overviews and AI Mode inside the normal Performance report. In an AI Overview, all the links share a single position. In AI Mode, each follow-up question counts as a new query. You will learn to use this report in the next lesson.
The “AI Assistant” channel in GA4
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) groups traffic into channels, such as Organic Search or Referral. It now has a default channel called AI Assistant. Google’s rules put a session there when the referrer matches its list of AI assistants, or when the medium is set to “ai-assistant”. This lets you see how many visits came from AI tools and whether those visitors became leads or sales. I explain the setup in how to track ChatGPT and AI traffic in GA4, and we cover GA4 in full in the lesson on Google Analytics 4 for SEO.
Prompt tracking
This simply means asking AI tools a fixed set of questions on a regular schedule and recording the results. You can do it by hand with a spreadsheet or use a paid tool that does it at scale. My guide on tracking your brand’s visibility in AI search compares the options.
Try it: build a 20-prompt AI visibility tracker
This takes about an hour the first time and 20 minutes a month after that.
- Write 20 prompts your customers might type. Mix types: “best [service] in [city]”, “[your brand] vs [competitor]”, “how do I [problem you solve]”, and “is [your brand] good?”.
- Pick two or three AI tools your audience uses, such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s AI Mode.
- Run each prompt and record: mentioned (yes/no), cited (yes/no), which of your pages was cited, and which other sites were cited.
- Calculate a simple share: for example, “mentioned in 6 of 20 prompts in ChatGPT” this month.
- Check GA4 for the AI Assistant channel over the same month: sessions and key events (the actions you count as conversions).
- Pick one gap to work on, such as a missing comparison page or a review site where you have no presence.
- Repeat monthly with the same prompts, so you can compare like with like.
When you want a fuller, step-by-step version, my post on how to run an AI search audit walks through it.
Questions beginners ask about GEO and AEO
Is GEO replacing SEO?
No. AI search tools still rely on finding, reading and trusting web pages, which is what SEO has always been about. GEO is better seen as SEO with a wider view: more attention to brand mentions, clear answers and measuring visibility inside AI answers.
Do I need an llms.txt file for GEO?
Google says you don’t need new machine-readable files or AI text files to appear in its AI features. Other AI companies have not made llms.txt a requirement either. It is optional and low priority compared with crawlable, clear, trusted content.
Can a GEO tool tell me my exact “AI ranking”?
Not exactly. AI answers change from person to person and from day to day, so tools sample answers to a set of prompts and report how often you appear. That trend is useful, but treat it as an estimate, not a precise position.
Should I hire a separate GEO agency?
Not necessarily. Ask any agency, SEO or GEO, to explain exactly what work they will do and how they will measure it. If the plan is mostly content, technical fixes, PR and reviews, that is good SEO, whatever it is called.
Where GEO fits in your SEO strategy
Let me sum up. GEO, AEO and LLMO are different names for one goal: being mentioned and cited in AI-written answers. Most of the work is good SEO you already know: crawlable pages, clear and helpful content, real expertise and a strong reputation. What is truly new is the focus on brand mentions across the web and the need to measure AI visibility with several imperfect signals. So you don’t need a brand-new strategy, just a wider one.
Measurement is where the next chapter begins. In the next lesson, you will learn Google Search Console for beginners, the free tool that shows how your site performs in Google, including its AI features. And if you would like our team to look at your AI visibility, you can request a free quote.
Sources for this lesson on generative engine optimization
- AI features and your website — Google Search Central
- How Search Console performance data is counted — Search Console Help
- Traffic-source dimensions and default channel group — Google Analytics Help
- Overview of OpenAI crawlers — OpenAI documentation