Are you still only focussing on SEO? Well, GEO and AEO have now joined the group chat.
SEO has been a big part of digital marketing for a long old time. Businesses have spent years tweaking websites, writing blogs and carefully choosing keywords in the hope of climbing higher up Google.
And don’t panic, SEO certainly isn’t dead, but the way we search for information online is changing.
We’re no longer simply typing something into Google, scrolling through a page of blue links and clicking on a website. We’re asking ChatGPT questions. We’re using Gemini. We’re searching through AI-powered tools such as Perplexity. We’re asking Siri and Alexa questions while simultaneously burning dinner.
Search has changed, which means the way we create content needs to change with it. Say hello to SEO, GEO and AEO.
Yes, marketing has acquired yet more acronyms. Sorry about that!
First things first, what is SEO? SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation.
This is the one most businesses will already be familiar with. SEO is all about optimising your website and online content so it has a better chance of appearing prominently in traditional search engine results.
Think Google, Bing and other search engines. SEO involves things such as:
• Using relevant keywords and phrases
• Creating useful, comprehensive content
• Structuring website pages clearly
• Answering the things your customers are actually searching for
• Creating good page titles and headings
• Making your website easy for both humans and search engines to understand
Ultimately, the aim is to increase your visibility in search results, attract more organic website traffic and help the right people discover your business. So yes, SEO is still very important and we’re not throwing it dramatically into the marketing bin just yet.
So, what is GEO? GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimisation.
This is the newer kid on the block. GEO is about creating and structuring your online content so AI-powered search and generative engines can understand it, reference it and potentially recommend your business when answering someone’s question.
Think tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity.
Rather than someone searching:
“marketing freelancer Lincoln”
They might now ask an AI platform:
“Can you recommend a flexible marketing freelancer near Lincoln who works with small businesses?”
That’s a very different type of search. Generative AI tools are trying to understand the context behind a question and produce a useful answer, often drawing information from a variety of sources.
This means businesses need to think beyond simply squeezing a keyword into a page ten times. GEO tends to favour content that is:
• Useful and genuinely informative
• Clearly structured
• Specific and detailed
• Relevant to your particular area of expertise
• Consistent across your online presence
• Written with authority and context
• Easy for AI systems to understand and reference
The goal is to increase the chances of your business, expertise or content being surfaced within AI-generated search results. And as more of us start using AI tools to research businesses, products and services, that visibility is becoming increasingly valuable.
And what on earth is AEO? AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimisation.
Last acronym, I promise! AEO focuses on creating content that provides clear, concise and direct answers to questions.
This can help your content appear in things such as featured search snippets, direct search answers and voice searches through assistants such as Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant.
Imagine someone asking:
“How often should a small business post on social media?”
Rather than delivering an essay before getting to the answer somewhere around paragraph nine, AEO-friendly content gives the useful answer clearly and quickly, then provides more detail afterwards. This is why FAQs, question-based headings and simple explanations can be incredibly useful.
If there are questions your customers ask you over and over again, there is a very good chance people are asking search engines and AI platforms those exact same questions too. Answer them on your website. It really can be that simple.
SEO vs GEO vs AEO: what’s the difference?
Although they overlap, each has a slightly different job.
SEO helps people find you through traditional search engines. It focuses on search rankings, keywords, search intent, website structure and creating useful content that can bring organic visitors to your website.
GEO helps AI-powered platforms understand and potentially recommend you. It focuses more heavily on authoritative, context-rich and well-structured information that generative AI engines can easily interpret and reference.
AEO helps your content become the answer. It focuses on answering specific questions clearly, making your content easier to surface in featured snippets, voice searches and direct AI-generated answers.
All three are ultimately working towards a very similar goal: Helping the right people find your business.
Do I really need to think about all three?
Yep, but before you add another seventeen things to your marketing to-do list, there is some good news. You don’t necessarily need to create completely different content for SEO, GEO and AEO. Really good website content can support all three at once.
For example, imagine you run an independent mortgage brokerage.
A useful blog answering:
“How much deposit do I need to buy my first home?”
could include a clear answer near the top for AEO, useful keyword-rich information for traditional SEO and detailed, trustworthy context that AI platforms can understand for GEO. One piece of properly planned content can work surprisingly hard. That is why simply producing lots of generic blogs stuffed with keywords isn’t really enough anymore.
Your content needs to be written for real human questions first, while being structured in a way modern search platforms can easily understand.
Search behaviour is changing
I’m sure you’ve already noticed it yourself. Google now gives us far more information directly within its search results. AI-generated answers are becoming part of everyday online research. People are asking conversational questions rather than typing two or three keywords into a search bar.
And sometimes people get the information they need without clicking on a website at all. That doesn’t make your website less important. Quite the opposite. It means the information sitting on your website needs to clearly show who you are, what you know, who you help and why your business is relevant.
Blogs, service pages, FAQs, case studies, customer reviews and helpful resources all contribute towards building that bigger online picture.
Don’t get left behind
SEO absolutely still matters, but the online search landscape is getting bigger. Businesses now need to consider how they appear in traditional search results, AI-generated answers and conversational search.
So rather than thinking:
“How do I get to number one on Google?”
the better question might increasingly be:
“How do I make sure my business is easy to find, understand and recommend wherever my customers are searching?”
That’s where SEO, GEO and AEO come in. And don’t worry if all these acronyms are making your head hurt. Marketing is very good at making relatively sensible ideas sound unnecessarily complicated.
At Barker Brooks Creative, we can help make sure your website, blogs and online content are working as hard as possible to keep your business visible. Whether you need help creating regular blog content, improving your existing website copy or figuring out how your content strategy needs to adapt to AI-powered search, we’d be delighted to help.
Soph
