What's the difference between SEO, AEO and GEO?

SEO gets you ranking in Google's links. AEO gets you named in the answer an AI assistant (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot) gives. GEO gets you cited in the answer a generative engine (Google AI Overviews, Gemini) synthesises. They share a foundation but each needs its own moves — which is why we run them as one program.

Do I still need traditional SEO if AI search is taking over?

Yes — more than ever. AI engines are trained on and cite the open web, and many draw directly from the pages that already rank. Weak SEO now keeps you out of the AI answers too, so it's the base layer, not an alternative.

How long until AI SEO shows results?

Technical fixes and new content can start moving rankings in weeks; a measurable lift in AI citations and priority rankings is typically a ~90-day target, compounding from there. We set the targets against your baseline on day one and report weekly.

How do you measure AI visibility?

Share of AI voice per topic, citations per assistant per prompt, and classic rankings/clicks/impressions — all against a day-one baseline, tracked query by query and reported every week.

Is it really guaranteed?

We agree measurable targets up front for the queries that bring buyers, and keep working the plan until they're met. It's a performance commitment against your own baseline, not a promise to game an algorithm. The figures on our pages are program targets and projections.

AI SEO: how to show up when buyers search with AI

AI SEO: how to show up when buyers search with AI. Practical, vendor-honest guidance on AI Visibility — SEO, AEO and GEO run as one agentic program by Edthi. Get found in AI and Google.

By the Edthi team·30 October 2026·4 min read

The three search worlds this covers

SEO

Rank on Google

Blue links, snippets and maps — and the base layer AI reads from.

AEO

Named by assistants

Cited in the answers ChatGPT, Perplexity and Copilot give.

GEO

Synthesised by AI

The source Google AI Overviews and Gemini build their answer from.

One shared foundation: crawlable, structured, trustworthy content — run as a single program.

People keep coining labels, but the job is simple to state: show up when buyers use AI to search. Some call it AI SEO, others AEO or GEO. Here is what it means in practice, and what actually moves the result.

AI SEO is not a new trick, it's a wider job

Classic SEO gets you ranked on Google. AI SEO adds two things on top: getting named in the answers AI assistants give, and getting cited in the answers generative engines write. The foundation is the same clean, structured, trustworthy content. What changes is that you now optimise for being quoted, not just ranked.

SEO, AEO and GEO — what each one actually means

[SEO](/products/visibility/seo) (Search Engine Optimization) — ranking in Google's blue links, featured snippets and map pack. Still the largest single channel, and the base layer everything else reads from.
[AEO](/products/visibility/aeo) (Answer Engine Optimization) — being named in the answer an AI assistant gives: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot. The buyer may never see a list of links at all.
[GEO](/products/visibility/geo) (Generative Engine Optimization) — being the source a generative engine synthesises from: Google's AI Overviews, Gemini, the AI layer inside search.

They share a foundation — crawlable, structured, trustworthy content — but each needs its own moves on top. Run as one program, a single piece of work can pay off in all three places. That is exactly how AI Visibility from Edthi is built.

Why run it as one agentic program

Most teams treat SEO, AEO and GEO as three separate chases. Edthi runs them as one: a single plan, built on the same anti-slop content engine behind our AI Marketing Agent, so the content reads like a person wrote it and is structured for a machine to cite. Everything is measured query by query against a baseline set on day one, and reported every week.

What “Guaranteed” means here

It doesn't mean a vanity number by Friday. It means we agree measurable targets with you up front — against a real baseline — for the queries that actually bring buyers, report progress weekly, and keep working the plan until those targets are met. A performance commitment, not a promise to trick an algorithm.

See where you stand today

The fastest way to judge AI SEO is to see where you actually appear right now. Book a visibility audit and we'll show you where you turn up across Google and the AI engines — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google's AI Overviews and Gemini — and the gap to where your buyers are looking. Explore AI Visibility and the three disciplines it runs together: SEO, AEO and GEO.

Prefer to talk first? Message us on WhatsApp at +31 6 47553735 or book a 30-minute call. No slide deck — a straight read of where you stand and what it would take.

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between SEO, AEO and GEO?: SEO gets you ranking in Google's links. AEO gets you named in the answer an AI assistant (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot) gives. GEO gets you cited in the answer a generative engine (Google AI Overviews, Gemini) synthesises. They share a foundation but each needs its own moves — which is why we run them as one program.
Do I still need traditional SEO if AI search is taking over?: Yes — more than ever. AI engines are trained on and cite the open web, and many draw directly from the pages that already rank. Weak SEO now keeps you out of the AI answers too, so it's the base layer, not an alternative.
How long until AI SEO shows results?: Technical fixes and new content can start moving rankings in weeks; a measurable lift in AI citations and priority rankings is typically a ~90-day target, compounding from there. We set the targets against your baseline on day one and report weekly.
How do you measure AI visibility?: Share of AI voice per topic, citations per assistant per prompt, and classic rankings/clicks/impressions — all against a day-one baseline, tracked query by query and reported every week.
Is it really guaranteed?: We agree measurable targets up front for the queries that bring buyers, and keep working the plan until they're met. It's a performance commitment against your own baseline, not a promise to game an algorithm. The figures on our pages are program targets and projections.

AI VisibilitySEOAEOGEO

Ready when you are.

Book a 30-minute call, message us on WhatsApp, or drop your details and we'll reach out. We'll show you where you show up today across Google and the AI engines — and the plan to become the answer.

Book a call WhatsApp +31 6 47553735

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