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What are AEO and GEO? A plain-English guide for business owners

By Abhishek Gupta, Founder and Director · 31 Oct 2026 · 5 min read

In short

SEO helps people find your pages in search results. AEO (answer engine optimisation) helps assistants and search answer boxes quote your answer. GEO (generative engine optimisation) helps AI tools that write answers from many sources mention your business. All three rest on the same base: pages that are readable as plain HTML and answer real questions clearly.

The three terms

TermGoalWhat it rewards
SEOBe found in search resultsRelevant pages, good structure, links, speed
AEOBe quoted as the answerA direct answer near the top, in text, with the question as a heading
GEOBe mentioned by AI tools that write answersClear facts about who you are, consistent across pages, and pages a machine can read

What they have in common

Each starts with a page whose text is in the HTML, whose purpose is clear, and whose facts are consistent. Tricks do not last; clarity does.

A seven-point checklist

  1. Every page has one H1 that states what the page is.
  2. The first paragraph answers the main question in two or three sentences.
  3. Questions customers really ask are headings, with short answers underneath.
  4. Structured data (Organization, Service, FAQ, Article) matches the visible text.
  5. Your name, address, phone and services read the same everywhere.
  6. A sitemap exists and robots rules do not block the crawlers you want.
  7. Pages are fast and complete in HTML. See why this matters.

What not to believe

  • Guarantees. No one controls what a search engine or an AI tool will show.
  • “One file fixes it.” A file called llms.txt is a proposed convention. Google Search does not use it and support among AI tools varies, so treat it as a cheap extra, not a strategy.
  • Volume over substance. Pages written only to be quoted, with nothing useful in them, do not earn trust from people or machines.

Where to start

Check what a crawler reads on your site with the free website check, fix the base, then improve your answers page by page.

FAQ

Quick answers

Is AEO different from SEO?

They overlap. SEO gets you listed; AEO shapes pages so an answer can be lifted from them. Good SEO is the base of both.

Do I need llms.txt?

It is optional and not used by Google Search. It costs little to add, but it does not replace readable pages and clear answers.

How long until I see results?

Search and AI visibility build over months, and no one can promise a result. Fix the technical base first, then watch Search Console.

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