SEO · 8 min
SEO vs AEO vs GEO: what each one actually optimises
They share foundations. They are measured differently. None of them can be guaranteed.
2026-08-12
SEO earns visibility in traditional organic search results. AEO makes your content easy for answer systems to select as a direct answer. GEO improves your eligibility to be understood, cited, and surfaced by generative AI experiences.
The unit of work is different
- SEO works a page and its query set.
- AEO works a question and its canonical answer.
- GEO works an entity and its facts.
That is why a single 'AI SEO' slide usually fails. You cannot treat a citation the way you treat a ranking, and you cannot treat a featured snippet the way you treat an indexation fix.
What you can measure
- SEO: clicks, impressions, CTR, average position, indexation state.
- AEO: query-level behaviour and whether your passage is used.
- GEO: citation presence, cited URL, excerpt used, share of voice on a stored query set.
No tool can guarantee a ranking, a snippet, or an AI citation. Record a baseline. Declare a window. Report the verdict you got.
Work in order: eligibility first, then selectability, then citability. iSEOup runs all three from one domain boundary so the agent cannot wander.