/Three acronyms, one strategy
SEO, AEO and GEO get talked about like separate disciplines. In practice they are three overlapping layers of one modern search strategy. Skip any one of them and the whole system underperforms.
/SEO
Search Engine Optimisation is the classic craft: rank your pages in Google's ten blue links, plus Maps, plus image results. Technical SEO, on-page optimisation, content depth and third-party links carry the discipline.
/AEO
Answer Engine Optimisation is being cited inside AI-generated answers, on Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and other AI surfaces. Entity clarity, structured content, schema and third-party mentions matter most.
/GEO
Generative Engine Optimisation is the broader umbrella, positioning your brand as retrievable and quotable across any generative environment. It extends AEO thinking to future surfaces that do not exist yet.
/Purpose compared
SEO: appear in a ranked list of links. AEO: appear inside a generated answer. GEO: be retrievable across every generative surface, including ones we have not seen yet.
/Visibility environment
SEO: Google, Bing, Maps, images. AEO: AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity. GEO: any generative interface, chat, search, voice, agent.
/Content requirements
SEO rewards depth, structure and matching search intent. AEO rewards definitions, FAQs, comparisons and extractable formatting. GEO rewards clear entities and consistent brand context across the wider web.
/Technical requirements
SEO: clean URLs, fast pages, Core Web Vitals, schema. AEO: schema, semantic HTML, clean entities, extractable answers. GEO: everything AEO needs, plus consistent presence on the sources generative systems trust.
/Authority signals
SEO: backlinks, on-site content, brand searches. AEO: third-party mentions, citations, entity consistency, reviews. GEO: everything AEO tracks, expanded to a broader set of authoritative sources.
/Measurement
SEO measures ranking, traffic and conversions. AEO measures citation share across AI answers, plus downstream traffic. GEO measures brand-mention share across generative surfaces and knowledge graphs.
/Commercial objective
All three are ultimately about the same thing for NZ businesses: qualified enquiries and revenue. The channels differ, the goal does not.
/How they overlap
Strong SEO foundations lift AEO by making your content extractable. Strong AEO signals lift GEO by increasing citation share. Strong GEO increases brand awareness that feeds back into direct search, which improves SEO. It compounds.
/Where to start
Fix your SEO foundations first, structure, speed, schema. Layer AEO on top with answer-first content and clear entities. Extend into GEO with consistent third-party presence and brand authority. Skipping stages does not save time, it just wastes the later work.
