This is a question that I get asked or see posted across the web at least once a week. Whether by clients, on LinkedIn / X or just dropped into general chatter at industry events – so I felt it time to answer it and throw my thoughts into the conversation.
Let’s first off address the elephant in the room.
Is there really a difference?
In a nutshell – no. The outcome and ultimate end goal of both SEO and GEO are identical in that both ‘disciplines’ are practised to improve visibility, clicks and traffic across the web without paying for each click or per CPM.
That being said, how those outcomes are achieved are different and I’ll get on to that shortly.
GEO vs AEO – let’s settle it
Splitting GEO and AEO in the world of SEO (their collective term) is like saying Pink Himalayan Rock Salt and Celtic Sea Salt aren’t both salts.
Whilst technically, yes – there are differences, they’re both salt in the same way that GEO and AEO are both forms of optimisation of search.
Selling and positioning them as separate services and identifying them as such is really a stretch.
What exactly is GEO?
If you’re asking the question of what’s the difference between SEO and GEO, you’ve probably already a basic idea of what GEO is supposed to be – or at the very least what the acronym stands for; but as a quick refresher:
- GEO – Generative Engine Optimisation
GEO is the process of optimising your website so that it’s cited and surfaced more frequently across LLMs; whether that Google AI overviews, Claude, ChatGPT or [insert your favourite flavour of LLM here].
But the fundamental principles of GEO are already baked into what a good SEO approach is.
SEO in 2026 and beyond
SEO nowadays is a distant relative to what it used to be even 3 years ago.
Previously, ‘good’ SEO was about keyword research, optimising for said keywords via content production or optimising of existing content, fine-tuning site architecture and rolling out technical fixes; then sitting back and watching the rankings (hopefully) climb upward.
SEO today has become significantly broader and much more multi-faceted. First of all, modern SEO goes beyond the website and stems into channels you no longer have full influence over.
SEO today is about content and ‘showing up’ across a plethora of platforms besides your owned website real estate:
- TikTok (yes, TikTok SEO is really a thing)
- Review platforms
- YouTube
- Medium
- Marketplaces etc
- Specialist platforms (big leverage here in B2B services)
It also goes far beyond just written copy and landing pages – good SEO today lives and breaths in:
- Video (both vertical short form content and horizontal long-form)
- Audio (podcasts)
- Offline events
- Images
- User-generated content
- Reviews and features
There are many folks, agencies and businesses that are still delivering what I’ll coin from hereon in as ‘traditional SEO’ and that exact practice is what is giving the overall discipline of SEO a bad name and a stagnating definition.
Furthermore, traditional SEO can sometimes be enough to move the needle and gain visibility in search but that mindset is stale and is quickly losing its potency.
This is fundamentally why I believe GEO as a new approach was coined – due to the stagnation and (stubbornness?) of traditional SEO.
SEO is moving at light speed and the discipline of SEO is moving significantly faster than the name that defines it.
GEO isn’t redefining the discipline, it’s just a new acronym to coin what good and integrated SEO should be in the first place.
Good SEO (or GEO if you insist) can’t be cheated
Many agencies and SEO consultants leveraged AI and LLMs to spin up unfathomable quantities of mediocre content in the hope that more content is ‘better’ SEO.
Many of those that did paid dearly, which often resulted in the opposite impact – rankings collapsing and traffic falling off a cliff or best case, a uncomfortable tokens bill with little to show for it commercially.
Spinning up blog posts to target keywords is not SEO, not anymore, and I’d argue it never really has been.
You can’t cheat your way to creating good citable content. You can’t pretend to be an expert in a topic using LLMs that are based on universally, widely understood concepts and facts that LLMs already understand.
If the content and information you’re producing isn’t new or isn’t offering something that 100s of other pieces on the same topic are, then you’re going to do more harm than good in the long term.
A GP is trained on many different health conditions but a specialist consultant is, for lack of a better word, obsessive over a one or two.
LLMs help you to write like a GP (with all due respect, they do great work) but only specialist knowledge will help you to write like a consultant.
Someone that can challenge status quo, seed important questions and innovate new ways of thinking.
A living breathing example of this is AI generated posters – they all look the same and are immediately identifiable. The same theory here applies to content.
I digress. My point is that none of this is new information, in that unique truly informative content matters, and it always applied to good SEO in any case.
You also can’t rush or ‘fast track’ LLM citations
One of the key differences I frequently see between ranking in organic search and LLMs is you cannot rush LLM citations. A brand or business needs to be established, have authority, is frequently recalled, compared to and referenced against ‘big players’ in its space online.
A new and emerging D2C brand isn’t going to be cited more frequently than a brand that’s distributed across major stockists just because you did “some GEO” at site launch. That’s not how it works.
A brand or business must be part of key conversations first before citations come to fruition. Think forums (still a thing), communities, comments, social interactions, stockists, mentions, events, reviews…
Showing up everywhere matters and that can’t be cheated or rushed.
The key pillar link between GEO and SEO is content
The fuel for both of these areas of optimisation is of course content, but what gets you to ‘rank’ in traditional Google search is not necessarily what gives you increased visibility in LLMs.
Optimising for keywords vs being cited in LLMs
Keywords are finite. Search keywords are typically short in length, consist of a few words and those same queries can be searched verbatim by many people across the globe.
LLM ‘queries’ are conversational, are significantly longer in length and are much more personalised to the user engaging in the conversation but also based on what you’ve discussed in the conversation up to that point.
They therefore can’t really be defined as queries at all.
This is why I firmly believe that having a in-depth understanding of a topic and a significant amount of content on a topic across various platforms is why ranking in LLMs is so much more involving. Traditional SEO simply doesn’t cut it.
What becomes even more of a variable is that even asking an LLM the same question twice can yield wildly different outputs and results. In one word, it’s volatile.
Traditional SEO is the process of improving rankings for specific keywords.
Modern SEO (what many refer to now as GEO) is the process of demonstrating to the web and your key audiences that you’re a business worth investing time and or money into.
To do that, you have to optimise touch points that are way beyond the website itself as shared above.
To use an analogy (I like an analogy), traditional SEO is like a good CV. Modern SEO is that plus interviewing well through all stages including that interview test.
Arguably, the conversation is no longer really about optimising entities, it’s about delivering and executing GOOD marketing.
SEO today must go far beyond website optimisation
Let’s look at an ecommerce query / search in both search environments as a specific example. If someone is looking for a good brand of men’s anti-ageing cream:
In organic search – what ranks
- Firstly, does the website have a category and/or products related to the query
- A brand that has its website optimised / is relevant / has strong content
- The website is authoritative in that it has relevant links, active social channels, brand mentions
In LLMs – what’s cited
- How widely available is the brand (stockists, outlets, distributors, marketplaces, countries available in)
- Are their own collected reviews positive (Trustpilot, Reviews.io etc)
- Are independent reviews, comparisons, critiques, PR and content elsewhere sharing positive sentiment
- Does the brand frequently appear in online conversations and discussions
- Collective of social profiles, activity, shares, engagement and comments
- Does the ingredient list align with the benefits, science and claims
One of the biggest differentiators I’m seeing between LLMs and organic search results is that LLMs care much less about backlinks and keyword density than organic rankings do.
LLMs care more about the alignment to the question / query / conversation than they do about comparing factors like keyword density, site performance markers and links.
But back to my original point – the above is still SEO
Nothing here is new. At least not for good, well grounded and properly executed SEO. Any teams of individuals working on growing traffic should already be looking at levers beyond the immediate domain and website.
SEO was never really about the rankings – it’s about selling more of what drives your business forward organically.
As an ecommerce consultant, I’m working with brands in exactly this fashion; going beyond their domain(s). To be clear, this doesn’t mean for a second that optimising the website itself isn’t important.
I’m simply saying that the website isn’t where the optimisation pathways stop. Some examples:
- Optimising TikTok shop and appearing in more relevant in-platform searches
- Working hard to collect more positive reviews and better manage complaints before customers vent online
- Discussing opportunities to optimise products on stockists websites (images, consistent wording, links to brand)
- Investing in product descriptions – not just to rank, but so customers can fully understand WHY they should purchase your products; in doing so, LLMs will also get more clarity.
- Building good, well thought out ‘about us’ content – again, for customers exploring your brand, but LLMs will also benefit
- Discussing content beyond the blog – short form and long form video content to post online for example
- Identify where to show up online to best connect to target audiences and potential customers
I think what I’m trying to communicate is that SEO should just be good marketing with technical know-how running through its fabric.
Good SEO that drives ROI and growth was never about the keyword in the same way that a drill was never about the hole in the wall. Nobody wants a hole in the wall.
What people want is for their new TV to not take up floor space and to look cohesive in the room. They want their mirror hanging, their kitchen cupboards installed and so on….
Good SEO is just good marketing that drives sales through increased visibility across multiple digital touch points. It’s not about ranking keywords, it’s not about smashing out content.
Good SEO never really was.
A car is a car whether it’s powered by petrol, diesel, electricity or sunflower oil.
A watch is a watch whether it’s powered by movement, batteries or solar.
SEO evolves just like the Internet that it feeds on.
Call it what you want, but really it’s just SEO.
