AEO vs GEO vs SEO: what's the difference, and which does your business need?

If you've had three agencies pitch you three different acronyms this year, you're not alone. Demand for this work is real: US searches for "answer engine optimization" reached 8,741 a month in September 2026, up 37% in a year, according to an analysis by Stan Ventures. The confusion is real too. This guide separates the three terms, shows where they overlap and tells you what to do first.

The short version

Why the difference matters to a small business

A customer who types "roof repair near me" into Google sees a map and ten links. That is SEO territory. A customer who asks ChatGPT "who should I call for a roof leak in Tampa?" gets two or three names and nothing else. If you aren't one of those names, there is no page two to scroll to.

That second behaviour is growing. OpenAI data reported by Passionfruit suggests about 31% of ChatGPT prompts trigger a live web search, rising to roughly 53% for prompts with commercial intent. In other words, when people are close to buying, the assistant goes looking for businesses to name.

What the three have in common

This is the part most pitches skip. All three depend on the same foundation:

• A site that can be crawled. If Google and Bing can't read your pages, neither can the assistants that rely on them.
• Clear, specific answers. Pages that state what you do, where, for whom and at what price get used. Vague pages don't.
• Consistent business facts. The same name, address, phone, hours and services on your site, Google Business Profile and directories.
• Proof from other people. Reviews and mentions on sites you don't control.

Google says the same thing in its own guidance on AI features: there are no special requirements to appear in AI Overviews beyond the fundamentals that already apply to search. So anyone selling AEO or GEO as a replacement for SEO is selling the roof before the walls.

Where they differ in practice

SEO work is technical fixes, page titles, service and location pages, internal links and your Google Business Profile.

AEO work adds answer-first writing (the answer in the first two sentences), FAQ sections built from real customer questions, structured data that states your business facts, and listings on the directories assistants trust in your industry.

GEO work adds content worth citing: original numbers, comparison tables, clear definitions and sources. It also means being mentioned on third-party sites, because AI answers pull from many sources at once.

Which should you do first?

Use this order. Each step makes the next one cheaper.

1. Local SEO if you serve a local area. Your Google Business Profile, reviews and Map Pack presence drive calls today.
2. Core SEO. Fast, crawlable site with one clear page per service.
3. AEO. Rewrite key pages answer-first, add FAQs and structured data, fix listings.
4. GEO. Publish two useful, sourced pieces a month and earn mentions.

If your customers buy on impulse or in an emergency (a burst pipe, a dead battery), stop at step 2 or 3. If they research for days (a divorce lawyer, a med spa treatment, a kitchen remodel, a product over $100), steps 3 and 4 pay back.

What it should cost

Search demand tells you how the market prices this. Stan Ventures found "ai seo agency" at 3,800 US searches a month and "ai seo company" at 2,100, with advertisers paying $9 to $17 a click for them. Agencies charge accordingly, often $1,500 a month and up.

Current prices for every plan are on the pricing page.

How to tell if it's working

Don't accept a report full of impressions. Ask for three numbers every month:

• Calls and bookings from search, tracked, not estimated.
• Mentions: out of 25 buyer questions, how many times were you named by each assistant?
• Citations: how many AI answers linked to your site?

You can run a simple version yourself. Our guide on how to check your AI visibility walks through it in 20 minutes, and what answer engine optimization is goes deeper on the AEO steps.

A quick decision checklist

• Customers find you mainly on Google Maps: start with local SEO.
• Your site is slow, thin or older than three years: fix SEO first.
• You rank fine on Google but assistants never mention you: add AEO.
• Competitors get cited in AI Overviews and you don't: add GEO.
• You don't know which applies: run a free AI visibility check.

Frequently asked questions