Glossary
AEO vs GEO: what's the difference?
AEO (answer engine optimization) focuses on being chosen as the direct answer to a question, as in featured snippets, voice answers and AI Overviews. GEO (generative engine optimization) focuses on being mentioned, cited and recommended in AI-generated answers more broadly. They overlap heavily, and many people use the terms interchangeably.
Side by side
| AEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Origin | Featured snippets, voice assistants | LLM-based answer engines |
| Target | One direct answer | Mentions, citations, recommendations |
| Unit | A passage | A passage and the brand |
| Off-site work | Less | More (mentions, listings, reviews) |
Shared tactics
Answer the question in the first sentences, use clear headings and lists, include specifics and sources, keep facts consistent. Every glossary page here is built that way.
Where they differ in practice
GEO puts more weight on the wider web: being included in the lists, directories, reviews and threads AI engines read for product questions. AEO is mostly about your own pages' structure.
Example
A founder's FAQ wins a featured snippet (AEO). Her product only starts appearing in ChatGPT's recommendations after she gets listed on review sites and comparison articles (GEO).
FAQ
Which should I focus on?
Do both; most work overlaps.
Is AEO outdated?
No. AI Overviews and assistants extract answers the same way.
Does AEO mean something else?
Some use it for agent experience optimization, but answer engine optimization is the common meaning.
Sources
- Google Search Central: Featured snippets
- Aggarwal et al.: GEO: Generative Engine Optimization (arXiv)