Bridging the Gap Between SEO, AEO, and GEO
For years, SEO and planning your search strategy was fairly straight-forward: you’d pick some keywords, optimize your website, and then sit back and wait for it to climb the Google rankings and bring in traffic, engagement, and leads.
But lately, the way people find information (and agents) is undergoing a big shift…
It’s no longer just about typing keywords into a search bar; it’s about asking questions to AI assistants, getting summarized “overviews,” and seeking direct answers from LLMs like Google Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity, etc.
That means that to future-proof your search strategy, you need to understand the 3 main pillars of digital visibility: SEO (Search Engine Optimization), AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization).
But with so many acronyms, as someone working on building a modern, results-drive search strategy, it’s hard to know what to incorporate.
In short, the answer is all of them – at least to some degree, depending on your strategy goals. Either way, it starts by understanding what they all mean and how they’re connected:
What is SEO?
(Search Engine Optimization) SEO is the practice of optimizing your website with the goal of ranking higher in traditional search engine results, like Google search, Bing, etc.
SEO is the foundation of a modern search strategy, and it’s where you should be concentrating most of your energy and time. That’s because a lot of the technical, best practices efforts in SEO are the basis for a well-rounded search strategy that also incorporates AEO and GEO. Without a well-structured, SEO-friendly website, the rest of your digital strategy will likely crumble.
Remember, even though there’s a considerable rise in people using AI assistants to get answers to questions directly, traditional search still makes up most of where people look for information, so it makes sense to spend most of your time optimizing to display there as a way to build your organic traffic source.
The biggest shift of late in SEO and building an organic search strategy is the switch from focusing on keywords to focusing on building larger, more complex topic ownership strategies, which allows you to dominate an entire topic—like “Living in Columbus”—by creating a large amount of strategic, high-quality, well-written content that proves you’re authority and continually returns you in search results for a number of different searches.
★ Want to learn more about SEO and building traditional search visibility? Have a look at these posts:
- Switching Your SEO Strategy from Keyword Matching to Topic Ownership to Get Better Leads
- Planning for How Your Audience Searches For You (and Finds You) Online
- The Three Components of a Successful Real Estate SEO Strategy
- Building a Successful Real Estate Off-Page SEO Strategy
- How to Do Keyword Research for Your Real Estate SEO Strategy
What is AEO?
(Answer Engine Optimization) Answer Engine Optimization is the practice of providing direct, concise answers to specific questions with the goal of being cited in AI-generated answers and AI search results.
And that starts with having a solid content strategy in place – a solid content strategy that informs, educates, and above all, answers questions, is the most critical part of a successful AEO strategy.
AEO is an important part of your overall search strategy because it works towards you building authority, expertise, and trust with your audience by helping them by answering questions they have about particular situations they find themselves in, like needing to sell their parent’s home later in life, or going through a difficult separation and wondering what to do with the family home.
In short, AEO is about helping people, and having them reach out when they’re ready to do a real estate transaction as a result of your efforts.
★ Want to learn more about AEO and building AI visibility? Have a look at these posts:
- Building an Answers Engine Optimization (AEO) Strategy for AI
- Creating an AI Visibility Strategy for Your Real Estate Brand
- Building a Successful SEO Strategy for AI Search Results
- Pivoting Your Website Content Strategy to See More Success in AI Search Results
What is GEO?
Generative Engine Optimization is the practice of optimizing you and your brand’s online presence in a positive way so that it’s cited and recommended by Generative AI models, like ChatGPT or Google’s AI Overviews.
Unlike other search optimization efforts, when it comes to GEO, AI’s aren’t just looking at backlinks to determine how reputable you are – they’re also looking at what other websites and online sources are saying about you.
For example, before citing you, AI looks at your online reviews (like Google Reviews, Rate-My-Agent, etc), mentions of your brand on other websites, and your general online presence, and from there, forms an opinion of whether it thinks you’re a credible source that’s worth citing.
There are 2 parts to GEO:
- Direct Brand Visibility: Ensuring that when someone searches for you directly, like: “is Melissa Ross a good agent?”, the AI has enough information from your personal website and online review sources to give a solid endorsement.
- Indirect Brand Visibility: Ensuring that when someone searches indirectly, like: “most trustworthy agents in Toronto,” the AI recommends you and you brand because you have a strong digital footprint of reviews, backlinks, and authoritative content.
And having a strong GEO strategy in place ensures you are able to cover both direct and indirect brand searches.
★ Want to learn more about building an AI citation worthy brand? Have a look at these posts:
- How to Build an Online Presence Strategy for Your Real Estate Brand
- The Steps to Building a Trustworthy Personal Real Estate Brand
- Building a Real Estate Online Presence Strategy to Get Found in LLMs (like ChatGPT)
- Why Building Trust is a Key Part of a Successful SEO Strategy
While there’s a lot of different ways people search (and potentially find you) online, a modern search strategy involves covering all of your bases.
It requires a commitment to high-quality, authoritative content and a strategy that puts the needs of your target audience first. By combining the structural strength of SEO, the directness of AEO, and the authoritative reach of GEO, you can ensure that no matter how or where people are looking for an agent, they consistently find you, your brand, and your business.
Want to learn more about SEO and get more traffic to your website? Our SEO, AEO, and AI Visibility Strategy Guide is a mix of curated content and self-guided workbook that will help provide insight on how you can build and implement a modern SEO and overall search strategy.
