Bridging the Gap Between SEO, AEO, and GEO
For years, SEO and planning your search strategy was fairly straightforward: 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 platforms like Google Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and more.
That means that to future-proof your search strategy, you need to understand the three 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-driven 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. It starts by understanding what they all mean and how they’re connected.
What Is SEO?
Search Engine Optimization 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-practice 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 struggle.
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 in SEO right now is the move from focusing on individual keywords to building larger, more complex topic ownership strategies. That means creating a substantial amount of strategic, high-quality, well-written content around a broader topic, like “Living in Columbus,” that proves your authority and continually returns you in search results for a range of related 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
- The Components of a Successful Real Estate SEO Strategy
- How to Do Keyword Research for Your Real Estate SEO Strategy
What Is AEO?
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.
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 toward building authority, expertise, and trust with your audience by helping them with questions they have about specific situations, like needing to sell a 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
- Pivoting Your Website Content Strategy to See More Success in AI Search Results
What Is GEO?
Generative Engine Optimization is the practice of optimizing your brand’s online presence 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 platforms 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 considers you a credible source that’s worth citing.
There are two 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 your brand because you have a strong digital footprint of reviews, backlinks, and authoritative content.
Having a strong GEO strategy in place ensures you’re able to cover both direct and indirect brand searches.
★ Want to learn more about building a brand that AI platforms want to cite? Have a look at these posts:
- Building a Real Estate Online Presence Strategy to Get Found in LLMs (like ChatGPT)
- How Unlinked Brand Mentions Help Your AI Visibility Strategy
- How to Build an Online Review Strategy That AI Search Can’t Ignore
A Modern Search Strategy Covers All Three
While there are a lot of different ways people search and potentially find you online, a modern search strategy involves covering all of your bases across SEO, AEO, and GEO.
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 make sure that no matter how or where people are looking for an agent, they consistently find you, your brand, and your business.
The good news is that these three disciplines aren’t entirely separate efforts. A lot of the work overlaps: content that ranks well in traditional search also gets cited by AI platforms, and the brand presence you build for GEO also strengthens your SEO authority. The key is understanding what each one requires and making sure your strategy accounts for all three.
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.
