Very little beyond the name. GEO (generative engine optimization), AEO (answer engine optimization), AI SEO and LLMO all describe the same work: getting AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini to mention and recommend you when people ask about what you do. AEO is the older term; GEO is newer and now widely used. What matters isn't the label but what you measure: how often those assistants name you, next to your competitors, and why.
What is GEO?
GEO stands for generative engine optimization: making your business show up in the answers of generative AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. The term comes from a research paper published in November 2023, written for engines that compose an answer rather than return a list of links.
What is AEO?
AEO stands for answer engine optimization. It's older than GEO: it was used for featured snippets and voice assistants, where the search engine gives one answer instead of ten links. With chat assistants, the term was stretched to cover them too, and today it means the same as GEO for most people who use it.
What are AI SEO, LLM SEO and LLMO?
Looser names for the same thing. AI SEO and LLM SEO frame it as a branch of SEO; LLMO (large language model optimization) names the technology behind the assistants. You'll also see "AI search optimization" and "AI visibility", which is what we call it.
How do the terms compare?
| Term | Stands for | Emphasis |
|---|---|---|
| GEO | Generative engine optimization | Showing up in answers written by generative AI |
| AEO | Answer engine optimization | Being the answer, from featured snippets and voice to AI assistants |
| AI SEO / LLM SEO | SEO for AI search | The same work, seen as part of SEO |
| LLMO | Large language model optimization | The models behind the assistants |
| AI visibility | No acronym | The result: whether AI recommends you, and against whom |
How is all of this different from SEO?
SEO competes for a position in a list of ten results. GEO competes for a mention in one answer that names only a few businesses. In our October 2026 study of sports retail, 6 in 10 answers named the same store (58–68%). There's no second page to fall back on.
| SEO | GEO / AEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Where you compete | A list of results | An answer that names a few businesses |
| What you measure | Position per keyword | Share of answers that name you, per question and assistant |
| What gets cited | Your pages, ranked | The pages that best answer the question; on product questions, mostly buying guides |
| How stable it is | Rankings move slowly | The same question can get a different answer each time, so you sample several times |
On the citation point, the same study found that 54 of 54 store citations on product questions went to buying guides, not product pages. That's why GEO work looks different from classic SEO work, even though it starts from the same place: a site search engines can read.
What does it mean in practice for an online store?
Whatever you call it, the work is the same four things:
- Let the assistants read your site: crawlers allowed in, content in the HTML, structured product data.
- Put the data the questions ask for on your product pages: the attributes people use to choose, filled across the category.
- Publish the pages assistants cite: buying guides that answer specific questions.
- Get mentioned on the sources they trust: the review and comparison sites in your category.
The guide on how to get ChatGPT to recommend your store goes through each one.
How do you measure it?
By asking the assistants the questions your customers ask, several times each, with web search on and from your market, and recording who they name and which pages they cite. A single query proves little, because answers vary. That's how Semantico measures it: the share of answers that name you, next to your competitors, with the cause when it isn't you.
Common questions
Is GEO the same as AEO?
In practice, yes. Both describe getting AI assistants to mention and recommend you. AEO is the older term and comes from featured snippets and voice assistants; GEO was coined for generative assistants such as ChatGPT. The work you do for one is the work you do for the other.
Is GEO replacing SEO?
No. AI assistants with web search read pages they find through search, so a site that doesn't rank has fewer chances of being read. But ranking isn't enough: the assistant names only a few businesses, and picks the ones whose pages best answer the question.
What is LLMO?
Large language model optimization. Another name for the same work, used less often than GEO or AEO.
Which term should I use in my company?
Whichever your team already uses. What matters is agreeing on what you measure: how often AI assistants name you for the questions your customers ask, next to your competitors.
What does Semantico call it?
AI visibility. It names the result rather than the technique: whether ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini recommend you, and why not when they don't.
