Search is changing, but the terminology around AI search is becoming messy.
Businesses are now hearing terms such as SEO for AI, AEO and GEO, often used interchangeably by agencies and platforms. In practice, they all point toward the same broad objective: helping a business become easier to find, understand and reference in AI-powered search experiences.
The difference is mainly in emphasis.
Traditional SEO is still about making your website visible in search engines. SEO for AI, AEO and GEO build on that foundation by focusing on how your business appears when people ask longer, more conversational questions through tools such as ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Microsoft Copilot and Bing’s AI-powered search experiences.
Google itself has stated that AEO and GEO are terms used for improving visibility in AI search, but from Google’s perspective, optimising for generative AI search is still SEO. Its guidance remains focused on helpful, reliable, people-first content and sound technical SEO foundations.
What Is SEO for AI?
SEO for AI is the broadest and most practical term.
It describes the work required to make your website, content and brand easier for AI-powered search platforms to understand. This includes:
- Technical SEO and crawlability
- Clear service and product pages
- Structured content and headings
- FAQs and answer-led content
- Entity and brand optimisation
- Schema markup
- Internal linking
- Authority-building and trusted mentions
- Local relevance and business information consistency
SEO for AI is not about trying to “train” ChatGPT or force an AI platform to mention your business. No agency can guarantee inclusion in every AI answer.
Instead, it improves the signals that help AI search systems understand what your business does, who it serves, where it operates and why it is relevant to a specific question.
For example, a company that simply says it offers “marketing” is vague. A company that clearly explains it offers SEO, Google Ads, paid social, website development, analytics and AI discoverability services gives both users and AI systems much stronger context.
At IMS, SEO for AI is positioned as AI discoverability: helping a business be found, understood and trusted across traditional search and AI-led search experiences.
What Is AEO?
AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimisation.
AEO focuses on helping content appear when users ask direct questions and expect an immediate answer.
It is especially relevant for searches such as:
- “What does a digital ad agency do?”
- “How much does SEO cost in South Africa?”
- “Which forklift supplier operates in Gauteng?”
- “What is the difference between SEO and AI search optimisation?”
- “How can I improve website conversion rates?”
The objective is not only to rank a webpage. It is to make the webpage useful enough to be selected, summarised or cited as part of an answer.
AEO therefore places strong emphasis on:
- Clear question-and-answer content
- Helpful FAQs
- Concise explanations
- Well-structured headings
- Accurate definitions
- Comparison pages
- Service explanations
- Trust signals and evidence
- Schema markup where relevant
AEO is particularly useful for businesses with customers who research before buying. It allows a business to create content around the real questions people ask during the consideration process.
At IMS, this means developing pages that do more than target keywords. We structure content to answer commercial, technical and industry-specific questions in a way that supports both customer decision-making and AI discoverability.
What Is GEO?
GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimisation.
The term was formalised in academic research to describe improving content visibility within generative engine responses. Generative engines use large language models to synthesise information from multiple sources and produce an answer rather than simply displaying a list of links.
GEO is more focused on visibility within AI-generated summaries and recommendations.
For example, if somebody asks:
“Which digital agencies in Johannesburg can help with SEO, Google Ads, analytics and AI search?”
A GEO-focused strategy aims to strengthen the likelihood that your business is considered relevant when the platform creates its response.
GEO typically looks at:
- Brand and entity clarity
- Topical authority
- Citation potential
- Content depth and structure
- Third-party mentions
- Reviews, proof points and case studies
- Source credibility
- Relevant links and digital PR
- Consistent information across the web
The key word is generative. GEO is concerned with platforms that create a new answer by combining information from several sources.
This is different from traditional SEO, where success has historically been measured through rankings, clicks and traffic. GEO introduces another layer: whether the business is being referenced, cited or recommended inside a generated answer.
Microsoft has started exposing AI citation data in Bing Webmaster Tools through its AI Performance reporting, showing when a website is cited in AI-generated answers across Microsoft AI experiences.
Are SEO for AI, AEO and GEO Actually Different?
Yes, but not enough to justify treating them as completely separate services.
They overlap heavily.
A strong FAQ can support AEO.
A detailed service page can support SEO for AI.
A case study, industry article and trusted backlink can support GEO.
A technically sound website supports all three.
The mistake is treating these as isolated tactics.
A business cannot have a credible GEO strategy if its website is difficult to crawl, has thin content, unclear services, poor technical SEO or weak authority. Likewise, a business cannot expect AI systems to recommend it confidently if its online information is inconsistent or vague.
Why Traditional SEO Still Matters
Despite the new terminology, traditional SEO remains the foundation.
Google’s official guidance is clear: its generative AI search features use content from its Search index and continue to rely on core search ranking and quality systems.
That means businesses still need to get the basics right:
- Accessible website architecture
- Fast, mobile-friendly pages
- Clear content
- Relevant keywords and search intent
- Internal links
- Accurate metadata
- Helpful, reliable information
- Quality backlinks and authority signals
For ChatGPT search, OpenAI states that public websites can appear in search results and that publishers should ensure OAI-SearchBot is not blocked if they want content to be discovered and surfaced in summaries and snippets.
The message is simple: AI search is not replacing SEO. It is expanding the number of places where strong SEO work can create visibility.
What Does IMS Actually Do?
IMS combines the practical elements of SEO, AEO and GEO into an AI discoverability strategy.
Rather than selling jargon, we focus on the work that improves how a business is found, understood and trusted online.
This can include:
- AI discoverability audits
- Technical SEO improvements
- Content and service-page optimisation
- FAQ development
- Schema and structured data implementation
- Entity and brand optimisation
- Conversational search-query research
- Local SEO and service-area optimisation
- Case studies, comparison content and thought leadership
- Authority-building and backlink strategy
- AI visibility tracking and reporting
IMS also brings paid media, website development, analytics, data intelligence and conversion optimisation into the same conversation. That matters because discoverability is only valuable when it supports meaningful business outcomes such as leads, sales, enquiries and qualified traffic.
Which Term Should Your Business Use?
For most businesses, AI discoverability or SEO for AI is the clearest language.
It is easier for customers to understand and avoids making promises about specific AI platforms or guaranteed rankings.
AEO is useful when discussing answer-focused content, FAQs and customer questions.
GEO is useful when discussing brand inclusion, citations and visibility in generative AI platforms.
SEO for AI, AEO and GEO are not competing disciplines. They are different labels for a new layer of search optimisation.
The businesses that benefit most will not be the ones chasing every new acronym. They will be the ones that invest in clear information, strong technical foundations, useful content, credible proof and a consistent digital presence.
That is where IMS helps businesses create an unfair advantage: by combining SEO, AI discoverability, content, data, websites and performance marketing into one connected growth strategy. Reach out to IMS today.
