For two decades, SEO meant ranking in a list of blue links. That game still matters — but it's no longer the whole board. AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity increasingly answer questions directly, and being cited there is a new front in visibility.
The new acronyms
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is about showing up inside AI-generated answers. AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) is about being the source an engine extracts a direct answer from — featured snippets, AI Overviews, and the like.
What actually helps
The good news: much of what makes content AI-friendly also makes it better for traditional SEO. Clear, citable factual statements. Direct answers near the top of the page. Question-style headings. Valid structured data (FAQ, Article, Product). Consistent entity naming so machines know what you're about. An llms.txt file is an emerging best practice worth adopting early.
Don't abandon the fundamentals
Titles, meta, internal links, indexability, and page experience still decide whether you rank at all. GEO/AEO is additive, not a replacement. The right approach is one loop that optimizes for both — which is how we built SEOcompass.