# GEO vs. SEO: differences, overlaps and what changes in day-to-day work

> SEO aims for rankings and clicks, GEO for mentions in AI answers. What both share, what changes in planning and measurement, and how to get started pragmatically.

- URL: https://techtafel.com/en/blog/geo-vs-seo/
- Author: [George Moreno](https://techtafel.com/en/author/george-moreno/), Author
- Published: 13 November 2026
- Other languages: DE https://techtafel.com/blog/geo-vs-seo/

## In short

SEO optimises for rankings and clicks on the results page, GEO for mentions and citations in AI answers. Both rest on the same foundation: crawlable, helpful content with a clear structure. What changes are the metrics, planning by topics and prompts instead of single keywords, and the greater weight of mentions outside your own website.

- **Same foundation:** Google states there are no additional technical requirements for AI Overviews and AI Mode. SEO basics remain the prerequisite.
- **Different goal:** SEO targets position and clicks, GEO targets mentions and citations inside the answer.
- **New measurement:** Search Console does not report AI traffic separately. GEO needs prompt tracking.
- **Fewer clicks per search:** In a Pew analysis, users clicked classic results less often when an AI summary appeared.

## How does GEO differ from SEO?

**GEO targets the answer, SEO targets the results list.** Search engine optimisation (SEO) improves rankings and clicks in classic search results. Generative engine optimisation (GEO) aims to get an AI system to name a brand or cite a page as a source. Examples are Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT search and Perplexity. A detailed definition is in our article [What is GEO?](https://techtafel.com/en/blog/what-is-geo/).

The term comes from a 2023 [research paper by Aggarwal and colleagues](https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.09735), published at the KDD conference in 2024. The authors report that targeted text changes increased visibility in generative answers by up to 40 percent. That figure comes from a test environment. It does not transfer directly to individual websites.

![Three-column infographic: SEO aims for ranking and clicks, GEO for mentions and citations in AI answers, with a shared foundation of crawling, helpful content, structured data and authority in between](https://techtafel.com/media/01a1d547-808c-7cde-9d45-fde94e87fa57-800.webp)
*SEO and GEO share a foundation. Goal, planning unit and measurement differ.*

| Aspect | SEO | GEO |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Goal | Ranking and click | Mention and citation |
| Planning unit | Keyword and search intent | Topic, prompt and follow-up questions |
| Result | Results list with snippets and SERP features | Generated answer with a few sources |
| Measurement | Search Console, rank tracking | Prompt tracking, referral traffic, mentions |
| Lever outside the website | Backlinks | Mentions in sources that AI systems draw on |

## What do GEO and SEO share?

**No indexing, no AI answer.** Google's [documentation on AI features](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features) says there are no additional requirements for AI Overviews and AI Mode. A page must be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet. According to Google, you need no special Schema.org markup and no separate AI text files.

A similar principle applies to ChatGPT, with its own crawler. OpenAI documents that sites which block the [OAI-SearchBot crawler](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots) will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers. Anyone who wants AI visibility should check robots.txt first.

These basics support both disciplines:

- **Crawlability:** pages are reachable, internally linked and not blocked by accident.
- **Text, not images:** key statements appear as text on the page. Google recommends this explicitly.
- **Helpful content:** original data, experience and clear answers beat rewritten generalities.
- **Structured data:** markup describes the visible content. More in our article on [structured data for Google and AI search](https://techtafel.com/en/blog/structured-data-ai-search/).
- **Trust signals:** author details, sources and a complete legal notice make content verifiable.

Google puts it in similar terms. In a [guide from May 2025](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2025/05/succeeding-in-ai-search), Google recommends unique content, a good page experience and technical accessibility. It does not describe a separate GEO rulebook.

## What changes in daily work?

**The biggest change is in planning and measurement.** The craft stays the same. Four things shift in the daily work of SEO teams.

### Topics instead of single keywords

AI systems break questions into sub-questions. Google calls this query fan-out: AI Overviews and AI Mode may run several related searches across subtopics. A page that covers a topic and its follow-up questions offers more entry points than one page per keyword variant.

### Answers that stand alone

Generated answers reuse individual passages. Paragraphs that name their subject and make a clear, sourced statement are easier to cite. A definition in the first two sentences, tables for comparisons and lists for steps help readers and machines alike.

### Mentions beyond your website

AI answers name brands even without linking to their website. Trade articles, comparison pages, forums and industry directories shape how a system describes a brand. Digital PR and well-maintained listings gain weight as a result. Robust studies on how individual sources are weighted are still scarce (rules of thumb deserve scepticism).

### New metrics

According to Google, Search Console counts clicks and impressions from AI Overviews and AI Mode in the Performance report under the “Web” search type. There is no separate filter. For ChatGPT, Perplexity or Gemini, no comparable data source exists at all.

Teams therefore measure with **prompt tracking**: a tool asks a fixed set of questions regularly and logs mentions and sources. Our [comparison of AI visibility tools](https://techtafel.com/en/compare/ai-visibility-tools-comparison/) gives an overview of such tools.

> **Hinweis:**
>
> **Prompt tracking is a sample.** AI answers vary with wording, location, history and model version. Evaluate trends over several weeks, not single queries.

## How does AI change click behaviour?

**AI summaries reduce clicks per search.** The [Pew Research Center](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/22/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears-in-the-results/) analysed browsing data from 900 US adults in March 2025. Only about 1 percent of visits with an AI summary included a click on a link inside the summary itself.

**8%** of Google searches with an AI summary led to a click on a classic result. Without a summary, the figure was 15%. (Source: [Pew Research Center, July 2025](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/22/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears-in-the-results/))

Google sees it differently. In its May 2025 guide, Google writes that clicks from AI Overviews are higher quality because users spend more time on the site. Google has not published independent figures on this.

The reach of these formats keeps growing. At [Google I/O in May 2026](https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/sundar-pichai-io-2026/), Sundar Pichai cited more than 2.5 billion monthly active users for AI Overviews and over one billion for AI Mode. Background on the format is in our article on [AI Overviews](https://techtafel.com/en/blog/google-ai-overviews-ai-mode/).

## Do you need a GEO strategy?

**For most companies, GEO extends the SEO strategy.** A dedicated budget pays off once AI answers demonstrably influence buying decisions in your sector. A pragmatic start in five steps:

1. Check robots.txt and indexing for Googlebot, Bingbot and OAI-SearchBot.
2. Define 20 to 50 prompts your customers ask before buying.
3. Measure for four to eight weeks who gets named in the answers.
4. Revise the pages on your key topics with clear answers, tables and sources.
5. Maintain listings and mentions in the sources AI systems cite.

What an llms.txt file can and cannot do is covered in our article on [llms.txt](https://techtafel.com/en/blog/llms-txt/). Start with an honest audit: which questions do your customers ask, and who answers them today?

## Frequently asked questions

### Is GEO the end of SEO?

No. According to Google, AI Overviews and AI Mode draw on the search index. A page that is not indexed cannot appear there as a source. GEO adds new goals and metrics to SEO.

### Can I see AI traffic in Search Console?

Only together with other traffic. Google counts AI Overviews and AI Mode in the Performance report under the “Web” search type. Visits from ChatGPT or Perplexity show up in web analytics via the referrer, provided the system passes one on.

### Do I need different content for GEO?

Usually the same content, structured more clearly: a direct answer first, self-contained paragraphs, tables and sources. What is new is content for the follow-up questions customers ask in AI chats.

### What is the difference between GEO, AEO and LLMO?

The terms describe largely the same goal: visibility in AI-generated answers. GEO comes from 2023 research. AEO (answer engine optimisation) and LLMO (large language model optimisation) are industry terms without a fixed definition. A short definition is in our glossary entry on [GEO](https://techtafel.com/en/glossary/geo/).

## Sources

1. [GEO: Generative Engine Optimization (Aggarwal et al., KDD 2024)](https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.09735), arXiv, 2023-11-16
2. [AI features and your website](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features), Google Search Central, 2026-11
3. [Overview of OpenAI Crawlers](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots), OpenAI, 2026-11
4. [Top ways to ensure your content performs well in Google's AI experiences on Search](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2025/05/succeeding-in-ai-search), Google Search Central Blog, 2025-05-21
5. [Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/22/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears-in-the-results/), Pew Research Center, 2025-07-22
6. [Google I/O 2026: Sundar Pichai’s opening keynote](https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/sundar-pichai-io-2026/), Google, 2026-05-19