GEO
You are starting broad
You want to be recommended in generated answers and do not yet know where the problem is. GEO is the frame.
GEO, AEO, LLMO and AI SEO compared
Four terms, one misunderstanding.
The four get used interchangeably, including by providers. That is convenient and wrong. They describe different target systems, different work and different metrics.
Short version
One sentence each.
GEO, generative engine optimisation, is the work of getting your brand recommended inside generated answers. It is the broadest of the four and partly contains the others.
AEO, answer engine optimisation, works on individual questions and on making your passage the quoted answer.
LLMO, large language model optimisation, works on the sources and facts language models build their picture of you from.
AI SEO is search engine optimisation under the condition that a generated answer sits above the results. It stays inside the search engine.
If you take one sentence away: GEO is the programme, AEO the question layer, LLMO the source layer, AI SEO your existing work.
Comparison
How to tell them apart.
The row whose guiding question is closest to yours tells you what your case is about.
| Discipline | Guiding question | Lead KPI | For whom |
|---|---|---|---|
| GEO | How does my brand get recommended in generated answers? | Share of voice in AI answers | Marketing leads |
| AEO | How does my answer become the cited one? | Share of owned answer passages | Content leads |
| LLMO | How do I get into the source base of language models? | Citation frequency per model | Brand and comms |
| AI SEO | What changes about the SEO I already do? | Visibility and click loss | SEO leads |
Overlap
Why the boundaries are still blurred.
All four rest on the same groundwork: reachable pages, clear structure, evidenced claims, consistent details. Do one and you improve the others. That is why the terms feel like synonyms although they are not.
The difference becomes visible the moment you measure. A business can be strong in search answer boxes and absent from ChatGPT entirely. Another gets named in chatbots, but always through a comparison portal rather than its own site. Those are different problems with different fixes.
In practice the term is secondary and the measurement decides. We use the four names because that is what people search for, and we place your case after the first run rather than by the word you enquired with.
Placement
Which one applies to you?
AEO
You have specific questions
Your audience asks the same questions repeatedly and you want your answer to be the quoted one.
LLMO
Nobody knows you
Your website is fine, but nobody outside it talks about you. Then sources are what is missing.
AI SEO
You already do SEO
Positions hold, clicks fall. Then this is about your existing work rather than a new programme.
Common questions
About the boundaries.
Are GEO, AEO and LLMO not simply the same thing?
They overlap in the groundwork and differ in the goal. GEO aims at the recommendation inside a generated answer, AEO at the quoted passage for a question, LLMO at the sources a model draws from. Each measures something different.
Which term has established itself?
In German-speaking markets GEO is searched most, followed by AI SEO and LLMO. AEO is the narrowest. That says something about usage and nothing about which fits best technically.
Do I need all four?
Almost never. Most projects map to one or two. Anyone being sold all four at once should ask which measurement that recommendation rests on.
What about the terms GAIO or AIO?
Further labels for the same field that have not caught on. We do not use them, because extra abbreviations increase confusion without naming anything new.
How does all this relate to classic SEO?
Classic SEO remains the base the four sit on. A page that is technically unreachable appears in no answer. What is added is work on quotability and on sources outside your own domain.
Which metric belongs to which term?
GEO share of voice across all answers, AEO the share of owned answer passages, LLMO citation frequency per model, AI SEO visibility and click loss side by side. Anyone offering one single number for everything is oversimplifying.
Can one measure serve several at once?
Regularly. A cleanly marked-up, clearly written answer passage pays into AEO and GEO, and if it gets cited, indirectly into LLMO. So the separation sorts the goals rather than the work.
Which term fits a local business?
Usually GEO with a heavy share of directory and map data. AEO pays off when there are many recurring questions, about opening hours, facilities or availability.
And for a software product?
Frequently LLMO, because the question there is whether a model knows your product in its category at all. That depends on mentions in comparisons, expert articles and directories rather than on your product page.
How do I spot a provider who only uses the terms?
Ask for the metric and the measurement method. Anyone selling GEO and showing rankings as the result has missed the difference. Anyone selling LLMO without talking about sources outside your domain has too.
Will these terms change again?
Probably. They are two or three years old and not settled. What should survive is the distinction behind them: answer surface, question layer, source layer, existing work. The names are more replaceable than the substance.
Next step
Let us find out where you stand in AI answers.
One conversation, 30 minutes, no sales pressure. You leave with an honest read on whether this is worth the effort for you.
