By Caitlin Desa, Search Specialist at Wrapped Agency
The way people search is changing.
Instead of typing a few keywords into Google, opening several tabs and comparing the information themselves, users can now ask an AI assistant a detailed question and receive a personalised response almost instantly.
A customer may once have searched: “Best lightweight laptop under £1,000.”
Now, they might ask: “I need a lightweight laptop for travelling, video calls and occasional design work. What should I consider?”
This is because an AI system can interpret the customer’s circumstances, compare different options and recommend a solution.
As a result, you may assume that traditional SEO is becoming irrelevant, GEO is replacing SEO, rankings no longer matter because AI provides the answer, and nobody will click through to your website.
But these assumptions are wrong.
AI has changed the search experience, but it has not removed the systems that discover, index, assess and retrieve online information.
So, you shouldn’t be asking, “should we invest in SEO or GEO?” Instead, you need to create one search strategy that performs across traditional results, AI summaries, conversational assistants and emerging agentic experiences.
What even is GEO?
Some of you may be wondering what GEO actually is and whether it is the same as AI SEO.
To answer that, we first need to dissect some of the terminology currently being used.
Generative Engine Optimisation, or GEO, is the process of making a brand and its content easier for generative AI systems to:
- Understand
- Retrieve
- Summarise accurately
- Cite or reference
- Recommend in response to relevant questions
GEO is not limited to Google’s AI Overviews. It can apply to ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot, shopping assistants and other generative discovery platforms.
You may also have encountered several related terms.
AEO, or Answer Engine Optimisation, generally refers to creating content that can directly answer users’ questions.
LLMO, or Large Language Model Optimisation, focuses on helping language models understand and accurately represent a brand.
AIO, or Artificial Intelligence Optimisation, is a broader term for improving content visibility and performance across AI systems.
Search Everywhere Optimisation takes an even wider view. It recognises that online discovery now happens across traditional search engines, social platforms, marketplaces, video platforms and AI tools.
These terms overlap, and the industry does not always use them consistently. However, they broadly share the same objective: making a business visible wherever AI plays a role in discovery.
Why “SEO versus GEO” is the wrong debate
The SEO vs GEO debate treats the two disciplines as substitutes, when they actually perform different but still interconnected jobs.
Think of it like this: SEO gets your source material into the library, catalogued correctly and placed where people can find it. GEO increases the chance that the researcher reads it, understands it and uses it in their final answer.
A website could contain content written in a clear, GEO-friendly style, but if it has weak technical SEO, search systems may struggle to discover, crawl or index it.
Equally, a technically strong website could rank successfully but contain vague, generic or poorly structured information. In that situation, an AI system may not consider it a useful source when constructing an answer.
One does not replace the other. Each solves a different part of the same visibility challenge.
SEO remains the foundation of modern visibility
AI search still depends on discoverable web content
Google has said it clearly: as Google Search develops more generative AI features, SEO best practice still applies.
Its generative search experiences are rooted in the same core ranking and quality systems that support traditional search. A page still needs to be accessible, indexed and eligible to appear in Google Search before it can be considered for inclusion in its generative features.
That means the fundamentals remain important:
- Crawling and indexing
- Internal linking
- Clear site architecture
- Page performance
- Mobile usability
- Helpful written content
- Accurate structured data
- Current Business Profile and Merchant Center information
- Relevant authority and trust signals
GEO does not allow businesses to skip these fundamentals. AI platforms need information to retrieve, understand and evaluate. Technical SEO helps to ensure that the right information is available to them in the first place.
SEO captures high-intent demand
SEO remains particularly important when a user already knows what they need and is ready to act, for example, during a branded search. Someone who has already encountered your business through an AI response, recommendation, advertisement or conversation may then search specifically for your company. At that point, they are likely to be looking for a particular service, product, location, price or contact method.
Strong organic visibility helps turn that existing interest into a measurable action. Thus, SEO continues to play an important role in capturing users who are closer to booking, buying or making an enquiry.
AI does not appear for every search
Google says AI Overviews are shown when its systems determine that a generative response will add value beyond the traditional search experience.
This means that, for many searches, users will still encounter familiar organic listings, local results, product listings and other established search features. Therefore, abandoning SEO would leave a significant part of search demand unaddressed. It would also make a business overly dependent on AI platforms whose interfaces, source-selection processes and visibility patterns are continuing to evolve.
SEO supports the experience after the recommendation
Even when an AI system introduces a business, the customer journey does not necessarily end with the generated answer.
A user may still visit the website to verify information, read more detail, and enquire.
GEO may help create the initial recommendation, but SEO, content design and user experience help convert the resulting interest.
A citation is useful. A citation that leads to a trustworthy, accessible and persuasive website is considerably more valuable.
Why GEO now matters
Search behaviour is becoming conversational
Generative AI allows users to explain their circumstances, constraints, preferences and intended outcome using natural language. Which means that, instead of only targeting individual keywords, businesses need to address:
- Complete questions
- Related subtopics
- Comparisons
- Trade-offs
- Use cases
- Follow-up questions
- Decision criteria
Content must demonstrate a complete understanding of the subject.
There is an important caveat here. The growth of conversational and longer-tail searches does not mean businesses should immediately replace all the keywords on their website or in their paid search campaigns.
Importantly, paid search decisions should still be based on search behaviour, intent, performance data, match types and campaign goals. Changes in organic and AI search behaviour should inform advertising strategy, not trigger an untested overhaul.
This shift is particularly relevant to healthcare SEO and financial services SEO, where people often search for detailed information before making important decisions. Someone researching a healthcare provider might ask an AI assistant to explain treatment options or compare services, while a person exploring financial products may ask about fees, eligibility or potential risks. Property buyers may use AI search to compare developments, locations and buying options, while charity supporters might research an organisation’s impact before deciding to donate. For brands in these sectors, combining SEO and GEO means creating accurate, useful content that answers real audience questions while building the credibility needed to earn trust.
GEO creates opportunities during early discovery
SEO and GEO do not always carry equal weight at every stage of the buying journey. During early discovery, users tend to ask broad, exploratory and conversational questions. For example, “what type of CRM would suit a growing creative agency?”
The primary opportunity at this stage is GEO, supported by SEO.
The goal is to appear within explanations, recommendations, category summaries and initial consideration sets. Your content should help the user understand their options before they have decided exactly what they need.
AI citations can strengthen other search activity
AI visibility does not necessarily replace the SEO click. In some circumstances, it can increase confidence in the result that eventually earns it.
Research discussed by Search Engine Land found that brands cited within an AI Overview received more organic and paid clicks than uncited brands appearing elsewhere on the same results page.
The study reported that cited brands received 35% more organic clicks and 91% more paid clicks. The suggested explanation is that the AI citation works as a form of endorsement: users see the company presented as a credible source and are then more likely to select its organic or paid listing.
Evidently, a generated answer may influence a click even when it is not where the click ultimately takes place.
Where SEO and GEO reinforce each other
Crawlability creates eligibility
AI systems cannot reliably retrieve information that search engines cannot access, process or understand. Technical accessibility is therefore not separate from GEO. It creates the conditions that allow useful content to be discovered and considered.
Clear writing helps humans and machines
Content that is easy for an AI system to interpret is often easier for a person to read too.
Useful practices include:
- Descriptive headings
- Direct answers near the beginning of sections
- Short summaries
- Clearly defined terminology
- Logical paragraph structures
- Comparison tables where appropriate
- Clearly attributed statistics
- FAQ sections based on genuine customer questions
However, the objective should never be to write only for a machine. A human being still needs to read the content, understand it and decide whether to trust the organisation behind it. Content should always be people-first.
Authority supports rankings and citations
Unsupported claims are unlikely to build trust with users, search engines or generative systems.
Google continues to recommend unique, useful content that provides genuine value rather than simply reproducing information already available elsewhere.
This is particularly important in an environment where generic summaries can be produced quickly. First-hand knowledge, original evidence and distinctive expertise give both users and AI systems a reason to select your content.
Consistent brand information reduces ambiguity
A business should present consistent information about itself. The objective is to make it easy for both search engines and AI systems to connect the right facts with the right organisation.
The information displayed by AI often draws from websites and other online sources. If a business publishes inconsistent information across the channels it controls, those inconsistencies may be reflected in generated responses. That can create confusion and distrust among users. Accurate, useful and consistent information forms part of the brand’s search visibility and reputation.
How can a combined SEO and GEO strategy help your business?
The business benefit is not “doing GEO” simply because it is a new marketing term.
The goal is to build a discoverable, trusted and clearly represented brand across the full modern search journey.
That means ensuring your information can be found through traditional search, understood by generative systems and trusted by the person who ultimately makes the decision.
Overall, SEO and GEO are not competing strategies. SEO creates the technical, content and authority foundations that make your brand discoverable, while GEO helps AI systems understand and recommend it. Businesses that invest in both will be better positioned to remain visible throughout the modern search journey.
