For leaders · 7 November 2026
AEO vs GEO vs SEO: what leadership teams need to know
Three acronyms, one business goal: when someone looks for what you offer, your company is found, described correctly and trusted. Here is what each term means and how to manage them without getting lost in jargon.
The short version
- SEO (search engine optimisation) gets your company into Google's list of results and onto Google Maps.
- AEO (answer engine optimisation) makes your facts easy to lift into a direct answer, such as the box at the top of Google or a voice assistant's reply.
- GEO (generative engine optimisation) helps AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity know your company and describe it correctly when they recommend options.
Why the difference matters to the board
Each one controls a different kind of first impression. A results page lets the buyer compare. An answer box gives one answer. An AI assistant gives a written recommendation with a few names. As buyers move towards answers and recommendations, the cost of being missing or misdescribed rises, because there are fewer places on the shortlist.
What they have in common
All three depend on the same foundation: accurate, consistent and well-structured information about your company. That is why we treat them as one programme rather than three separate projects. Fixing your facts once improves all three.
Who should own it
Marketing usually runs the day-to-day work, but the decisions sit higher: which services to lead with, which markets matter, what the company should be known for. A leadership sponsor keeps the work aligned with strategy and makes sure every brand, branch and agency tells the same story.
How to measure progress
- Agree a fixed set of questions your customers and stakeholders ask.
- Record how you appear on Google and AI assistants today, and who is named instead of you.
- Repeat the same checks every month, and track wrong facts found and fixed.
Keep the measures few and simple. A leadership team should be able to read the report in minutes.
Is this the same as advertising?
No. Paid ads stop when the budget stops. SEO, AEO and GEO improve the information Google and AI assistants already rely on, so the work keeps paying off. They also do not replace your social media or advertising agencies; they sit underneath them at strategy level.
For a deeper comparison, see SEO, AEO and GEO explained, or read about our work with leadership teams.
Want to know where your company stands?
Book a strategy call and we will show you how Google and AI assistants describe you today.