AEO vs. GEO vs. SEO: Why the Letters Don’t Matter (But Your Visibility Actions Do)
Why the AEO, GEO and SEO Terminology Keeps Shifting
What SEO, AEO and GEO Have in Common
Powerful Visibility Actions That Work No Matter What It’s Called
What This Looks Like for a Solo Coach With One Website
Is SEO dead now that AI answers questions directly?
Should I focus on AEO or GEO first?
It feels like there’s a new three-letter acronym every month that you’re supposed to be "optimizing" for, you’re not imagining it. Let’s scroll down the alphabet soup, shall we? SEO, AEO, GEO, AIO, LLMO. This post is for female coaches and service providers with one website who want to get found on Google and AI answers without chasing every new term. I’m Crissy Conner, visibility strategist and founder of The Visible CEO, and here’s my honest take: the letters matter far less than the visibility actions you take.
Why the AEO, GEO and SEO Terminology Keeps Shifting
The vocabulary around search and AI is constantly changing and the search data shows this. Right now, people search the abbreviations AEO roughly 7 times more often than the full phrase “answer engine optimization.”
That tells me two things. First, the shorthand is spreading faster than the understanding behind the letters. People have heard these acronyms, but aren’t sure what they mean. Second, whenever a new term takes off, a wave of new services and “experts” show up to sell you on it.
Curiosity is healthy. Rebuilding your whole strategy every month isn’t.
The Plain English Glossary
SEO - Search Engine Optimization - Can google find your website and show it in search results?
AEO - Answer Engine Optimization - Can a tool pull a clear, direct answer from your content? Think featured snippets, voice assistants and AI Overviews.
GEO - Generative Engine Optimization - Do AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude understand your brand well enough to mention you in their answers? In their recommendations?
AIO, LLMO, AI SEO - various - Mostly new labels for the same goal as AEO and GEO.
Right now as of this posting, AEO is outsearching the others 7 to 1. I’ll keep updating this as that changes.
What SEO, AEO and GEO Have in Common
Strip away the letters and every one of these asks the same question:
Does this machine clearly understand who you are, what you do and who you serve, and does it trust you enough to show you to someone.
Google and AI tools behave a lot like someone that has been catfished, they trust no one unless trust is earned. When they aren’t sure about something, they stay quiet. They won’t recommend you if they’re confused about you. So the work is the same no matter what it is called: remove the confusion and let’s focus on the reasons to trust you.
In my framework, being seen by search and AI is one of three types of Visibility. It’s the long term ones that reward you and the long game is what builds your name.
Powerful Visibility Actions That Work No Matter What It’s Called
Say who you are the same way everywhere
Your name, your brand, what you do, and who you serve should read the same on your website, LinkedIn, podcast bio and every guest appearance. Mixed messages make machines hesitate. One consistent sentence, repeated everywhere builds recognition.
Have an entity home.
An About page on your website is the best place. One for you as the personal brand and one as the business brand.
Answer the questions your clients actually ask.
Write posts and FAQs using the exact words your clients use when they’re stuck. “Why am I not getting clients even though I post every day?” is a better headline than anything clever. Clear questions with clear answers are what search engines and AI tools pull from.
Get talked about by others, more than you talk about yourself.
Podcast guesting, PR features, speaking and media submissions put your name on the ‘sources mouth’ that shows you aren’t the only one saying that you do what you do. Grab my free resource to leverage other’s audiences here.
Turn client testimonials into their own pages.
Client testimonials have to be more than screenshots, get those recommendations on LinkedIn, on Google Business or Facebook or somewhere else that can connect to a real live person and create a page on your website for them.
Notice what’s missing from this list: anything overly technical that only works for one of those acronyms. Every one of these actions helps with any of the alphabet you are focused on, SEO, AEO and GEO at the same time.
What This Looks Like for a Solo Coach With One Website
You don’t need a team or three separate strategies. A simple step to start looks like this, after you’ve completed the above:
Weekly: Publish one piece of searchable content that answers a real client question
Podcasts: Put the transcript on your website so your podcast is searchable too.
Monthly: Land one outside appearance, a podcast guest, a feature or PR submission.
Quarterly: Check that your bio and one-liner still match everywhere.
Find out how to test it for yourself, by checking out my free training here. Whatever is missing or wrong when you do that research, you can change, add to your to do list.
FAQs
What is AI Visibility?
AI Visibility is simply being visible to AI, so that you can be cited and recommended. Simply put, the more consistent the things you say about yourself, the more consistent others say things about you and the more consistent the topics of your content are when you understand exactly how a human would ask them to AI, that's how you become the most visible to AI in your industry.
Is SEO dead now that AI answers questions directly?
No. AI tools lean heavily on the same identifiers SEO has always built and many of the ways to be more visible to Google Search and AI are the same.
Should I focus on AEO or GEO first?
Focus on the actions of being more visible, not the labels. Clear messaging, consistent bios and outside mentions serve all at once.
Do I need to hire a GEO or AEO specialist?
Not to get started. Most solo coaches can get further by doing the actions above or checking out The OMNI Method to learn step by step what to do.
The Bottom Line
The letters will keep changing. The job won’t: be clear, be structured, be helpful by understanding your actual client questions and desires and be talked about. Do that and you’ll be visible to whatever comes next, whatever it’s called.
If you want support putting these actions into practice, explore OMNI the group coaching visibility path for women entrepreneurs. Or reach out to me and schedule a call to find out what works best.
