The short answer: good SEO can support your company's visibility in AI, but it does not guarantee that ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity will recommend your business.
SEO and GEO overlap, but they solve different problems. SEO primarily focuses on making a website and its pages discoverable and visible in search. GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) addresses a broader question: does AI clearly understand what the company is, can it find enough reliable information and supporting evidence about it, and does it have sufficient grounds to include the company in its answers and recommendations?
SEO vs GEO: what is the practical difference?
Some of the work overlaps. A strong expert article, a technically accessible website or a solid online reputation can support both search visibility and AI visibility.
That is why the difference is easier to understand by looking not only at the tools, but at the outcome those tools are meant to achieve.
| SEO | GEO |
|---|---|
| Technical accessibility and website indexing | Helping AI clearly understand what the company is and what it does |
| Search queries, semantics and page structure | Presenting the same company, services and experts consistently across different sources |
| Creating useful expert content | Providing concrete knowledge and answers that AI can extract and use |
| Building website authority and search visibility | Building presence and independent confirmation of the company beyond its own channels |
| Outcome: the company's pages are easier to find in search | Outcome: AI has more grounds to understand, mention and recommend the company |
GEO is therefore not simply a new name for SEO. But treating them as opposites would also be misleading: strong SEO can provide an important part of the foundation for AI visibility.
How often do Google and AI choose the same sources?
Ahrefs analysed 15,000 queries to see how often sources cited by AI systems overlapped with traditional search results.
On average, only 12% of URLs cited by ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot also ranked in Google's Top 10 for the same original query.
The relationship varied by AI system. In the same study, Perplexity relied on Google Top 10 pages considerably more often.
It is important to interpret this number correctly.
It does not mean that SEO accounts for only 12% of AI visibility. The study measured overlap between sources, not the impact of SEO on AI recommendations.
What it does show is important:
ranking highly in Google and being selected as a source by AI are not the same event.
SEO still matters. Google itself states that fundamental SEO practices remain relevant to its generative search features.
So the question is not SEO or GEO?
A more useful question is: what remains outside the scope of SEO when the business goal is to be recommended by AI?
Where does SEO end and GEO begin?
I asked myself exactly this question during a conversation with a company offering AI visibility services.
I heard about keyword research, an SEO keyword strategy, articles, external publications and subsequent AI visibility measurements.
My question was simple:
“How is this different from SEO? Where is the GEO work?”
The list of tools alone does not answer that question. Articles, external publications and website improvements can contribute to both SEO and GEO.
The difference becomes clearer when we look at what the work is actually intended to change.
If the goal is AI visibility, monitoring the website and its rankings is not enough. You also need to understand:
- whether AI correctly understands what the company is and what it does;
- whether it confuses the business with other companies, brands or services;
- whether information about the company is consistent across different sources;
- whether independent sources confirm its expertise and experience;
- whether enough expert knowledge exists online for AI to use when constructing an answer.
So when choosing a provider, I would ask one simple question:
“What exactly will you do to make sure AI not only finds my website, but also understands my company correctly and has enough evidence to recommend it?”
The answer can tell you more about the service than the terms SEO, GEO or AEO in a proposal.
What if your SEO is already working?
Do not start from scratch.
If your website is technically accessible, already has search visibility and contains strong expert content, part of the foundation is already in place.
The next step is to measure not only website rankings, but the visibility of the company itself in AI answers:
- does it appear for real questions potential customers ask;
- which AI systems mention and recommend it;
- which competitors appear instead;
- whether AI correctly understands the company and its services.
An initial AI visibility measurement shows what is already working and what is still missing specifically from the company's AI visibility.
In short
SEO supports AI visibility, but good SEO and strong AI visibility are not the same thing.
Some of the tools overlap. The objective is different.
SEO helps search engines find and evaluate web pages.
GEO extends that work to the company as an entity: who it is, what it does, what is known about it beyond its own website, and whether AI has sufficient grounds to use that information and recommend the company in an answer.
If your SEO is already working, you do not need to replace it. You need to understand which parts of your AI visibility it already supports — and what is still missing.
Sources
1. Ahrefs — Only 12% of AI Cited URLs Rank in Google's Top 10 for the Original Prompt Analysis of 15,000 queries comparing sources used by ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and Perplexity with Google and Bing search results. https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-search-overlap/
2. Google Search Central — Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search Google's official guidance on the role of SEO and fundamental search practices in its generative search features. https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/ai-optimization-guide?hl=en
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