Three acronyms, one goal: being found when it matters. Here's what each one actually does, where they overlap, and how to spend.
SEO earns rankings in search results. AEO earns the answer spot when someone asks a question. GEO earns citations inside AI-generated content. They share ~70% of their foundations — the businesses winning right now run them as one program, not three.
{{d.body}}
Roughly 70% of the work serves all three disciplines at once: a technically sound site, consistent business information, structured data, credible third-party mentions, and content that answers real questions directly. The remaining 30% is channel-specific — keyword targeting for SEO, citation-share tracking for AEO, quotability and source formatting for GEO. That's why splitting them across three vendors usually wastes money: the foundations get built three times.
If your enquiries still come overwhelmingly from Google's classic results, weight toward SEO and add AEO foundations now — the shift to AI answers is a when, not an if. If you're already seeing "I asked ChatGPT and it suggested you", weight toward AEO/GEO before your competitors notice what's happening. Either way, review quarterly: the share of searches happening inside AI assistants is climbing, and budgets should follow attention.
Go deeper: the complete AEO guide — or see how ChatGPT actually picks who to recommend.
{{f.a}}