What are AEO and GEO?
AEO and GEO are about showing up when customers ask a question instead of searching: in Google's answer boxes, in voice assistants, and in AI assistants like ChatGPT. Here's what they mean for a small business, in plain English.
Updated by Chris, VCB Consulting
What is AEO (answer engine optimization)?
AEO means making your website easy for answer engines to quote. Answer engines are the parts of Google, Bing and voice assistants that answer a question directly, like the answer box at the top of Google or Siri reading out a reply. They pick pages that answer a real question plainly, near the top, with clear headings, an FAQ, and structured data that spells out your business name, address and phone.
What is GEO (generative engine optimization)?
GEO means making your business easy for AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Gemini to find, trust and recommend. These assistants write an answer from what they read on the web, so it matters whether they're allowed to read your site, whether it says clearly who you are, where you work and what you do, and whether other sites (reviews, directories, your Google profile) back that up.
How are AEO and GEO different from SEO?
SEO is about ranking in the list of links on Google. AEO is about being the answer Google or a voice assistant reads out, and GEO is about being the business an AI assistant names when someone asks who to call. They overlap: a fast, clear, well-structured site helps all three. The difference is that AI answers often name only 3 to 5 businesses, so being one of them matters more than being on page one.
Why do AEO and GEO matter for a small local business?
More customers now ask an AI assistant "who's the best plumber near me?" instead of scrolling through search results. The assistant names a handful of businesses and the customer calls one of them. If your site doesn't give the assistant what it needs, it recommends someone else, even if you're the better choice.
How does the Site Scorecard check AEO and GEO?
Answer engines (AEO) are worth 15 of the 100 points and AI assistants (GEO) another 15. We check whether AI crawlers can read your site, whether your pages answer real questions, and your structured data and FAQ. We also ask an AI assistant 3 questions a new customer in your town might ask, and show you whether it names your business and who it recommends instead.
What can I do to show up in AI answers?
Start with five things: let AI crawlers read your site in robots.txt; say in plain words on your homepage what you do and which towns you serve; add an FAQ that answers the questions customers really ask; add LocalBusiness structured data with your name, address, phone and hours; and keep your Google Business Profile complete with steady new reviews. Your free scorecard shows which of these you already do.
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