With the rising use of AI-powered large language models, or LLMs, to answer questions people previously asked standard search engines like Google or Bing, it’s no surprise that the strategies behind how we structure content on our websites are changing. While Search Engine Optimization (SEO) remains king, its new siblings, Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) are taking prominent roles in the running of the vast search landscape.
Both AEO and GEO have similar agendas: helping our brand or our brand’s website get seen in responses within AI LLM platforms like Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and others. How they accomplish this shared agenda is where the distinctions occur.
How Search Evolved to Include AEO and GEO
To understand the evolution of SEO to include AEO and GEO, we first need to quickly unpack the use of SEO within the traditional search environment.
In traditional search, search engines like Google and Bing provide page-by-page answers to user queries based on factors such as a page’s keyword integration and saturation, topical relevance, site visitations, impressions, and others. Prior to AI Overview integration, the result was the long list of websites, pages, and articles with which we’re all familiar: the search engine results page, or SERP. It was then up to the user to scroll through the list, click on a promising result, and locate the information that answers their query within the page. SEO is the collection of recommended practices that websites use to improve the chances of their content being displayed higher on the SERP and receiving clicks from users.
When a user enters a search query in an LLM platform, however, the LLM removes that final discovery piece of the process. In essence, instead of your content simply being one item in a long list of similar items, your content becomes the answer an LLM gives users. AEO and GEO practices increase the chances that the LLM uses your website’s content to create that answer.
Citations and Mentions: Key Ideas in AEO and GEO
When an LLM provides an answer to a user’s query, it uses two delivery methods: citations and mentions.
- Citations: when a link directs the user to the website, blog, page, article, YouTube video, social media post, or forum platform where the information originated.
- Mentions: when a response includes a specific brand, with or without a link, or references a third-party website response (usually a forum platform like Reddit or Quora) that mentions a specific brand.
To understand the roles AEO and GEO play in your brand’s getting cited and mentioned in LLMs, it’s helpful to think of AEO and GEO as two different types of search prompt.
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) Search Prompts
AEO helps content find visibility in citations for search prompts that are more quantitative and informative in nature, or simple, fact-based, yes/no questions. These prompts might look a little something like:
- What time does the grocery store near me open?
- How many restaurants are located downtown?
- What does SEO mean?
Answers to these types of prompts tend to be clear, specific, and unbiased; their purpose is simply to provide a factual and correct answer. In these instances, the LLM will typically use a citation in its response, such as to a business’s page listing their hours of operation or to an online dictionary’s definition of SEO.
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Search Prompts
On the other hand, GEO practices improve content’s visibility in responses to search prompts that are more qualitative in nature, or that take a more conversational spin. Prompts that garner these types of responses may look like:
- Where should I buy groceries in my city?
- What’s the best downtown restaurant for a date?
- What are some helpful SEO strategies?
Answers to these types of prompts tend to be more subjective and based on relevant user reviews, anecdotes, and opinions with the purpose of guiding the user to a conclusion rather than giving them a hard fact. For searches like these, LLM responses are made up of mentions from a broader spectrum of websites that reach a consensus-based conclusion: crowd-sourcing a response for what patrons of various restaurants like or dislike about certain dining options from reviews or forums, or providing step-by-step SEO strategies from a few marketing blogs (like ours!).
How to Optimize Your Content for AEO and GEO
To make your content “win” at AEO and GEO (essentially, gaining citations and mentions in LLMs), there are a few simple best practices to include as part of your routine SEO strategy. (Don’t have an SEO strategy? We can help!)
AEO Tips
When it comes to AEO visibility, authority is key. LLMs are looking to cite content that is:
- Clear
- Concise
- Accurate
When formulating content for AEO, you’ll want to deploy strategies that set your website up as an authoritative source of truth, such as:
- Clear, concise writing
- Structured content (Helpful Tip: Separate your content into digestible sections and use headers and subheaders accordingly.)
- Shorter content blocks (Helpful Tip: 2 – 3 lines on the page is an ideal length for LLM scanning.)
- FAQs (Helpful Tip: Format your questions and answers in a way that matches common search queries)
- Schema Markup
Together, all of these strategies ensure LLMs can quickly parse through your site’s content to deliver a correct answer to users.
GEO Tips
Optimizing your content for GEO is where things get a little trickier. Because the LLM needs to craft a subjective response, it’s looking to synthesize information from multiple sources to provide the user with a general recommendation. Therefore, your brand needs mentions on authoritative, third-party websites in order to be one of the recommended options.
The ideal third-party sites to target for mentions will differ based on your brand’s field and needs, but some places to start are:
- Forums (e.g. Quorra and Reddit)
- Reviews (e.g. Google Reviews, Yelp, and Tripadvisor)
- Professional Communities (e.g. Glassdoor and LinkedIn)
- Social and User-Generated Content (UGC) Sites (e.g. YouTube, X, Facebook, TikTok, and Threads)
- News and Publishers (e.g. Forbes, Reuters, and The New York Times)
Some other things to consider to help improve your site’s GEO strategy and visibility in LLM responses are:
- Using a content pillar, or hub-and-spoke structure that signal your site as being highly knowledgeable and authoritative
- Accumulating positive reviews and consumer sentiments across the wider web (Helpful Tip: for local brick-and-mortar businesses, this includes local Google MyBusiness optimizations.)
GEO can be challenging. If you’re not sure where to begin or if your current GEO strategy has flatlined, The Threadgill Agency can help!
Final Thoughts
The search world is evolving, whether we’re ready for it or not, and this means adapting SEO strategies to include AEO and GEO best practices. In a world where LLMs are increasingly being relied upon for responses to search queries, it’s imperative that businesses stay on top of evolving content strategies and understand the roles AEO and GEO play in the vast landscape of search visibility.
Have you come across any helpful AEO and GEO strategies we missed? Let us know!