<\/p>
The debate about AEO\/GEO centers on whether it\u2019s a subset of SEO, a standalone discipline, or just standard SEO. Deciding on where to plant a flag is difficult because every argument makes a solid case. There\u2019s no doubt that change is underway and it may be time find where all the competing ideas intersect and work from there.<\/p>
Many SEOs argue that AEO\/GEO doesn\u2019t differentiate itself enough to justify being anything other than a subset of SEO, sharing computers in the same office.<\/p>
Harpreet Singh Chatha (X profile) of Harps Digital recently tweeted about AEO \/ GEO myths to leave behind in 2025.<\/p>
Some of what he listed:<\/em><\/p> The legendary Greg Boser (LinkedIn profile), one of the original SEOs since 1996 tweeted this:<\/p> \u201cAt the end of the day, the core foundation of what we do always has been and always will be about understanding how humans use technology to gain knowledge.<\/p> We don\u2019t need to come up with a bunch of new acronyms to continue to do what we do. All that needs to happen is we all agree to change the \u201cE\u201d in SEO from \u201cEngine\u201d to \u201cExperience\u201d.<\/p> Then everyone can stop wasting time writing all the ridiculous SEO\/GEO\/AEO posts, and get back to work.\u201d<\/p> <\/blockquote> What contributes to the perception that AEO\/GEO is not a real thing is that many proponents of AEO\/GEO fail to differentiate it from standard SEO. We\u2019ve all seen it where someone tweets their new tactic and the SEO peanut gallery chimes in, nah, that\u2019s SEO.<\/p> Back in October Microsoft published a blog post about optimizing content for for AI where they asserted:<\/p> \u201cWhile there\u2019s no secret strategy for being selected by AI systems, success starts with content that is fresh, authoritative, structured, and semantically clear.\u201d<\/p> <\/blockquote> The post goes on to affirm the importance of SEO fundamentals such as \u201cCrawlability, metadata, internal linking, and backlinks\u201d but then states that these are just starting points. Microsoft points out that AI search provides answers, not ranked list of pages. That\u2019s correct and it changes a lot.<\/p> Microsoft says that now it\u2019s about which pieces of content are being ranked:<\/em><\/p> \u201cIn AI search, ranking still happens, but it\u2019s less about ordering entire pages and more about which pieces of content earn a place in the final answer.\u201d<\/p> <\/blockquote> That kind of echoes what Jesse Dwyer of Perplexity AI recently said about AI Search and SEO:<\/p> \u201cAs for the index technology, the biggest difference in AI search right now comes down to whole-document vs. \u201csub-document\u201d processing.<\/p> \u2026The AI-first approach is known as \u201csub-document processing.\u201d Instead of indexing whole pages, the engine indexes specific, granular snippets (not to be confused with what SEO\u2019s know as \u201cfeatured snippets\u201d).\u201d<\/p> <\/blockquote> Microsoft recently published an explainer called \u201cFrom discovery to influence:A guide to AEO and GEO\u201d that\u2019s tellingly focused mostly on shopping, which is notable and remarkable because there\u2019s a growing awareness that ecommerce stands to gain a lot from AI Search.<\/p> No such luck for informational sites because it\u2019s also gradually becoming understood that Agentic AI is poised to strip informational sites of all branding and value-add and treating them as sources of data.<\/p> See also<\/strong>: Stop Trying To Make GEO Happen<\/p> Some of what some champion as GEO and AEO are actually longstanding SEO practices: Some of in the GEO Is Real campe tend to regard themselves as evolving with the times but they also acknowledge they\u2019re just offering what the clients are demanding. SEO practioners are in a hard spot, what are you going to do? Plant your flag on traditional SEO and turn your back on what potential clients are begging for?<\/p> There are Googlers such as Robby Stein (VP of Product), Danny Sullivan, and John Mueller who say that SEO is 100% still relevant because under the hood AI is just firing off Google searches for top ranked sites to backfill into synthesized answers and links (Read:<\/strong> Google Downplays GEO \u2013 But Let\u2019s Talk About Garbage AI SERPs). OpenAI was recently hiring a content strategist that is able to lean into to SEO (not GEO), which some say demonstrates that even OpenAI is focused on traditional SEO.<\/p> See also<\/strong>: Google Says You Don\u2019t Need AEO Or GEO To Rank In AI Overviews<\/p> Manick Bhan (LinkedIn profile), founder of the Search Atlas SEO suite, offered an interesting take on why we may be transitioning to a divided SEO and GEO path.<\/p> Manick shared:<\/em><\/p> \u201cSEO has always meant \u2018search engine optimization,\u2019 but in practice it has historically meant \u2018Google optimization.\u2019 Google defined the interface, the ranking paradigm, the incentives, and the entire mental model the industry used.<\/p> The challenge with calling GEO a \u2018sub-discipline\u2019 of SEO is that the LLM ecosystem is not one ecosystem, and Google\u2019s AI Mode is becoming a generative surface itself.\u201d<\/p> <\/blockquote> Manick asserts that there is no one \u201cGEO\u201d because each of the AI search and answer engines use different methodologies. He observed that the underlying tactics remain the same but the \u201cthe interface, the retrieval model, and the answer surface\u201d are all radically changed from anything that\u2019s come before.<\/p> Manick believes that GEO is not SEO, offering the following insights:<\/em><\/p> \u201cMy position is clear: GEO is not just SEO with a fresh coat of paint, and reducing it to that misses the fundamental shift in how modern answer engines actually retrieve, rank, and assemble information.<\/p> Yes, the tactics still live in the same universe of on-page and off-page signals. Those fundamentals haven\u2019t changed. But the machines we\u2019re optimizing for have.<\/p> Today\u2019s answer engines:<\/em><\/p> Even seemingly small mechanics \u2014 like logit calibration and temperature \u2014 produce practically different retrieval outputs, which is why identical prompts across engines show measurable semantic drift and citation divergence.<\/p> This is why we\u2019re seeing quantifiable, repeatable differences in:<\/em><\/p> In this landscape, humility and experimentation matter more than dogma. Treating all of this as \u2018just SEO\u2019 ignores how different these systems already are, and how quickly they\u2019re evolving.\u201d<\/p> <\/blockquote> Maybe one of the reasons for the anti-GEO backlash is that there is a loud contingent of agencies and individuals who have very little experience with SEO, some who are fresh out of college with zero experience. And it\u2019s not their lack of experience that gets some SEOs in ranting mode. It\u2019s the things they purport are GEO\/AEO that are clearly just SEO.<\/p> Yet, as Manick of Search Atlas pointed out, AI search and chat surfaces are wildly different from classic search and it\u2019s kind of closing ones eyes to the obvious to deny that things are different and in transition.<\/p> Featured Image by Shutterstock\/Natsmith1<\/em><\/p> <\/div> #Clarity #SEO #GEO #AEO #sejournal #martinibuster1769026479<\/p> ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The debate about AEO\/GEO centers on whether it\u2019s a subset of SEO, a standalone discipline, or just standard SEO. Deciding on where to plant a flag is difficult because every argument makes a solid case. There\u2019s no doubt that change is underway and it may be time find where all the competing ideas intersect and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[78,1727,102,415,80,97],"class_list":["post-1920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-careers","tag-aeo","tag-clarity","tag-geo","tag-martinibuster","tag-sejournal","tag-seo"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Inability To Articulate AEO\/GEO<\/h2>
Common SEO Practices That Pass As GEO<\/h2>
Good SEOs have been doing this since Featured Snippets came out in 2014.<\/li>
Crafting content in tight paragraphs looks good in mobile devices and it\u2019s something good SEOs and thoughtful content creators have been doing for well over a decade.<\/li>
Headings and other elements that strongly disambiguate the content are also SEO.<\/li>
Shut your mouth. This is SEO.<\/li> <\/ul> The Customer Is Always Right<\/h2>
Googlers Insist It\u2019s Still SEO<\/h2>
Optimization Is No Longer Just Google<\/h2>
It\u2019s Clear We Are In Transition<\/h2>