GEO vs SEO: what's the difference?
SEO ranks links. GEO wins recommendations inside AI answers. They overlap, but the playbooks differ. Here's how.
4 min read
Different surfaces, different goals
SEO optimises for a ranked list of ten blue links, where a click is the prize. GEO optimises for a single synthesised answer, where being named is the prize.
On a search page, position 4 still gets traffic. In an AI answer, the model might name three brands total. The distribution is far more winner-take-most.
What carries over
Good SEO helps GEO: authoritative, well-structured content that the web trusts is also what AI models pull from. Clear pages, real reviews, and being cited by others all compound.
Schema, fast pages and crawlability still matter — many AI answers now cite live sources, and you can't be cited if you can't be read.
What's new
GEO cares about how you're described, not just whether you rank. Models repeat consistent, specific claims ('best for remote teams', 'cheapest for under 5 seats'). Vague positioning gets paraphrased away.
GEO also cares about third-party consensus. A model is more likely to recommend a brand that ten independent sources describe the same way than one that only describes itself.