--- title: "SEO vs GEO" url: https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/seo-vs-geo type: Page --- # SEO vs GEO SEO vs GEO compared: how ranking in search results differs from being cited in AI answers, when each matters most, and how the two work together. Glossary comparison ## SEO vs GEO SEO and GEO differ in the result each aims for. SEO earns positions in a search engine's list of links so people click through to a site. GEO earns mentions and citations inside answers written by AI systems such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, where the user may never click. ## SEO and GEO compared | | SEO | GEO | | --- | --- | --- | | Goal | Rank pages in search results | Be mentioned and cited in AI answers | | Where it shows | Google and Bing results pages | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, AI Overviews, AI Mode | | Unit of success | Ranking position and clicks | Mentions, citations and accuracy of description | | Main levers | Technical health, content, links, search intent | Extractable answers, third-party coverage, consistent facts | | Role of other sites | Mainly backlinks pointing to your pages | Reviews, comparisons and press shape the answer | | Does it need a click? | Value mostly comes from the visit | Value can come with no click at all | | How it is measured | Rank tracking and Google Search Console | Prompt tracking across AI platforms | ## When to focus on each SEO still carries most of the weight where people search and then click: product, local and transactional queries, where the results page leads straight to a sale or an enquiry. GEO matters more where buyers research by asking questions, such as considered purchases, B2B shortlists and 'which is best' comparisons. The click is the reason the balance is shifting. In a Pew Research Center study of 900 US adults' browsing in March 2025, users clicked a traditional result in 8% of visits when Google showed an AI summary, against 15% when it did not, and clicked a link inside the summary in 1% of visits. ## How SEO and GEO work together GEO is built on SEO rather than replacing it. Google says there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode: a page must be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet, and no new machine-readable files or markup are needed. Both features can use query fan-out, running several related searches, so pages that rank for subtopics are more likely to be pulled into an answer. Google also counts traffic from AI features inside the Web search type in Search Console, so it cannot be separated there. That is one reason GEO needs its own measurement. - Fix crawling and indexing first, because AI search retrieves the same pages - Open key pages with a direct answer that reads correctly on its own - Earn coverage on the third-party sites AI answers already cite - Track rankings and prompts side by side for the same topics ## Example A payroll software company ranks third on Google for 'payroll software for small business'. When a buyer asks ChatGPT for the best payroll tools for a 20-person firm, it lists four competitors drawn from two review sites and a comparison article. The ranking is an SEO result. Getting onto that list is GEO work, mostly done off the company's own site. ## Related terms - [Generative engine optimisation (GEO)](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/generative-engine-optimisation) - [Technical SEO](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/technical-seo) - [Answer engine optimisation (AEO)](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/answer-engine-optimisation) - [AI Overviews](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/ai-overviews) - [Query fan-out](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/query-fan-out) - [LLM visibility](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/llm-visibility) - [AI citations](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/ai-citations) ## Further reading - [How to Measure Performance in AI Search](https://marketingsignals.com/insights/how-to-measure-performance-in-ai-search) Our [AI SEO & GEO](https://marketingsignals.com/service/ai-search-optimisation) service puts this into practice for brands in the UK and US. ## Sources - [AI features and your website, Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features) - [Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results, Pew Research Center (22 July 2025)](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/22/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears-in-the-results/) - [GEO: Generative Engine Optimization (Aggarwal et al., arXiv 2311.09735)](https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.09735) ## Ready To Get Found In AI Search? Get in touch for a friendly, informal chat with our team about how we can help your business thrive online.