GEO vs SEO: key takeaways
- GEO focuses on full, conversational questions, while SEO focuses on keywords and short phrases.
- SEO is about offering relevant options that users can pick and explore, while GEO is about providing direct answers and summaries of information.
- SEO results come from optimising ranking factors such as backlinks and keywords, while GEO focuses, among other factors, on brand mentions and the relevance of information.
The rise of generative AI search engines such as Microsoft Copilot has changed how people search. Instead of showing results as a page of links with short descriptions, as traditional search engines do, AI answer engines give a single multimodal summary.
As a result, you increasingly need to optimise your website for these new engines to stay visible in online search. Generative engine optimisation (GEO) is the strategy for making sure you appear in generative AI search engines.
This guide looks at the main differences between GEO and SEO, to help you tell the two apart and decide whether one is better or whether they are complementary. We cover:
- What is GEO?
- What is SEO?
- Key differences between GEO and SEO
- GEO and SEO trends in 2025
- GEO vs SEO FAQs
What is GEO?
Generative engine optimisation is the process of adapting content so that it appears in generative AI search engines such as ChatGPT, Perplexity AI or Microsoft Copilot. The term comes from SEO, which has been the standard way to make content appear in traditional search engines such as Google and DuckDuckGo.
GEO helps you keep pace with a search environment that now includes AI search engines and social media search. It means optimising content for the Large Language Model (LLM) tasks carried out by AI search engines, chatbots and search result features.
What is SEO?
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the practice of optimising a website's content so that it appears and ranks highly in traditional search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo. It is about aligning the website with traditional search engines so they can crawl and index its pages.
To optimise your content for SEO, you need to understand how search engines work and where your website should appear in the results. SEO-optimised websites benefit from high rankings, which often bring more, and better-qualified, traffic that is more likely to turn into leads and conversions.
Key differences between SEO and GEO
SEO and GEO are both strategies for helping brands grow their online presence, but they differ in important ways, from the engines they target to the kind of results they produce.
The table below sums up the main differences between GEO and SEO.
| GEO | SEO | |
| Target platforms | Focuses on AI search engines, such as Microsoft Copilot | Focuses on traditional search engines, such as Google and Bing |
| Type of results | Gives users a single summary result | Gives users several pages of search results to choose from |
| Content focus | Content needs to be conversational and contextually relevant to be picked up | Content is indexed based on keyword use, link building and other SEO best practices |
| Content formats | Results include different content formats depending on your prompts, including PDFs, mind maps and code snippets | Most results are text-based, but they are gradually adding other formats such as videos, maps and product listings |
| Ranking factors | AI search engines use content quality, structure and relevance to index and rank pages | Keywords, backlinks and metadata are the most important ranking factors in traditional search engines |
| Traffic generation | Gives users a complete answer on one page, removing the need to click through to another website | By listing links to the top results, it encourages users to click on the highest-ranking pages |
1. Target platforms
GEO helps you refine content so that it appears in generative AI search engines such as ChatGPT and Gemini, and in AI-driven search features such as Google's AI Overviews.
SEO is about making your website more engaging, relevant and useful for readers, while making sure it achieves good rankings in the most widely used search engines.
2. Type of results
There are some basic differences between the results produced by AI search engines and those produced by traditional ones. First, traditional search engines give users several result options and let the user choose the ones that answer their query.
On Google, for example, you get up to 10 options on the first page and millions more after that. The user has to click the link they think best answers their query:
AI search engines such as Perplexity analyse many kinds of results, including blog posts, videos, images, audio and social media posts. Instead of the millions of links Google provides, they give a single multimodal result that sums up everything you need:
3. Context focus
SEO focuses on keyword targeting and relevance to give users results that match their queries. So when creating SEO content, marketers work to include as many relevant keywords as they can to improve their chances of ranking.
This optimised content then appears as a natural answer to queries containing those keywords. For example, when someone searches for how to fix a garage door that won't open, the best SEO results will contain phrases such as "garage door won't open".
With GEO, you should focus more on framing the user's intent and context with conversational phrases such as "How do I fix a stuck garage door?". The aim is to structure content so that AI tools can easily understand the context and intent behind simple queries.
4. Content formats
SEO focuses on presenting the most useful and informative results, while GEO takes a different approach. It aims to show users contextually relevant content that matches their behaviour, demographics and preferences.
Traditional search engines used to show text-based content, but they now use a range of formats, including AI Overviews, social media results, videos and product listings.
AI search engines rely on users' prompts to decide what type of content to show. For example, AI searches can return code snippets, mind maps, tables and step-by-step solutions depending on the query or prompt.
5. Indexing and ranking factors
Indexing and ranking factors are the conditions content and websites must meet to appear in search results. SEO indexing and ranking factors are well documented and partly overlap with the newer, more complex GEO factors.
Here are some steps for building a successful SEO strategy:
- Carry out detailed keyword research
- Include internal and external links
- Include meta tags, headings and subheadings
- Create useful, relevant content
- Provide a good user experience with fast page loads and mobile compatibility.
You should include all the SEO steps above in your GEO strategy, but here are some specific measures that improve your chances of being indexed and ranked by AI search engines:
- Produce high-quality, well-structured content
- Be specific and answer questions directly
- Add structured data such as schema markup
- Back up your claims, facts and statistics with links to reliable sources.
6. Traffic and metrics
The main drawback of GEO for businesses with websites is that it can reduce site traffic. A single, complete summary gives searchers all the information they need, so they no longer have to click through to other websites.
SEO, by contrast, rewards well-optimised pages with more traffic, placing them high in the results to attract more clicks. SEO results are also easier to measure than GEO results, using established metrics such as click-through rate, conversion rate and bounce rate.
To judge whether your GEO work is paying off, you will need to look at impression-type metrics, such as citation visibility and the accuracy and relevance of content.
GEO and SEO trends in 2025
GEO and SEO influence each other, so you need to optimise for both to rank well in traditional and AI search. So what does the future look like for GEO and SEO? Here are some trends to know about:
1. Expertise will count for more
Showing your expertise is central to success in both SEO and GEO. Traditional and generative search engines both want to give users useful, credible and trustworthy information. So demonstrating expertise still matters in 2025 if you want to rank in both types of engine.
You can show your expertise by:
- Adding credentials, awards and similar achievements to author profiles
- Adding case studies that show your results in your sector
- Creating original content that shows you are an authority in your sector
- Sharing expert insight to demonstrate knowledge.
Building expertise improves your website's E-E-A-T, which in turn helps you rank better in both traditional and generative search engines.
2. The rise of zero-click searches
From 2025 onwards, zero-click searches are becoming the norm in traditional search. As the name suggests, zero-click searches are searches that end without the user clicking a link in the results to learn more. In practice, the user gets the answer they need from the results page and goes no further.
AI search is a major driver of zero-click searches. For example, with AI Overviews shown at the top of the results summarising the query, users get what they need and leave.
As a result, impressions are likely to hold steady while clicks fall.
3. A more varied search journey
Before AI search, the search journey was fairly linear. People went to Google (or Bing) and looked for information at different points in the customer journey. From 2025 onwards, that journey is branching out.
You may see people start their research on ChatGPT and finish it on Google. You may see people move back and forth between different AI platforms and traditional search engines. Whatever shape it takes, the search journey is likely to be more varied.
That means doing GEO and SEO together, so you reach people wherever they look for information.
Can GEO and SEO work together?
Yes. In fact, GEO and SEO should work together to increase your search visibility across traditional search engines, social media and AI answer engines. An integrated GEO and SEO strategy means optimising your content and website for both people and search engines. Here is how:
- Use keywords naturally and strategically in your content
- Make sure content is high quality and well structured so AI can read it easily
- Build authority across platforms with reviews, social media and participation in online forums
- Add structured data for FAQs, how-tos and product information to improve discoverability in AI and search engines (schema markup).
GEO vs SEO FAQs
Below are answers to some common questions about the differences between GEO and SEO.
Is GEO replacing SEO?
No. Contrary to what many think, GEO does not replace SEO. It builds on the foundations SEO has laid. GEO extends SEO by securing visibility on fast-growing AI search engines.
How is GEO different from SEO?
GEO means optimising websites and content to be visible on AI search engines such as Microsoft Copilot, Gemini, ChatGPT and others, while SEO focuses on optimising websites and content to be visible on traditional search engines such as Google.
How do you do GEO?
GEO for a website includes producing high-quality, well-structured content, giving clear and concise answers to queries, and working on schema markup and other structured data to help indexing.
Because this needs a specialist approach that combines technical SEO and advanced content strategy, many companies turn to professional generative engine optimisation services to put these tactics into practice effectively.
Increase your visibility and get results with Visilay
You can avoid running two separate strategies for SEO and GEO by taking a single, joined-up approach. Visilay can help you put a multichannel strategy in place to optimise your website and make it visible everywhere, including Google, ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity AI, Gemini and Google AI Overviews.
Get in touch to find out more about our AI SEO services.
