AEO vs GEO vs LLM SEO: what is the difference?

AEO, GEO, and LLM SEO are three names for a new search problem. They are not identical, but they overlap so much that most teams should optimize them together.

AEO: answer engine optimization

AEO means answer engine optimization. The goal is to make your content the best answer to a specific question.

AEO cares about:

• direct answers
• FAQs
• definitions
• short explanations
• schema
• passages that can be quoted

Example query:

Can ChatGPT see my website?

An AEO-friendly page answers that question directly, then explains crawl access, retrieval, and common blockers.

GEO: generative engine optimization

GEO means generative engine optimization. The goal is to appear in AI-generated answers, summaries, recommendations, and comparisons.

GEO cares about:

• entity clarity
• topical authority
• source trust
• comparison content
• citation-worthy passages
• coverage across many related prompts

Example query:

Best AI SEO checker for a SaaS website

A GEO-friendly site has a page that explains the category, the use case, and why the product fits.

LLM SEO

LLM SEO is the technical and content work that helps large language models discover and use your site.

LLM SEO cares about:

• robots.txt AI bot policy
• sitemap
• server-rendered content
• llms.txt
• markdown access
• structured data
• clean internal links
• agent discovery files

Example query:

Audit my website for ChatGPT visibility

An LLM SEO-friendly site can be fetched, parsed, understood, and cited.

How they fit together

The simplest way to think about it:

LLM SEO = can the model access and understand the site?
AEO = does the page answer the question?
GEO = does the site deserve to be included in generated answers?

You need all three. A technically perfect site with vague content will not win. A great article blocked by robots.txt will not win either.

What to do first

Start with LLM SEO because it unlocks everything else:

1. allow the right crawlers
2. publish sitemap and llms.txt
3. make content readable in raw HTML
4. add structured data

Then improve AEO:

1. write pages around real questions
2. answer directly near the top
3. use clear headings
4. include FAQ sections where useful

Then improve GEO:

1. cover comparisons
2. build topical clusters
3. keep facts updated
4. make claims easy to verify

NoticeMeAI scores the LLM SEO foundation so you know whether your AEO and GEO work can actually be discovered.