{"id":191224,"date":"2025-09-10T10:04:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T15:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/?p=191224"},"modified":"2025-09-10T10:04:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T15:04:17","slug":"seo-vs-geo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-vs-geo\/","title":{"rendered":"SEO vs. GEO: 5 Key Differences Despite the Similarities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"intro-txt\">In 30 seconds, here\u2019s what you need to know about the differences between SEO and&nbsp;GEO:<\/div>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>SEO (Search Engine Optimization)<\/strong>: Getting your website to show up in Google searches. Goal: Get people to click your&nbsp;link.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)<\/strong>: Getting AI chatbots like ChatGPT to mention your brand or information. Goal: Get AI to quote and mention you.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Main differences<\/strong>: SEO brings visitors to your website. GEO puts your brand or content directly in AI answers (no click needed). SEO brings high-volume traffic that explores your site. GEO will bring less traffic to your site directly, but these visitors may be more likely to convert.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>What to do<\/strong>: Start with good SEO (it\u2019s still essential), then add GEO tactics like including more original data, keeping your most important content up-to-date, or getting your brand mentioned more across the&nbsp;web.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Bottom line<\/strong>: You need both. Think of SEO as your foundation and GEO as future-proofing your online presence.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Want the full story? Read&nbsp;on.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"intro-tok\" id=\"intro_tok\" style=\"display:none;\"><div class=\"intro-title\">Contents<\/div><a href=\"#\" class=\"expand-dots\"><span><\/span><span><\/span><span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"What is SEO?\">\n<h2><a id=\"post-191224-_bd2m4xuwz95u\"><\/a>What is&nbsp;SEO?<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>As you probably already know, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of improving your website so it appears higher in Google, Bing, or other search engine results when people search for topics related to your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The goal: get people to click on your link in the SERPs and visit your website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-191224-_44fxj77dopzc\"><\/a>How search engines work<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Search engines work in three main&nbsp;steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Crawling<\/strong>. Programs called web crawlers (or spiders) browse the internet, following links and collecting webpages.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Indexing<\/strong>. The collected pages are analyzed and stored in a massive database called the search index.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Ranking<\/strong>. When you type in a search, the engine looks through the index and uses an algorithm to sort the results, showing the most relevant pages&nbsp;first.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>In short, when you search for something, the search engine scans its index for matches, ranks them by relevance, and then shows you the best results on the search engine results page (SERP). AI search works differently\u2014more on that in a&nbsp;bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1558\" height=\"1700\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-circular-flowchart-diagram-illustrating-the-trad.png\" alt=\"A circular flowchart diagram illustrating the traditional search engine process. The cycle shows four icons: a user, a search bar for the query &quot;best headphones,&quot; a ranking algorithm icon, and a search engine results page (SERP), connected by arrows to show the user's journey. \" class=\"wp-image-191225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-circular-flowchart-diagram-illustrating-the-trad.png 1558w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-circular-flowchart-diagram-illustrating-the-trad-390x425.png 390w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-circular-flowchart-diagram-illustrating-the-trad-768x838.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-circular-flowchart-diagram-illustrating-the-trad-1408x1536.png 1408w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1558px) 100vw, 1558px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-191224-_3mgdvnxew2ge\"><\/a>Key SEO strategies<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In practice, SEO is about using the right keywords, creating helpful content, earning trusted links, and making sure your site is fast, safe, and easy to use. Here are the core strategies:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/keyword-research\/\"><strong>Keywords research<\/strong><\/a>: Finding and using the words and phrases your customers actually search for.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/on-page-seo\/\"><strong>On-page SEO<\/strong><\/a>: Creating helpful, detailed information that answers search intent.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/glossary\/off-page-seo\"><strong>Off-page SEO<\/strong><\/a>: Getting other reputable websites to link to&nbsp;yours.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/technical-seo\/\"><strong>Technical SEO<\/strong><\/a>: Making your site free from critical SEO errors. Mostly: making your site easy for search engines to crawl, safe for users, simple to navigate, fast to load, and mobile-friendly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"further-reading\"><div class=\"reading-title\">Further reading<\/div><div class=\"reading-content\">\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\">SEO: The Complete Guide for Beginners<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"What is GEO?\">\n<h2><a id=\"post-191224-_xa31t3j60rh9\"><\/a>What is&nbsp;GEO?<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>GEO, short for <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/geo-generative-engine-optimization\/\">Generative Engine Optimization<\/a> (also known as AEO or <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/llm-optimization\/\">LLMO<\/a>), is the process of getting your brand mentioned, cited, and accurately represented in AI-generated answers. That includes results from AI assistants like ChatGPT, Google\u2019s AI Overviews, and Google\u2019s AI&nbsp;Mode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In other words, GEO is SEO for AI search.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-191224-_pr67cl58xqdb\"><\/a>How AI search works<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>With ChatGPT, the way it responds depends on whether it uses web browsing (also called grounding) to find the answer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>No browsing<\/strong>: It generates answers from patterns it learned during training. It doesn\u2019t pull from a live product database, just from its frozen knowledge (up to August 2023).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>With browsing<\/strong>: It searches the web, picks useful pages, and summarizes them so the answer is based on fresh information.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-191224-_8yrvl9u02pe5\"><\/a>Key GEO tactics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>All of these are covered in detail in our <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/geo-generative-engine-optimization\/\">GEO guide<\/a>, but here\u2019s the quick version:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Third-party mentions<\/strong>: Get your brand mentioned across industry sites, \u201cbest of\u201d lists, and review platforms (most AI citations come from other sites, not&nbsp;yours).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>AI-preferred content<\/strong>: Create how-to guides, comparison pages (\u201cX vs Y\u201d), data studies, and \u201cbest of\u201d lists - these get the highest AI traffic.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Facts and statistics<\/strong>: Include specific, verifiable numbers and data that AI can confidently cite.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Multi-platform presence<\/strong>: Build visibility on YouTube (<a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/top-10-most-cited-domains-ai-assistants\/\">2nd most cited by AI Overviews<\/a>) and Reddit (3rd most&nbsp;cited).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Structured Information<\/strong>: Use clear headings, Q&amp;A formats, bullet points, and schema markup for machine readability.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Fresh content<\/strong>: Keep information updated regularly - <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/do-ai-assistants-prefer-to-cite-fresh-content\/\">AI prefers citing newer content over older pages<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"further-reading\"><div class=\"reading-title\">Further reading<\/div><div class=\"reading-content\">\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/geo-generative-engine-optimization\/\">Generative Engine Optimization: Growth Strategies and Metrics For the AI&nbsp;Era<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-chunk-optimization\/\">SEO \u201cChunk Optimization\u201d is Overrated<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"Key differences between SEO and GEO\">\n<h2><a id=\"post-191224-_gm88gu4yvnpt\"><\/a>Key differences between SEO and&nbsp;GEO<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The key difference between SEO and GEO comes from how the search experience works. With AI answers, users don\u2019t need to click links as often, but when they do, it\u2019s usually because they want a deeper understanding or are ready to try the product the AI recommended. That in turn creates a different set of metrics to&nbsp;track.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"1. SEO gives you a link, GEO gives you a mention\">\n<h3><a id=\"post-191224-_y5a3tfcver09\"><\/a>1. SEO gives you a link, GEO gives you a mention<\/h3>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>In SEO, your website appears as a link in search results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1742\" height=\"948\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-a-google-search-results-page-for-t.png\" alt=\"A screenshot of a Google search results page for the query &quot;keyword research.&quot; It displays search results from Wordtracker and Ahrefs, with the Ahrefs &quot;Free Keyword Generator Tool&quot; result highlighted in yellow.\" class=\"wp-image-191226\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-a-google-search-results-page-for-t.png 1742w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-a-google-search-results-page-for-t-680x370.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-a-google-search-results-page-for-t-768x418.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-a-google-search-results-page-for-t-1536x836.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1742px) 100vw, 1742px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In GEO, your information or brand appears directly inside the AI\u2019s answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"990\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-a-response-from-chatgpt-5-explaini.jpg\" alt=\"A screenshot of a response from ChatGPT 5 explaining how to use keyword research tools. A bullet point listing &quot;Ahrefs Keywords Explorer&quot; is highlighted in yellow to show a brand mention inside an AI answer.\" class=\"wp-image-191227\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-a-response-from-chatgpt-5-explaini.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-a-response-from-chatgpt-5-explaini-680x329.jpg 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-a-response-from-chatgpt-5-explaini-768x371.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-a-response-from-chatgpt-5-explaini-1536x743.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>If links appear in AI-generated answers, they are far less visible (and redundant from the perspective of users who wanted a quick answer). In AI Overviews, they can appear contextually with a small link icon next to a term, on the right-hand panel, or at the very bottom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1534\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-a-google-search-results-page-featu.jpg\" alt=\"A screenshot of a Google search results page featuring an AI Overview. An orange arrow points to the bottom of the overview where two source links from Ahrefs and Semrush are displayed as clickable cards.\" class=\"wp-image-191228\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-a-google-search-results-page-featu.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-a-google-search-results-page-featu-567x425.jpg 567w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-a-google-search-results-page-featu-768x575.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-a-google-search-results-page-featu-1536x1151.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"2. In SEO, the journey depends on clicks, in GEO it often ends with zero-click searches\">\n<h3><a id=\"post-191224-_1aedpipgyevl\"><\/a>2. In SEO, the journey depends on clicks, in GEO it often ends with zero-click searches<\/h3>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>In SEO, the user journey typically looks like this: they search for something, see your link, click to your website, and read your content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In GEO, the journey is different: the user asks a question, the AI provides an answer using your information, and the user may never visit your site at all, at least not directly from the AI answer (this is called a \u2018zero-click\u2019 search).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"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\/\">PEW Research Center recently studied<\/a> how searches interact with Google\u2019s AI Overviews, proving the <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/zero-click-search\/\">\u201czero click\u201d phenomenon<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They found that users click on search results only 8% of the time when AI summaries appear vs 15% without them - that\u2019s nearly 50% fewer clicks. Only 1% of users click on sources cited in the AI summary itself. What\u2019s more, 26% of users end their session completely after seeing an AI summary (vs 16% for traditional search).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"840\" height=\"728\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-bar-chart-from-the-pew-research-center-titled-g.png\" alt=\"A bar chart from the Pew Research Center titled &quot;Google users are less likely to click on a link when they encounter search pages with AI summaries.&quot; The chart compares user actions on pages with and without AI summaries, showing that pages with AI have fewer clicks and more users ending their browsing session.\" class=\"wp-image-191229\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-bar-chart-from-the-pew-research-center-titled-g.png 840w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-bar-chart-from-the-pew-research-center-titled-g-490x425.png 490w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-bar-chart-from-the-pew-research-center-titled-g-768x666.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 840px) 100vw, 840px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\">\n<h3><a id=\"post-191224-_cbv5iyu0ac8t\"><\/a>3. SEO is about measuring clicks, GEO is about measuring visibility<\/h3>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Success in SEO is measured with metrics like <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/what-are-keywords\/\">keyword rankings<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/what-are-backlinks\/\">backlinks<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/organic-search\/\">organic traffic<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/share-of-voice\/\">organic share of voice<\/a>. This is part of the \u201cclick economics,\u201d because your results depend on convincing people to click through to your&nbsp;site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By contrast, success in GEO is measured with metrics like brand mentions in AI answers, citations when your content is referenced, AI referral traffic, and AI share of voice. This is \u201cvisibility economics,\u201d where the more often your brand appears in AI responses, the more likely users are to trust and choose you, even if they never&nbsp;click.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s what a GEO dashboard looks like, a screenshot from <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/new-features-mar-2025\/\">Ahrefs\u2019 Brand Radar.<\/a> The core difference is that there are no keyword rankings. Instead, you see how popular a brand is within a specific AI\u2019s responses, and how that popularity changes over&nbsp;time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1179\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-the-ahrefs-brand-radar-dashboard-.jpg\" alt=\"A screenshot of the Ahrefs Brand Radar dashboard. It shows a line graph and bar charts tracking the &quot;AI Share of Voice&quot; for brands like Mailchimp and Constant Contact across platforms such as Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity over time.\" class=\"wp-image-191230\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-the-ahrefs-brand-radar-dashboard-.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-the-ahrefs-brand-radar-dashboard--680x391.jpg 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-the-ahrefs-brand-radar-dashboard--768x442.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-the-ahrefs-brand-radar-dashboard--1536x884.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n<div class=\"further-reading\"><div class=\"reading-title\">Further reading<\/div><div class=\"reading-content\">\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-metrics-to-track\/\">10 SEO Metrics That Actually Matter (And 4 That&nbsp;Don\u2019t)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"4. In GEO, third\u2011party sites usually carry your brand mentions more than your own domain\">\n<h3><a id=\"post-191224-_6vykezj7wqi\"><\/a>4. In GEO, third\u2011party sites usually carry your brand mentions more than your own domain<\/h3>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Another key difference is where mentions come from. In SEO, your own site is the primary asset\u2014you optimize your pages to rank as links in search results. In GEO, however, most brand mentions in AI responses originate from third\u2011party sites rather than your own domain. For this reason, GEO may turn out to be a more interdisciplinary effort than SEO (requiring, for example, PR and influencer marketing).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Industry rankings, \u201cbest of\u201d lists, review platforms, PR coverage, and customer case studies often dominate as the top sources AI assistants rely on. For example, in Google\u2019s AI Overviews, the top pages mentioning Ahrefs didn\u2019t include ahrefs.com at&nbsp;all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"681\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-an-ahrefs-report-listing-the-top-t.png\" alt=\"A screenshot of an Ahrefs report listing the top third-party web pages that mention the brand &quot;Ahrefs&quot; in AI responses. The list includes pages from zapier.com, https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=google.com, and reddit.com.\" class=\"wp-image-191231\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-an-ahrefs-report-listing-the-top-t.png 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-an-ahrefs-report-listing-the-top-t-680x226.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-an-ahrefs-report-listing-the-top-t-768x255.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-an-ahrefs-report-listing-the-top-t-1536x511.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>These mentions don\u2019t even need to be linked. AI can pick up unlinked references just as easily. This makes broad visibility across the web more important than&nbsp;ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To find sites that often appear in AI answers, just plug their domain in <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer\">Ahrefs\u2019 Site Explorer<\/a> and look at the AI citation count in the Overview report:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"892\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-the-ahrefs-site-explorer-overview.png\" alt=\"A screenshot of the Ahrefs Site Explorer overview for ahrefs.com. The &quot;AI citations&quot; section is highlighted, showing the number of times the domain has been cited by AI Overview, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Copilot.\" class=\"wp-image-191232\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-the-ahrefs-site-explorer-overview.png 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-the-ahrefs-site-explorer-overview-680x296.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-the-ahrefs-site-explorer-overview-768x335.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-the-ahrefs-site-explorer-overview-1536x669.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"5. SEO tends to bring browsing, while GEO tends to bring intent\">\n<h3><a id=\"post-191224-_rb8g2iyvxchb\"><\/a>5. SEO tends to bring browsing, while GEO tends to bring intent<\/h3>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Traffic from AI search looks different from traditional organic search. Visitors from AI tend to view fewer pages (4 vs. 5.2) but spend slightly more time on them (86s vs. 78s). They also have a higher bounce rate (67.8% vs. 63.7%), suggesting they arrive with a clear, specific goal (<a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-traffic-quality-study\/\">source<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>AI search also drives users to homepages, product pages, and tools more often than organic search, while organic search brings more traffic to international pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1720\" height=\"1852\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-pie-chart-illustrating-the-percentage-of-visito.jpg\" alt=\"A pie chart illustrating the &quot;Percentage of visitors by page type from AI Assistants.&quot; The chart shows that the majority of AI-driven traffic goes to &quot;Free Tool&quot; (36.45%), &quot;Product page&quot; (23.12%), and &quot;Homepage&quot; (20.41%) pages.\" class=\"wp-image-191233\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-pie-chart-illustrating-the-percentage-of-visito.jpg 1720w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-pie-chart-illustrating-the-percentage-of-visito-395x425.jpg 395w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-pie-chart-illustrating-the-percentage-of-visito-768x827.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-pie-chart-illustrating-the-percentage-of-visito-1427x1536.jpg 1427w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1720px) 100vw, 1720px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Most importantly, AI traffic can convert at a much higher rate. In the case of Ahrefs, it was 23x more than organic search; despite being just 0.5% of traffic, it generates over 12% of signups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That said, conversion rates will vary by site. As this<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amsive.com\/insights\/seo\/does-llm-traffic-convert-better-than-organic-a-new-data-backed-study\/\"> recent study from Amsive<\/a> shows, not every website sees the same uplift from LLM-driven traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"further-reading\"><div class=\"reading-title\">Further reading<\/div><div class=\"reading-content\">\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-traffic-quality-study\/\">AI Visitors Visit Fewer Pages and Bounce More Often Than Traditional Search Visitors<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-search-traffic-conversions-ahrefs\/\">Does AI Search Traffic Convert Better Than Traditional Search? For Ahrefs, Yes: 0.5% of Visitors Drove 12.1% of Signups<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amsive.com\/insights\/seo\/does-llm-traffic-convert-better-than-organic-a-new-data-backed-study\/\">Does LLM Traffic Convert Better Than Organic? A New Data-Backed Study | Amsive<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-search-traffic-by-page-type-ahrefs\/\">80% of Our AI Search Traffic Goes to Our Homepage, Product Pages, and Free&nbsp;Tools<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"Key similarities between SEO and GEO\">\n<h2><a id=\"post-191224-_9wtbj941idfm\"><\/a>Key similarities between SEO and&nbsp;GEO<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite their differences, SEO and GEO share important common ground based on content quality and brand authority.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"1. Great content is your best bet\">\n<h3><a id=\"post-191224-_sg3w121i460b\"><\/a>1. Great content is your best&nbsp;bet<\/h3>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Both SEO and GEO depend on having useful content, which builds <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/topical-authority\/\">topical authority<\/a>. At the end of the day, search engines and AI tools are designed to bring people the information they\u2019re looking for. The key difference is in how the answer is delivered: search engines point you to links, while AI often gives you the answer directly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Case in point, Ahrefs\u2019 content and product pages were mentioned 7,470 times across 2,309 pages without any special effort to optimize for AI. That\u2019s because new search technologies still rely on the same foundation: quality, useful content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"940\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-the-ahrefs-site-explorer-overview-1.png\" alt=\"A screenshot of the Ahrefs Site Explorer overview, highlighting the &quot;AI citations&quot; module. It shows that ahrefs.com has 4.6K citations from AI Overview and 1.1K from ChatGPT, illustrating that quality content earns AI mentions.\" class=\"wp-image-191234\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-the-ahrefs-site-explorer-overview-1.png 1280w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-the-ahrefs-site-explorer-overview-1-579x425.png 579w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-the-ahrefs-site-explorer-overview-1-768x564.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"2. It\u2019s all about user intent\">\n<h3><a id=\"post-191224-_cm1575ieyz5j\"><\/a>2. It\u2019s all about user intent<\/h3>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Both strategies focus on understanding what people are really looking for and providing the best answer (the <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/search-intent\/\">search intent<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whether someone searches Google for \u201cbest project management software\u201d or asks ChatGPT something more specific like \u201cWhat\u2019s the best project management tool for a team of 30 under $50?\u201d, the intent doesn\u2019t change. They\u2019re looking for the top options, the reasons behind those recommendations, and a clear comparison to help them decide.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"recommendation\"><div class=\"recommendation-title\">Tip<\/div><div class=\"recommendation-content\">\n<p>Use <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/ai-content-helper\">Ahrefs\u2019 AI Content Helper<\/a> to take the guesswork out of content planning. Find the main topics (not just keywords) for your keyword by analyzing top-ranking pages. As you write, see your content rated in real time and adjust instantly.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1014\" class=\"wp-image-191235\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-the-ahrefs-ai-content-helper-tool-.jpg\" alt=\"A screenshot of the Ahrefs AI Content Helper tool. It shows a content editor on the left and a sidebar on the right that provides a &quot;Content score&quot; and analyzes the text for key topics to include, helping to optimize the article for search intent.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-the-ahrefs-ai-content-helper-tool-.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-the-ahrefs-ai-content-helper-tool--680x337.jpg 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-the-ahrefs-ai-content-helper-tool--768x380.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-the-ahrefs-ai-content-helper-tool--1536x761.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/p>\n<p>Create new articles or update old ones with ease. When search results mix different intents, simply pick the intent you want to optimize for and let the tool guide&nbsp;you.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"3. Trust and reputation matter equally for SEO and GEO\">\n<h3><a id=\"post-191224-_miesr83g2osh\"><\/a>3. Trust and reputation matter equally for SEO and&nbsp;GEO<\/h3>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Google Search and AI assistants both rely on outside content; they don\u2019t generate answers out of thin air. That means they face the same challenge: deciding which sources to trust. This is where your reputation as an expert becomes valuable for both SEO and&nbsp;GEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just like in traditional SEO, brand authority is a major factor in GEO. Branded mentions across the web show a strong connection to visibility in AI Overviews (<a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-overview-brand-correlation\/\">correlation of 0.664<\/a>). Furthermore, brands in the top 25% for web mentions earn over 10x more AI Overview placements than the next tier&nbsp;down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1769\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-bar-chart-titled-factors-that-correlate-with-br.png\" alt=\"A bar chart titled &quot;Factors that correlate with brand appearance in AI overviews.&quot; The chart shows that &quot;Branded web mentions&quot; has the highest Spearman correlation (0.664), followed by &quot;Branded anchors&quot; and &quot;Branded search volume.&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-191236\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-bar-chart-titled-factors-that-correlate-with-br.png 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-bar-chart-titled-factors-that-correlate-with-br-384x425.png 384w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-bar-chart-titled-factors-that-correlate-with-br-768x849.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-bar-chart-titled-factors-that-correlate-with-br-1389x1536.png 1389w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>And that\u2019s not just true for AI Overviews. <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/top-mentioned-sources-are-not-shared-across-ai-assistants\/\">AI Assistants also lean heavily on well-known sources<\/a>. The main difference is that they tend to cite a slightly different set of&nbsp;sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1973\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-venn-diagram-showing-the-overlap-of-the-top-50-m.jpg\" alt=\"A Venn diagram showing the overlap of the top 50 most cited brands across three AI platforms: Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity. It lists well-known brands like Johns Hopkins, Wikipedia, and The New York Times, illustrating which sources each AI tends to trust.\" class=\"wp-image-191237\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-venn-diagram-showing-the-overlap-of-the-top-50-m.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-venn-diagram-showing-the-overlap-of-the-top-50-m-345x425.jpg 345w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-venn-diagram-showing-the-overlap-of-the-top-50-m-768x947.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-venn-diagram-showing-the-overlap-of-the-top-50-m-1246x1536.jpg 1246w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Simply put, the more people talk about your brand online, the more likely AI is to feature you.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"4. Your website still needs to work properly\">\n<h3><a id=\"post-191224-_rjr695gpoj9n\"><\/a>4. Your website still needs to work properly<\/h3>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Search engines and AI assistants still rely on crawlers to fetch and process pages. AI struggles with heavy JavaScript, but it typically respects robots.txt rules. If they can\u2019t access or interpret your content correctly, neither SEO nor GEO will&nbsp;work.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"recommendation\"><div class=\"recommendation-title\">Tip<\/div><div class=\"recommendation-content\">\n<p>Keep your site in good SEO health with <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit\">Ahrefs\u2019 Site Audit<\/a>. It monitors your site on autopilot for over 170 SEO issues, showing where exactly they happen and suggesting how to fix them. Free in <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/webmaster-tools\">Ahrefs Webmaster Tools<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"895\" class=\"wp-image-191238\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-the-ahrefs-site-audit-dashboard-i.png\" alt=\"A screenshot of the Ahrefs Site Audit dashboard. It displays a &quot;Health Score&quot; of 94 (Excellent) and several donut charts showing the distribution of crawled URLs, crawl status of links found, and error distribution.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-the-ahrefs-site-audit-dashboard-i.png 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-the-ahrefs-site-audit-dashboard-i-680x297.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-the-ahrefs-site-audit-dashboard-i-768x336.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-screenshot-of-the-ahrefs-site-audit-dashboard-i-1536x671.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"SEO or GEO? Start with SEO, then layer in GEO\">\n<h2><a id=\"post-191224-_hke9o64520ve\"><\/a>SEO or GEO? Start with SEO, then layer in&nbsp;GEO<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Think of SEO as your foundation and GEO as the upgrade. You need SEO first because it\u2019s established, drives most web traffic, and provides the base that AI systems often learn&nbsp;from.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But GEO matters too, because AI search is growing, and the \u201czero-click\u201d trend is accelerating as more AI Overviews roll out. What\u2019s more, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.adobe.com\/express\/learn\/blog\/chatgpt-as-a-search-engine\">Adobe\u2019s recent study found<\/a> that three in 10 U.S. respondents trust ChatGPT more than other search engines, and 36% of the people surveyed discovered a new product or brand through ChatGPT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re curious about the global traffic shift, check out our <a href=\"https:\/\/chatgpt-vs-google.com\/\">AI vs. Search Traffic Analysis dashboard<\/a>, which pulls data from over 50,000 sites. For instance, from January to August 2025, Google held a 41.13% traffic share, while ChatGPT accounted for 0.21%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2264\" height=\"1944\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2025-09-10_11-14-58.jpg\" alt=\"AI vs Search Traffic Analysis Dashboard.\" class=\"wp-image-191246\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2025-09-10_11-14-58.jpg 2264w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2025-09-10_11-14-58-495x425.jpg 495w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2025-09-10_11-14-58-768x659.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2025-09-10_11-14-58-1536x1319.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2025-09-10_11-14-58-2048x1759.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2264px) 100vw, 2264px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"Cheat sheet: SEO vs GEO side-by-side\">\n<h2><a id=\"post-191224-_zehapzjw2k67\"><\/a>Cheat sheet: SEO vs. GEO side-by-side<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<table id=\"tablepress-463\" class=\"tablepress tablepress-id-463 tablepress-responsive tablepress-ahrefs-width-720px\">\n<thead>\n<tr class=\"row-1 odd\">\n\t<th class=\"column-1\">Aspect<\/th><th class=\"column-2\">SEO (Search Engine Optimization)<\/th><th class=\"column-3\">GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr class=\"row-2 even\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Goal<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Get clicks to your website<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Get AI to mention your brand\/content<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-3 odd\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Where you appear<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Blue links in search results<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Inside AI-generated answers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-4 even\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Primary mention source<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Your own website pages and content<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Third-party sites (industry lists, reviews, PR coverage)<br>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-5 odd\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">User journey<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Search \u2192 Click link \u2192 Visit&nbsp;site<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Ask \u2192 Read AI summary \u2192 May never visit&nbsp;site<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-6 even\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Traffic volume<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">High<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Low<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-7 odd\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Conversion quality<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Standard rates<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Can be much higher (23x higher in case of ahrefs.com)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-8 even\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Visitor behavior<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">More pages viewed, shorter time&nbsp;<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Fewer pages, longer time, clearer intent<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-9 odd\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Success metrics<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Rankings, backlinks, organic traffic, share of&nbsp;voice<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Mentions, citations, AI referral traffic, AI share of&nbsp;voice<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-10 even\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Trust signals<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Backlinks from reputable sites, EEAT<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Unlinked mentions, brand authority, multi-platform presence<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-11 odd\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Foundation<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Essential starting point<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Built on top of SEO; future-proofing<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-12 even\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Shared principles<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Quality content, trust\/authority, intent focus, strong technical foundation<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Same \u2014 GEO builds on&nbsp;SEO<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<!-- #tablepress-463 from cache -->\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-191224-_af2y55qpjd0t\"><\/a>Final thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Worried you\u2019re falling behind? Don\u2019t panic. SEO dies every year and lives forever. The same qualities that make content strong for SEO also work for GEO. By adding GEO strategies to your SEO efforts and keeping an eye on your AI visibility, you\u2019ll be well-positioned for today and prepared for what\u2019s next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Got questions or comments? Let me know on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/mateusz-makosiewicz\/\">LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Want the full story? Read&nbsp;on. As you probably already know, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of improving your website so it appears higher in Google, Bing, or other search engine results when people search for topics related to<span class=\"ellipsis\">\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\">Read more \u203a<\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":159,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[469,335],"tags":[],"coauthors":[412],"class_list":["post-191224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ai-search","category-general-seo","odd"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>SEO vs. GEO: 5 Key Differences Despite the Similarities<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Confused about SEO vs. GEO? Learn the 5 key differences and why you now need both to connect with customers.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-vs-geo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SEO vs. GEO: 5 Key Differences Despite the Similarities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Confused about SEO vs. GEO? Learn the 5 key differences and why you now need both to connect with customers.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-vs-geo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SEO Blog by Ahrefs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ahrefs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-10T15:04:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-10T15:04:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-circular-flowchart-diagram-illustrating-the-trad.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1558\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mateusz Makosiewicz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@m_makosiewicz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ahrefs\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-vs-geo\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-vs-geo\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mateusz Makosiewicz\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c7e64c851ecc4eabb77eaefae90a440c\"},\"headline\":\"SEO vs. GEO: 5 Key Differences Despite the Similarities\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-10T15:04:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-10T15:04:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-vs-geo\/\"},\"wordCount\":2556,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-vs-geo\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/seo-vs.-geo-5-key-differences-by-mateusz-makosiewicz-ai-search.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"AI Search\",\"General SEO\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-vs-geo\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-vs-geo\/\",\"name\":\"SEO vs. GEO: 5 Key Differences Despite the Similarities\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-vs-geo\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-vs-geo\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-circular-flowchart-diagram-illustrating-the-trad.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-10T15:04:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-10T15:04:17+00:00\",\"description\":\"Confused about SEO vs. GEO? Learn the 5 key differences and why you now need both to connect with customers.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-vs-geo\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-vs-geo\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-circular-flowchart-diagram-illustrating-the-trad.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-circular-flowchart-diagram-illustrating-the-trad.png\",\"width\":1558,\"height\":1700,\"caption\":\"A circular flowchart diagram illustrating the traditional search engine process. The cycle shows four icons: a user, a search bar for the query \\\"best headphones,\\\" a ranking algorithm icon, and a search engine results page (SERP), connected by arrows to show the user's journey.\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"SEO Blog by Ahrefs\",\"description\":\"Link Building Strategies &amp; SEO Tips\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Ahrefs\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/ahrefs-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/ahrefs-logo.png\",\"width\":2048,\"height\":768,\"caption\":\"Ahrefs\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ahrefs\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/ahrefs\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/ahrefs\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/ahrefscom\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c7e64c851ecc4eabb77eaefae90a440c\",\"name\":\"Mateusz Makosiewicz\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/mateusz-makosiewicz.png8bf90d5a58159ff233b11073a8215049\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/mateusz-makosiewicz.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/mateusz-makosiewicz.png\",\"caption\":\"Mateusz Makosiewicz\"},\"description\":\"Marketing researcher and educator at Ahrefs. Mateusz has over 15 years of experience in marketing gained in agencies, SaaS and hardware businesses. When not writing, he's composing music or enjoying long walks.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/mateusz-makosiewicz-38154b67\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/m_makosiewicz\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/author\/mateusz-makosiewicz\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"SEO vs. GEO: 5 Key Differences Despite the Similarities","description":"Confused about SEO vs. GEO? Learn the 5 key differences and why you now need both to connect with customers.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-vs-geo\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"SEO vs. GEO: 5 Key Differences Despite the Similarities","og_description":"Confused about SEO vs. GEO? Learn the 5 key differences and why you now need both to connect with customers.","og_url":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-vs-geo\/","og_site_name":"SEO Blog by Ahrefs","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ahrefs\/","article_published_time":"2025-09-10T15:04:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-09-10T15:04:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1558,"height":1700,"url":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-circular-flowchart-diagram-illustrating-the-trad.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Mateusz Makosiewicz","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@m_makosiewicz","twitter_site":"@ahrefs","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-vs-geo\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-vs-geo\/"},"author":{"name":"Mateusz Makosiewicz","@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c7e64c851ecc4eabb77eaefae90a440c"},"headline":"SEO vs. GEO: 5 Key Differences Despite the Similarities","datePublished":"2025-09-10T15:04:14+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-10T15:04:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-vs-geo\/"},"wordCount":2556,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-vs-geo\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/seo-vs.-geo-5-key-differences-by-mateusz-makosiewicz-ai-search.jpg","articleSection":["AI Search","General SEO"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-vs-geo\/","url":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-vs-geo\/","name":"SEO vs. GEO: 5 Key Differences Despite the Similarities","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-vs-geo\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-vs-geo\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-circular-flowchart-diagram-illustrating-the-trad.png","datePublished":"2025-09-10T15:04:14+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-10T15:04:17+00:00","description":"Confused about SEO vs. GEO? Learn the 5 key differences and why you now need both to connect with customers.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-vs-geo\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-vs-geo\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-circular-flowchart-diagram-illustrating-the-trad.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a-circular-flowchart-diagram-illustrating-the-trad.png","width":1558,"height":1700,"caption":"A circular flowchart diagram illustrating the traditional search engine process. The cycle shows four icons: a user, a search bar for the query \"best headphones,\" a ranking algorithm icon, and a search engine results page (SERP), connected by arrows to show the user's journey."},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/","name":"SEO Blog by Ahrefs","description":"Link Building Strategies &amp; SEO Tips","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Ahrefs","url":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/ahrefs-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/ahrefs-logo.png","width":2048,"height":768,"caption":"Ahrefs"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ahrefs\/","https:\/\/x.com\/ahrefs","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/ahrefs\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/ahrefscom"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c7e64c851ecc4eabb77eaefae90a440c","name":"Mateusz Makosiewicz","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/mateusz-makosiewicz.png8bf90d5a58159ff233b11073a8215049","url":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/mateusz-makosiewicz.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/mateusz-makosiewicz.png","caption":"Mateusz Makosiewicz"},"description":"Marketing researcher and educator at Ahrefs. Mateusz has over 15 years of experience in marketing gained in agencies, SaaS and hardware businesses. When not writing, he's composing music or enjoying long walks.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/mateusz-makosiewicz-38154b67\/","https:\/\/x.com\/m_makosiewicz"],"url":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/author\/mateusz-makosiewicz\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/159"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191224\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191224"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=191224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}