What Are AEO and GEO? AI Search Optimization Explained
AEO (answer engine optimization) and GEO (generative engine optimization) mean getting your business named and cited when people ask ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot and Google AI Overviews for a recommendation. Here's how it differs from classic SEO, what to measure and how Revnu does the work for you.
AEO and GEO are two names for the same job: getting your business named, recommended and linked when someone asks an AI assistant for help. AEO stands for answer engine optimization. GEO stands for generative engine optimization. You'll also hear LLM SEO, AI SEO, AI search optimization and ChatGPT SEO. They all mean this.
Revnu does this work for you. It asks the questions your buyers ask across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and, on Managed, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Copilot and more. It reads every answer, shows you where you're named and where competitors win, then does the work to close the gaps: it writes the posts, gets the listings and proposes the page fixes.
Why it matters now
More buyers start with a question to an AI assistant instead of a list of blue links. They type "best invoicing tool for freelancers" into ChatGPT, get a short answer that names three or four products, and shortlist from that. If you aren't in the answer, you aren't on the shortlist.
The answer is the new first page. Being named in it, ideally first and in a good light, is what AEO and GEO aim for.
How AEO and GEO differ from classic SEO
| Classic SEO | AEO and GEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Where buyers look | Google's list of results | An answer written by ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, Google AI Overviews or AI Mode |
| What you win | A ranking position and a click | A mention, a recommendation and a cited link |
| What you track | Keywords | Prompts: the full questions buyers ask, in their words |
| What decides it | Your pages, links and authority | Your pages plus every page the engine reads about your category: reviews, directories, "best X" lists, comparisons, Reddit threads |
| How results move | Rankings shift slowly | Answers vary run to run, so you judge trends over weeks |
SEO still matters. Most answer engines search the web before they answer, and pages that rank and read well are the pages they pick up. Good SEO is the foundation and AEO builds on it. Revnu runs both: blog posts and Search Console on the search side, AI visibility on the answer side.
The three things AEO and GEO aim for
Be mentioned. The answer names your business when a buyer asks a question you should win.
Be recommended well. You appear early in the answer and the engine describes you accurately and positively.
Be cited. The answer links to your own pages, so buyers can click through and the engine keeps trusting your site as a source.
Revnu measures all three. AI Visibility: What the Numbers Mean explains each number on the dashboard.
How Revnu does AEO and GEO for you
Revnu picks the questions to track
It researches your market and proposes the buyer questions worth tracking, in the short way people actually type them. You can add your own on Visibility > Tracked Prompts. See how to pick the right prompts.
Revnu measures the answers
It asks every tracked question on each engine on a schedule, reads every answer and records who's named, in what order, in what tone and which pages are cited. Pro checks ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity weekly. Managed checks those plus Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Copilot, Grok and more, daily, and by region.
Revnu finds the gaps
The Improve Visibility card on Visibility > Overview lists the questions where you're missing and the competitors beating you. Click Investigate in Chat and Revnu reads the latest answers and proposes one clear next step.
Revnu does the work
It writes posts that answer the questions you're missing from, proposes exact additions to your existing pages, submits you to the directories and review sites the answers cite, and drafts Reddit posts for you to share. Everything follows your approval settings.
Revnu checks it worked
Each action names what the next measurement should show. Revnu compares the same question on the same engine before and after, so you see what moved.
Start with one sentence:
Track how ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity answer my buyers' questions, and show me where competitors get named instead of us.
The AEO and GEO vocabulary in plain words
Answer engine. An AI assistant that answers questions: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, Grok, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode.
Prompt. A question you track, written the way a buyer types it. Revnu calls these Tracked Prompts.
Mention. The answer names your business.
Citation. The answer links to a page as a source.
Visibility. The share of answers that mention you.
Share of Voice. Your mentions compared with your competitors' mentions.
Position. Where you appear among the brands an answer names. 1 is first.
Sentiment. The tone an answer uses about you.
Search expansion (query fanout). The web searches an engine runs behind one prompt before it answers. See how AI engines choose what to cite.
Next step
Frequently Asked Questions
AEO is answer engine optimization: the work of getting your business named and cited in answers from AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Copilot and Google AI Overviews.