SEO vs. GEO: What Do You Really Need in the AI Era?
Original article: ahrefs.com/blog/seo-vs-geo
In recent years, the online environment has been changing faster than ever. While everyone knows SEO optimization well, GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is still new for many businesses. And yet it can fundamentally affect how visible your brand will be at a time when people get information not only from Google, but also directly from AI assistants like ChatGPT or Gemini.
Good news? SEO and GEO are not competitors. On the contrary – they complement each other beautifully. You just need to understand how each of them works.
WHAT IS SEO – THE CLASSIC THAT STILL WORKS
SEO or search engine optimization is a way to get your website to the top of Google results. The goal is simple: the user should click on your link and come to your website.
How does the SEO process work?
- ●Search engine crawls websites (crawling)
- ●Saves them to a database (indexing)
- ●Ranks them by relevance in results (ranking)
Success comes from quality content, smartly chosen keywords, trustworthy backlinks, and a technically flawless website with good loading speed.
WHAT IS GEO – OPTIMIZATION FOR AI SEARCH
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is a newer discipline. Its goal is not to get a click, but to get a mention – directly in the answer that the AI assistant creates for the user.
The brand can thus appear in the answer text even before the user even thinks about clicking.
HOW GEO DIFFERS FROM SEO
SEO: Optimizes for search engines (Google, Bing). The goal is to get a click and traffic to the website.
GEO: Optimizes for AI systems (ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot). The goal is to be mentioned in the generated answer – without necessarily clicking.
The key metric in SEO is position in results. In GEO, it's the share of mentions (AI share of voice).
WHAT SEO AND GEO HAVE IN COMMON
Despite the differences, both disciplines share several basic principles:
Quality content – Valuable information that helps people works across platforms.
Respect for user intent – Whether it's a search engine or AI, the goal is always to give the best answer.
Brand trust and authority – The more known and trustworthy you are, the more often Google and AI will mention you.
Technically correct website – Both search engines and AI need to load and understand your pages without problems.
SEO OR GEO? THE BEST IS A COMBINATION OF BOTH
SEO is the foundation that every business should have firmly built. GEO is then a logical step if you don't want to lose visibility at a time when more and more people are asking their questions directly to AI assistants.
The future of search is not just about clicking. It's also about who appears in the answer.
HOW AIWEBS.CZ CAN HELP YOU
At aiwebs.cz we create websites that are optimized both for classic search engines (SEO) and for the new era of AI search (GEO). We combine:
- ●Technical SEO optimization for fast loading and proper indexing
- ●Quality content strategy for building authority
- ●Structured data for better understanding by search engines and AI
- ●Integration with AI tools for automation and efficiency
Want a website that will be visible not only on Google, but also in ChatGPT answers and other AI assistants? Contact us and together we'll create a strategy for the AI era.