A WhatsApp forward arrives from a friend: SEO is finished, AI has replaced Google, your business needs GEO now. The next week an agency calls about AEO. This guide explains the three terms in plain words, shows what they share, and gives the order a small business in Karachi or Lahore should take them in.
What SEO is
Search engine optimisation is the work of getting your pages to appear high in the list of results when somebody searches on Google. It covers the technical side (the site loads fast, every page can be found and read by Google), the pages themselves (a page for each service and each area you serve) and your reputation elsewhere (other sites linking to you, your Google Business Profile, reviews). Our guide to local SEO in Karachi covers that order of work in detail.
What AEO is
Answer engine optimisation is newer. When somebody asks a question, Google often shows a short answer at the top of the results, taken from one page, before any list of links. Voice assistants read a single answer aloud. AEO is the work of being that one page. It rewards a direct answer in the first lines under a heading, a question written the way people actually ask it, and FAQ data in the page's code so the search engine knows which text is the answer. Being the answer box can bring the enquiry even when the visitor never clicks through.
What GEO is
Generative engine optimisation is the newest of the three. ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI overviews do not show a list of pages; they write an answer, and sometimes name a few businesses inside it. GEO is the work of being one of those names, or one of the sources cited under the answer. These assistants draw on the open web, on business listings and on what other sites say about you. Nobody can buy a place in their answers. What you can do is make your business easy to understand and easy to trust, which is the subject of our guide to getting recommended by ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity.
What the three share
Most of the work overlaps. Each of the three rewards the same things:
- Pages that can be read without trouble: fast, usable on a phone, no text locked inside images.
- A page for each service and each place you serve, with the question answered in its first lines.
- Structured data in the code: your organisation, your services, your FAQs, your address and opening hours.
- The same name, address, phone number and list of services on your site, your Google Business Profile and every directory.
- Real facts: who you are, where you work, what you sell, with no claims you cannot stand behind.
If a page is good enough to rank, it is usually good enough to be quoted, and a business that is described the same way everywhere is the one an assistant feels safe to name.
Where they differ
| SEO | AEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you are trying to win | A high position in the list of results | The single answer shown above the list or read aloud | A mention or citation inside an AI-written answer |
| Where it appears | Google and Bing result pages | Answer boxes and voice assistants | ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI overviews |
| What the reader sees | Your title and description, then your page | A few lines from your page, sometimes without a visit | Your business name, perhaps with a link |
| How you measure it | Positions, clicks and enquiries in Search Console | Which questions show your page as the answer | Asking the assistants and recording what they say |
| Who controls the result | Mostly you, over time | Partly you, through how you write | Least of all; you can only make yourself easy to cite |
The order a small business should take
Fix the basics
Make sure the site loads quickly on a phone, every page has a title and description, and Search Console is set up so you can see which searches bring people.
Write a page for each service and area
One service on one page, one city or neighbourhood on another where you genuinely serve it. No page should exist only to hold keywords.
Put the answer first
Under the main heading of each page, answer the question the page exists for in two or three sentences, then explain.
Add FAQs and structured data
Write the four or five questions customers actually ask, answer each briefly, and mark the page up so search engines and assistants can read it.
Make the facts match everywhere
Name, address, phone number, services and hours must agree on your site, your Google Business Profile and every directory that lists you.
Check and repeat each month
Look at Search Console, search your main questions, and ask two or three AI assistants who they recommend. Note what changed and fix the gap.
Nothing in that list belongs to only one of the three. A small business that does these six things has done its SEO, its AEO and most of its GEO at once. The A2Z Pvt Ltd website was built this way, with service, location and blog pages written for search from the start.
What to ask an agency
- Which pages will you write or change, and can we see the list before work begins?
- What will you report each month, and from which tools?
- How will you check whether we appear in AI answers, and how often?
- What do you need from us: photos, service details, reviews, the questions customers ask?
- What will you not promise?
The last question matters most. Nobody can promise a position on Google or a mention in ChatGPT; walk away from anyone who does. What an agency can promise is the work and the reporting.
When you do not need any of this yet
If your customers come from referrals and WhatsApp and your site is a brochure nobody searches for, start with a page for each service, then watch whether searches arrive. Our SEO services begin with the basics in step one, and we say plainly when a business does not need more. To talk through your site, book a demo.
Questions people ask
What is the difference between SEO, AEO and GEO?
SEO gets your page ranked in the list of search results. AEO gets a passage from your page shown as the single answer at the top of the results or read out by a voice assistant. GEO gets your business named or cited inside an answer written by an AI assistant.
Is SEO dead now that people ask ChatGPT?
No. Most buying searches still run through Google, and the AI assistants draw on the same open web that SEO improves. The pages that rank well are the pages most likely to be quoted or cited, so the work carries over.
Do I need a separate agency for GEO?
Usually not. GEO is done through the same pages, structured data and consistent business facts that SEO and AEO need. Ask your current agency how they check and report AI mentions before paying someone else for the same work.
Can anyone guarantee a mention in AI answers?
No. The assistants decide what to name from the web as a whole, and there is no paid placement inside their answers. A business can only make itself easy to find, easy to understand and consistent everywhere it is listed.
How do I check where my business appears?
Use Search Console for positions and clicks. Search your main questions on Google and note whether an answer box shows your page. Then ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity the questions a customer would ask, and record the names they give, once a month.
