SEO Isn’t Dead – It’s Everywhere: Part 2

With the advent of AI search, there’s been an explosion of new terminology. Suddenly the industry is buzzing about AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), AISO (AI Search Optimization), and even terms like LLM-O (Large Language Model Optimization). I’ll admit, as a strategist I find these trends fascinating. It’s our way of grappling with change. 

Each new acronym highlights a nuance: 

• AEO emphasizes optimizing for direct answers (think featured snippets or voice answers).
• GEO focuses on AI-driven generative search results.
• AISO broadly means tuning for any AI-in-search scenario. 

These new labels can be useful to discuss specific tactics, but let’s not get lost in semantics. At its heart, this is all still SEO. It’s about making sure your content shows up in the results, whether that result is a spoken answer, an AI-written paragraph, or a good old hyperlink. Renaming the practice doesn’t change the practice. As I often tell my team at Altezza: “Call it whatever-engine-optimization you want. We’re still doing the same job: getting our clients’ content in front of the consumer’s eyes (or ears).” 

Think of it this way: Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) means structuring your content to directly answer questions so that search engines (or voice assistants) can present your answer immediately. That’s essentially what SEO experts have been doing for featured snippets and FAQ content for years. In fact, one definition of AEO is “optimizing your content to appear in AI-driven search results, such as Google’s SGE or ChatGPT.” Sounds a lot like classic SEO goals, just applied to new formats. Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is described as “the process of optimizing content to boost its visibility in AI-driven search results, much like SEO does for traditional search rankings.” The description literally draws an analogy to traditional SEO, because the aim is parallel.

 I don’t say this to dismiss AEO or GEO; on the contrary, I embrace the tactics behind them (I’ll discuss those next). But I caution marketers: don’t fixate on the acronym at the expense of strategy. We could call our field “Search Everywhere Optimization” (a term I actually love, borrowed from recent industry chatter) because we now optimize for visibility on search engines, social platforms, AI answers…everywhere. The name is secondary to the mission: ensuring your brand’s content penetrates all the places people are searching for information.

 So, whether someone says “SEO,” “AEO,” “GEO,” or some other buzzword, I nod and think: Yes. We’re all talking about content discovery, just in different wrappers. Let’s keep our eyes on the prize: your content, discovered by your target audience, in whichever search interface they happen to use.