For about twenty years, being found online meant one thing: showing up on Google. Someone types “accountant for small business” or “dentist near me”, looks down a list of links, and picks one.
That still happens all day, every day. But there is now a second way people look for businesses. They ask an AI assistant such as ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity a question in ordinary language, and instead of a list of links they get a written answer. Sometimes that answer names specific businesses.
Google is doing the same thing inside its own results. For many searches it now shows an AI-written summary, which it calls an AI Overview, above the usual links.
Two terms have grown up around this: SEO for the first kind of search, and GEO for the second. Here is what each one means in practice, how they fit together, and what is worth doing about it, whatever the size of your business.
What SEO means for a business
SEO stands for search engine optimisation. In plain terms, it is the work of making your website easy for Google to find, understand and trust. Done well, your site shows up when people search for what you offer.
For most businesses, good SEO comes down to a handful of things:
- Google can reach and read every page that matters.
- Each page is clearly about one thing: a service, a location, or a question customers ask.
- The site loads quickly and works properly on a phone.
- Other reputable websites link to you or mention you.
- Your name, address and phone number are the same everywhere they appear.
The reward is a place in front of people who are already looking. Someone searching “emergency plumber Houston” needs a plumber today. If you are near the top of that list, you have a real chance at the call.
What GEO means for a business
GEO stands for generative engine optimisation. “Generative” refers to AI tools that write an answer instead of listing links: ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot and Google's AI Overviews.
GEO is the work of making sure those tools can find your business, understand what you do, and have good reason to mention you when someone asks a relevant question.
Depending on the tool, an answer is built from what the AI learned in training, from a live search of the web, or both. It draws on websites, reviews, directories and articles, then writes a short reply that might name two or three businesses. GEO is about giving it clear, accurate, trustworthy material to work with, so your business has a fair chance of being one of them.
What tends to help:
- AI tools can actually reach your website. Some sites block them by accident, often through a security setting.
- Your pages answer real customer questions directly, in plain sentences, instead of hinting at the answer.
- Your business is described the same way on your website, your Google Business Profile and in directories, so an AI tool can tell it is all one business.
- Other people talk about you: reviews, local press, industry associations, “best of” lists.
The term itself comes from a research paper, GEO: Generative Engine Optimization, published at the KDD 2024 conference. Its authors reported that changes such as citing sources and adding statistics and quotations “can boost visibility by up to 40% in generative engine responses”. They also noted that results vary from one subject to another (read the paper). It is a real effect, but not a guaranteed one.
SEO vs GEO: the real difference
The shortest way to put it:
SEO helps you rank in a list. GEO helps you get mentioned in an answer.
A few differences matter in practice:
The result looks different
A results page shows ten or more options and lets the person compare. An AI answer usually names a handful of businesses, sometimes only one, and often says why it chose them.
People ask differently
People type short phrases into Google, like “roof repair cost”. They ask AI tools whole questions: “How much should a roof repair cost on a two-storey house, and what should I watch out for?” Those longer questions reward a business that has explained itself in detail.
Different parts of your site get used
Google mostly sends people to a page and lets them read it. AI tools tend to pick out specific facts and short passages: a price range, a clear answer to a common question, a sentence about who you serve. They combine those with what other sources say about you.
You measure them differently
You can check where you rank on Google for a search. AI answers change from one person, and one moment, to the next, so there is no single position. What you look at instead is how often your business comes up, and whether what is said about it is right.
| Compared on | SEO | GEO |
|---|---|---|
| The goal | Rank in the list of results | Get mentioned in the answer |
| What the customer sees | Ten or more links to compare | A written answer that names a few businesses, sometimes one |
| How people ask | Short phrases: “family dentist Dallas” | Full questions: “Which Dallas dentists are good with nervous kids?” |
| What gets used | Mostly whole pages, for the visitor to read | Specific facts and short passages, combined with what other sources say |
| How you check it | Your position for a search | How often, and how accurately, your business comes up |
Where they overlap
A lot. Google says plainly that “the best practices for SEO remain relevant for AI features in Google Search”. It adds that there are “no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode” (Google Search Central). A website that is hard for Google to read is usually hard for AI tools too. GEO does not replace SEO. It builds on it.
One business, two kinds of search
An illustrative example, not a client.
Picture a family dental clinic in Dallas. Good dentists, solid reviews, a decent website.
In a traditional Google search
Someone types “family dentist Dallas”. Google shows a map with a few local listings, then a list of websites. The clinic appears on the map because its Google Business Profile is complete and well reviewed. Its website is on the first page because it is fast, clear and has a page about family dentistry. The searcher compares three or four options, reads some reviews and calls one. That is SEO doing its job.
In an AI answer
Another parent asks ChatGPT: “I'm in Dallas and my kids are scared of the dentist. Which family dentists are good with anxious children, and do any take Delta Dental?” The answer names three clinics, with a sentence about each.
Whether this clinic is one of the three likely depends on things like:
- whether its website actually says it works with nervous children, or only says “we offer family dentistry”;
- whether it lists the insurance plans it accepts in plain text;
- whether its reviews and other websites mention it in that context;
- whether the AI tool can reach its website at all.
Same clinic, same city, same quality of care. In the first case it is competing for a place on a list. In the second, what matters most is how clearly the clinic has explained itself, on its own site and elsewhere, because the answer is built from exactly that.
Why it makes sense to think about both
Traditional search is not going anywhere. Plenty of your customers will keep searching the way they always have, and a strong position on Google remains one of the most valuable things a business can have online.
More people are also asking AI tools, especially research-style questions: which provider to choose, what something should cost, what to look out for. Those are often the moments a decision is being made.
The work overlaps. Most of what helps you on Google helps with AI answers too. Doing both is not twice the work. It is mostly the same foundation, with more attention to clear answers and to what other people say about you.
Most businesses have done far more of one than the other. We have audited 1.5k+ business websites. On a 100-point scale they average 83.4 for SEO and 68.6 for GEO. 365 of them earned an A for SEO. Just 1 earned an A for GEO. The basics of being found on Google are in reasonable shape for most of them. The newer part is where the gap is, which also means there is room to stand out. The full results are on our research page.
What to do now
None of this needs secret tricks, and it does not have to be a long technical project. A sensible order:
1. Look yourself up both ways
Search Google for your main service and town. Then ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity the questions your customers ask you on the phone. Note which businesses come up and what is said about them. Ask more than once, because AI answers vary.
2. Make sure AI tools can reach your site
Ask whoever looks after your website to check that it is not turning AI tools away. In our audits, 7.2% of sites blocked Perplexity and 5.1% blocked the crawler ChatGPT uses for search, often without the owner knowing. It is normally a quick fix.
3. Say clearly what you do, for whom, and where
On your own pages, say in plain words what services you offer, who they are for and which areas you cover. Include a price or a price range if you can, and what makes you different. Answer the questions customers ask you every week. If you are good with nervous patients, first-time buyers or small budgets, say so.
4. Keep your details consistent everywhere
Use the same business name, address and phone number on your website, your Google Business Profile, directories and social profiles, and link to those profiles from your website. It helps Google and AI tools recognise that they are all the same business.
5. Give people reasons to talk about you
Ask happy customers for reviews. Get listed with your industry association. Say yes to local press and partner features. This is the slowest part and nobody can shortcut it, but it helps on Google and in AI answers alike.
One caution: be wary of anyone who promises guaranteed mentions in ChatGPT or guaranteed first-place rankings. Nobody controls what these tools say. What you can control is how clear, accurate and trustworthy the information about your business is.
The short version
Search is not being replaced. It is widening. People still use Google, and more of them now also ask AI tools. SEO helps you show up when people search. GEO helps you get mentioned when they ask. Both rest on the same foundation: a clear, well-built website, consistent business details, and a business that other people talk about. Get that right and you are in a good position for both.
If you would like to know where your business stands on each, Ru Visibility audits websites for both. We look at how a site performs in traditional search and how ready it is to be mentioned in AI answers, then explain the findings in plain English.