SEO vs GEO: What Should You Optimize First in the Age of AI?

By Joey Yeh | Founder, ChoiceLayer

Artificial intelligence is changing how people discover businesses online.

For years, companies have relied on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to improve their visibility on Google and other search engines. Now, platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI-powered search experiences are introducing new ways for customers to research products, compare services, and discover brands.

This shift has created an important question for business owners and marketers:

Should you continue investing in traditional SEO, or shift your focus toward Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)?

Having worked in SEO for more than 14 years, I’ve seen search evolve through major algorithm updates, mobile-first indexing, changes in search results, and now the rise of generative AI.

My perspective is straightforward: SEO and GEO should work together, but the right starting point depends on your business’s current digital foundation.

Let’s explore why.

What Is the Difference Between SEO and GEO?

Although SEO and GEO share many underlying principles, they focus on different aspects of online discovery.

What Is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of improving a website’s visibility in organic search results.

Traditional SEO focuses on helping search engines discover, crawl, understand, and rank relevant content.

Common SEO activities include:

Keyword research and search intent analysis
Technical SEO and website accessibility
On-page optimization and content development
Internal linking and website architecture
Link building and digital PR
Organic traffic and conversion measurement

For example, someone searching Google for “corporate event production companies” might see a list of service providers, articles, and business listings.

SEO helps businesses compete for visibility in those results.

What Is GEO?

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) focuses on improving how a brand or its information appears within AI-generated responses.

Instead of simply presenting links, AI-powered platforms may summarize information, compare companies, provide explanations, or recommend businesses based on a user’s question.

For example, someone might ask ChatGPT:

“Which corporate event production companies should I consider for a large conference?”

An AI-generated response might identify several businesses, describe their specialties, and reference supporting sources.

GEO focuses on making a business easier for these systems to understand, accurately describe, and potentially recommend.

However, GEO cannot guarantee that a particular AI platform will mention or recommend your brand. Responses vary depending on the platform, prompt, available sources, and other factors.

SEO vs GEO: Key Differences

Area	SEO	GEO
Primary focus	Organic search visibility	Visibility within AI-generated answers
Typical discovery	Search results and links	Conversational responses and recommendations
Main objective	Attract relevant search traffic	Improve brand mentions, citations, and accurate representation
Content priorities	Search intent, relevance, and helpfulness	Clear entities, useful information, and credible evidence
Authority signals	Relevant links and demonstrated expertise	Credible sources, brand references, and verifiable information
Measurement	Organic traffic, rankings, conversions	AI mentions, citations, share of voice, referrals
Business outcome	Qualified organic visitors and leads	Brand discovery, consideration, and qualified demand

These differences matter, but they don’t mean businesses need two completely separate strategies.

In many cases, the same improvements can benefit both.

Why SEO Still Matters in the Age of AI

One misconception surrounding GEO is that traditional SEO will become irrelevant.

I don’t believe businesses should operate under that assumption.

AI-powered search introduces new discovery experiences, but websites remain important sources of business information.

Search engines and AI-powered platforms still need to access useful information about companies, services, products, and expertise.

If your website has significant technical problems, thin content, or unclear service descriptions, pursuing GEO alone may be premature.

SEO Creates a Strong Digital Foundation

Consider a business website with the following issues:

Important service pages are missing.
Search engines cannot access certain pages.
Content provides limited information about its services.
The website has poor internal linking.
The company’s positioning is inconsistent.

These problems can affect traditional organic performance and limit the quality of information available to other discovery systems.

Addressing them creates a stronger foundation for both SEO and GEO.

The takeaway: Strong SEO doesn’t guarantee AI visibility, but weak SEO fundamentals can create unnecessary obstacles.

Three Areas Where SEO and GEO Work Together

1. Helpful, Specific Content

Both SEO and GEO benefit from information that clearly addresses customer needs.

A business should explain:

What services it provides
Who those services are designed for
Which problems it solves
How its process works
What differentiates it from competitors

For example, a corporate event production company might create a dedicated conference production page explaining its staging, audiovisual support, livestreaming, and technical crew capabilities.

That page can target relevant organic searches while also providing useful information that AI systems may reference.

2. Technical Accessibility

Technical SEO remains important.

Businesses should ensure their important public pages can be accessed and interpreted by relevant crawlers, subject to each platform’s documented crawling behavior.

Important considerations include:

Appropriate indexing and crawling configurations
Logical website architecture
Clear page headings
Descriptive internal links
Relevant structured data where applicable
Consistent canonical URLs

Structured data can help eligible systems interpret explicitly described information, but adding schema markup does not guarantee rankings, AI citations, or recommendations.

3. Brand Authority and Credibility

Search engines and AI-powered discovery systems both benefit from credible, verifiable information.

Businesses can strengthen their digital presence through:

Genuine customer reviews
Detailed case studies
Relevant industry publications
Credible third-party references
Consistent company information
Original research and demonstrated expertise

For GEO, these signals are particularly relevant when evaluating whether your brand is clearly represented across sources beyond your own website.

What Should Businesses Optimize First: SEO or GEO?

The answer depends on your starting point.

Scenario 1: Your Website Has Weak SEO Foundations

Recommended priority: SEO first.

If your website struggles with indexing, lacks essential service pages, or receives little qualified organic traffic, focus initially on improving those fundamentals.

Start with:

Addressing major technical SEO problems.
Creating or improving essential service pages.
Aligning content with customer search intent.
Strengthening internal linking.
Measuring qualified organic traffic and conversions.

You can incorporate GEO considerations into these improvements, even while SEO remains the primary focus.

Scenario 2: You Already Have Strong Organic Visibility

Recommended priority: Expand into GEO.

If your business already performs well in traditional search, the next opportunity may involve understanding how AI platforms represent your brand.

Start by researching the questions your target customers ask AI-powered platforms.

For example:

“What are the best B2B lead generation companies in Taiwan?”
“Which agencies specialize in corporate event production?”
“How do I choose an SEO and GEO consultant?”

Analyze which businesses appear, how they are described, and which sources are referenced.

Then identify opportunities to improve the clarity and credibility of your brand’s public information.

Scenario 3: You’re Building a New Website or Content Strategy

Recommended priority: SEO and GEO together.

When developing a new website or content strategy, consider both discovery experiences from the beginning.

For example, a well-designed service page can:

Target relevant organic search queries.
Explain your services in straightforward language.
Demonstrate expertise through real examples.
Reference credible supporting information.
Connect visitors to relevant conversion opportunities.

This approach creates a more coordinated content investment.

A Practical Example: Corporate Event Production

Imagine a company specializing in corporate conferences, audiovisual production, and live events.

For traditional SEO, the company might target keywords related to:

Corporate event production
Conference production services
AV production
Corporate livestreaming
Event staging

Its website should contain comprehensive service pages aligned with those searches.

For GEO, the company would also evaluate whether AI-powered platforms can accurately identify its capabilities.

Questions might include:

Does its website clearly explain its specialties?
Are there detailed examples of successful projects?
Do independent sources mention the company?
Are customer reviews available and relevant?
Is its company information consistent across platforms?

The goal is to build a credible digital presence that supports both traditional search and AI-powered discovery.

What GEO Adds Beyond Traditional SEO

Although there is significant overlap, GEO introduces several additional areas of analysis.

AI Prompt Research

Traditional keyword research examines what people search for.

AI prompt research investigates the conversational questions people ask AI platforms.

These prompts may contain more context than traditional keywords.

For example:

Traditional keyword:

“Conference production company”

Conversational AI prompt:

“Can you recommend a conference production company that handles staging, AV equipment, and livestreaming for a corporate event?”

Businesses should examine both types of demand.

Entity Clarity

An entity is a clearly identifiable person, organization, product, or concept.

For businesses, entity clarity involves consistently communicating the company name, services, expertise, and other verifiable facts.

Clear information can reduce ambiguity when platforms attempt to understand a brand.

External Brand Evidence

Businesses should also consider how they are represented beyond their websites.

Relevant publications, legitimate reviews, professional profiles, and credible industry references can provide additional context about a company’s expertise and reputation.

The objective should be genuine authority development rather than mass-producing mentions solely to influence AI systems.

How to Measure SEO and GEO Performance

A combined search strategy requires a broader measurement framework.

Traditional SEO Metrics

Continue monitoring:

Organic search impressions and clicks
Relevant keyword performance
Organic landing-page engagement
Qualified leads and conversions
Technical indexing health

Google Search Console and GA4 remain useful for understanding organic search performance.

GEO and AI Search Metrics

Additional measurements may include:

AI Brand Mentions

How frequently does your brand appear in responses to a consistent set of relevant prompts?

AI Citations

Which websites and sources do AI platforms reference when generating answers?

AI Share of Voice

How often does your brand appear relative to selected competitors across a defined prompt set?

AI Referral Traffic

Are visitors reaching your website through identifiable AI-powered platforms?

AI-Attributed Leads

Do identifiable AI referrals contribute to inquiries, qualified leads, or other business outcomes?

AI responses can change depending on the platform, user context, and prompt wording. For this reason, measurements should use a consistent methodology and be interpreted as directional indicators rather than absolute market-share figures.

The ultimate objective remains business performance.

A Simple SEO and GEO Prioritization Framework

Before allocating your next marketing budget, ask three questions.

1. Can customers discover our website through traditional search?

If your organic visibility is weak, investigate technical SEO, content coverage, and search intent alignment.

2. Can AI platforms accurately understand and describe our business?

If your brand information is unclear or inconsistent, improve entity clarity and supporting evidence.

3. Are we visible when potential customers ask AI platforms for recommendations?

If competitors appear frequently while your brand is absent, investigate content gaps, brand positioning, and credible external references.

The answers can help determine where additional investment is most likely to create value.

The Future of Search Requires SEO and GEO to Work Together

SEO and GEO serve different discovery experiences, but their underlying goals are closely connected.

Both seek to make useful, credible business information more accessible to people looking for answers.

Traditional SEO helps businesses compete for visibility in search results.

GEO expands that strategy by examining how brands appear within AI-generated answers and recommendations.

For most businesses, the practical approach is to maintain strong SEO fundamentals while developing a deliberate AI visibility strategy.

Rather than separating SEO and GEO into competing priorities, consider how both can support the same business goals.

Your customers are changing how they search. Your visibility strategy should evolve with them.

Watch: SEO vs GEO — What Should You Optimize First?

In my latest ChoiceLayer video, I explore the differences between SEO and GEO, practical examples, and how businesses can prioritize their efforts.

[Embed YouTube video here]

Ready to Understand Your AI Search Visibility?

At ChoiceLayer, we help businesses evaluate and improve their visibility across traditional search and AI-powered discovery.

Whether you’re looking to strengthen your SEO foundation or understand why competitors appear in AI-generated recommendations, the first step is identifying your current visibility gaps.

Become the brand AI chooses.

Visit ChoiceLayer to learn more, or explore our SEO and AI Search tools.

About the author: Joey Yeh is the founder of ChoiceLayer and an SEO and digital growth strategist with more than 15 years of experience, including leadership roles in international digital marketing agencies.