Generative Engine Optimization vs SEO: How I Run Both

Generative engine optimization vs SEO is not an either-or choice, because GEO sits on top of SEO rather than replacing it.

SEO gets your pages crawled, indexed and ranked, and GEO makes the AI answer name you once it reads those pages.

If you can only start one this week, start with the SEO foundations, then layer GEO on as soon as your key pages are indexed.

That's my verdict after watching my own pages show up both in the organic results and inside Google's AI answers for the same searches.

This is the operator version of the comparison, so after the table you'll get the exact weekly setup I'd run to do both from one workflow.

If you'd like my team to look at your site first, book a free one-to-one GEO, AEO AI audit and get a custom game plan.

Generative Engine Optimization vs SEO At A Glance

This table is the short answer, and every row gets explained further down the page.

Factor	SEO	GEO
Full name	Search engine optimisation.	Generative engine optimisation.
The goal	Rank a page in the search results.	Get your business named or cited inside an AI answer.
Where it shows	The list of results on Google or Bing.	Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude.
How many winners	A full page of results, so position seven still gets some clicks.	A short list of maybe one to three names, so there's no room for number seven.
What it rewards	Relevant pages, technical health and links.	Pages that agree about you, real case studies and fresh answers.
Main metric	Clicks, impressions and rankings.	Mentions, citations and how accurately the AI describes you.
Main tool	Google Search Console.	A prompt log you check by hand or with an agent.
Depends on the other	No, SEO works on its own.	Yes, because AI answers lean on the pages that already rank.

The last row is the one that settles the debate for me.

GEO depends on SEO, so the two are layers of one job rather than rival strategies.

What SEO Is, In Operator Terms

SEO is the work of getting a page found, understood and ranked by a search engine.

As an operator, I break it into three layers that I check every week.

The technical layer makes sure Google can crawl the page, index it and show it with a snippet.
The content layer makes sure the page answers the search better than the pages around it.
The authority layer makes sure other sites link to you and talk about you.

None of that has gone away, and Google still tells site owners that the usual SEO best practices apply to its AI features.

🔥 Want my exact Generative Engine Optimization vs SEO setup, step by step? Inside the AI Profit Boardroom you get step-by-step video trainings, my installable Agent OS and four coaching calls a week with 3,400+ members building real automations. → Join the AI Profit Boardroom

What GEO Is, In Operator Terms

GEO stands for generative engine optimisation.

The term comes from a 2023 research paper called GEO: Generative Engine Optimization, written by a team from Princeton University, IIT Delhi and two independent researchers.

The paper describes generative engines as search tools that pull from several sources and then summarise them with a large language model.

In plain words, GEO is the work of getting your business named when someone asks Google AI, Gemini or ChatGPT a question.

As an operator, I treat GEO as a fourth layer that sits on top of the three SEO layers above.

Why GEO Depends On SEO

The AI isn't guessing when it names a business.

It reads the pages that rank and sums up what they say.

I explain it like five friends recommending the same restaurant.

If five good pages in the top ten all say the same name, the AI repeats that name.

That means your SEO decides which pages the AI reads, and your GEO decides what those pages say about you.

Google's own AI features and your website page backs up the first half of that.

It says a page has to be indexed and eligible to show in Google Search with a snippet before it can appear as a supporting link in AI Overviews or AI Mode.

It also says there are no additional technical requirements beyond that.

So if a page fails the SEO basics, no amount of GEO work will get it into Google's AI answers.

Why SEO Alone Isn't Enough Any More

Old SEO gave the searcher ten blue links.

If you ranked seventh, you still picked up some clicks.

AI answers usually give a short list of maybe one to three names.

That's why I keep saying there's no room for number seven.

You can rank on page one and still be missing from the answer that sits above the results.

GEO is the layer that fixes that gap, because it's about getting the pages that rank to agree on you.

The Two Layers In One Picture

Here's how I'd split the jobs if you were handing them to two people on a team.

Job	SEO layer	GEO layer
Find topics	Search Console queries with impressions and clicks.	The same Search Console data, filtered for questions people ask AI tools.
Write the page	An answer that matches the search intent.	The same answer, led by a real case study only you can share.
Spread it	Internal links and backlinks.	Several sites and platforms pointing to the same answer from different angles.
Timing	Update pages when rankings slip.	Publish within 24 hours of a new topic appearing.
Check it	Rankings and clicks in Search Console.	Who the AI answer names and which pages it cites.

The point of the table is that the GEO column reuses the SEO column instead of starting from scratch.

My Operator Setup For Running Both

In my latest video I show the workflow I use, and it runs on free tools.

I use my Agent OS, but the same process works in Hermes Agent directly, which is free and open source.

For the brain, I used OpenCode, and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash was free inside OpenCode when I recorded.

Step 1: Export your Search Console data

Export your Google Search Console performance data to a CSV file, which is free.

This is your SEO layer's raw material, and it's also where your GEO ideas come from.

Then give the file to Hermes with a prompt like this one.

"Can you analyse this and, based on what's actually working, give me keyword and topic ideas to rank inside AI search engines?"

Step 2: Read the report the agent builds

Hermes builds a report in the workspace with clicks, brand share of clicks, non-brand click-through rate and the month's clicks.

On my screen it also listed what's working, such as comparison articles, my Agent OS clusters, my free AI community and topics like Hermes.

It gave me averages and a verdict on my best pages.

I'll be honest about one limit here, because this is Google organic data.

Google and the AI engines don't report AI traffic well yet, so you're using organic data as the best proxy you have.

Step 3: Give the agent your SEO skill and publish

Next, I give Hermes an SEO skill plus access to my sites, such as WordPress or Netlify, so it can publish directly.

My SEO skill is roughly a 100-point checklist, and it writes everything from a case-study angle.

The demo prompt I used was to create an SEO article with the SEO skill for the keyword "GEO examples" and publish it to aiprofitboardroom.com.

Step 4: Fact-check by hand

Google updated its page on using generative AI content on 1 October 2026.

It says it's "critical to manually factcheck and review all AI-generated content" before you publish.

That review covers titles, meta descriptions, structured data and image alt text too.

So the agent drafts, and a human checks every claim before it goes live.

📞 Want a second pair of eyes on your Search Console data? Book a free AEO SEO strategy session and my team will look at your site, your competitors and the keywords you're closest to winning. → Get your custom game plan for Google and AI search

🚀 Ready to put Generative Engine Optimization vs SEO to work in your business? Inside the AI Profit Boardroom you get step-by-step video trainings, my installable Agent OS and four coaching calls a week with 3,400+ members building real automations. → Join the AI Profit Boardroom

The Metrics: Clicks For SEO, Mentions For GEO

The biggest practical difference between generative engine optimization vs SEO is how you measure it.

Metric	Layer	Where I read it
Clicks and impressions	SEO	The Search Console performance report.
Average position	SEO	The Search Console performance report.
Click-through rate	SEO	The Search Console performance report.
Named in the AI answer	GEO	A prompt log where you run the same questions every week.
Cited as a source	GEO	The links shown beside the AI answer.
Accuracy of the description	GEO	Whether the AI describes what you actually do.
Number of your pages in the sources	GEO	A count of your own URLs in the cited links.

Google says traffic from AI Overviews and AI Mode is counted inside the normal Search Console totals, under the "Web" search type.

That means there's no separate AI report from Google, which is why I keep a prompt log next to Search Console.

The prompt log I'd set up

Here's the simple weekly log I'd give an operator.

Write down 20 questions a buyer would actually ask about your topic.
Run each one in Google with AI Overviews or AI Mode, and in one or two other AI tools you care about.
Record who the answer names, which links it cites and whether your description is accurate.
Mark each question as named, cited but not named, or missing.
Pick the missing questions with the most Search Console impressions and give them a case-study page next week.

That log is the GEO version of a rank tracker, and an agent can run most of it for you once the questions are saved.

How I Split The Time Between SEO And GEO

People ask me for a budget split, and the honest answer is that it depends on where your site is today.

Where you are	Where most of the effort goes	Why
A brand-new site with nothing indexed	SEO foundations.	The AI can't cite a page Google hasn't indexed.
A site that ranks on page one for some topics	A balance of both.	Your ranking pages are already being read, so GEO can change what they say about you.
A site that ranks well but is missing from AI answers	GEO.	The gap is in agreement and case studies, not in rankings.
A personal brand or consultant	GEO, with SEO basics in place.	Searches like "best [topic] expert" are decided by what many pages say about you.
A local service business	Both, with extra care on consistent business facts.	The AI checks whether other sites agree with what you say about yourself.

This isn't a formula from a study, and you should move the split as your log changes.

What Changes In Your Content When You Add GEO

Adding GEO doesn't mean rewriting every page.

It means changing a few habits on the pages you already publish.

Be the source

Every page I publish has a real case study on it, meaning something I tested and a real result.

The AI can't write about a test only you ran, so your page becomes the one it has to cite.

The GEO paper points the same way, because its best methods were adding sources, quotations and statistics to content.

Be everywhere

I run multiple websites, each with a different angle, all pointing to the same answer.

That's how I can show up two to four times on page one for one search.

My subreddit, AI SEO Insider, ranks on page one too.

Be first

I try to publish within 24 hours of a topic appearing.

When Jev AI dropped, I published on searches like "Jev architecture" and "Jev waitlist" that same weekend.

I call these three moves the answer engine, and they're the GEO layer of my workflow.

Proof That Both Layers Work Together

In my GEO video I show the AI Overview for "best HARO agency" listing five suppliers and linking Goldie Agency first.

Goldie Agency also ranks first organically for that search.

That's the dependency in one screenshot, because the page that wins the SEO layer is the one the AI picks up.

In the same video, Google's AI Overview for "best geo expert" names me first and cites several of my pages.

One of my sites went from zero to about 1,300 Google clicks a day, and on one day it got over 9,600 impressions inside Google's AI features.

Those numbers come from my own screens, and one of my sites flopped, so treat them as proof the method can work rather than a promise.

📞 Not sure which layer your site needs most? Grab my free one-to-one GEO, AEO AI audit and we'll find the searches where you rank but aren't named yet. → Book the free call

Getting Help With Both Layers

There are two ways to get help if you don't want to build this yourself.

The first is the free AEO SEO strategy session, which I call a free one-to-one GEO, AEO AI audit.

It's a call rather than a written report, and my team looks at your site, your competitors and the keywords you're closest to winning.

The second is the AI Profit Boardroom, where you get my Agent OS, a search OS that finds GEO keywords from your own Search Console data, and my SEO skill.

I'm adding a manual fact-checking list after Google's October update.

Members also get the zip, a video tutorial, a 30-day roadmap, four coaching calls a week and a member map, alongside 3,400+ members.

My Verdict On Generative Engine Optimization vs SEO

SEO is the foundation, and GEO is the layer that turns rankings into recommendations.

You need the first to have any chance at the second.

Run the four-step workflow above once a week, keep the prompt log beside Search Console, and move your effort to whichever layer the log says is weakest.

Also On Our Network

FAQ: Generative Engine Optimization vs SEO

What is the difference between generative engine optimization vs SEO?

SEO is the work of ranking a page in the search results, while GEO is the work of getting your business named or cited inside an AI answer.

GEO sits on top of SEO, because AI answers lean on the pages that already rank.

Is GEO replacing SEO?

No, GEO isn't replacing SEO.

Google says a page must be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet before it can appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, so SEO is still the entry ticket.

Should I do GEO or SEO first?

Start with the SEO foundations so your key pages are crawled, indexed and ranking.

Then add GEO habits like case studies, multi-platform coverage and fast publishing on new topics.

How do I measure GEO compared with SEO?

You measure SEO with clicks, impressions and positions in Search Console.

You measure GEO with a weekly prompt log that records who the AI names, which pages it cites and whether it describes you accurately.

Do I need special schema or an AI text file for GEO?

Not for Google's AI features, because Google says there's no special schema and no AI text file needed for AI Overviews or AI Mode.

Structured data should still match the visible text on the page.

Is the free strategy session a written GEO and SEO report?

No, it's a free one-to-one call rather than a written report.

My team looks at your site, your competitors and the keywords you're closest to winning, then gives you a custom game plan for Google and AI search.

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About Julian

I'm Julian Goldie, an SEO entrepreneur, author and founder of the AI Profit Boardroom, which has 3,400+ members.

I help business owners scale with AI agents, automation and SEO.

I started Goldie Agency on my own, and it is now a 7-figure SEO and link-building agency with 70+ people.
I've grown my YouTube channel to 400,000+ subscribers.
I wrote "Link Building Mastery".
My Udemy courses have taught 29,000+ students.

→ Get my best AI training inside the AI Profit Boardroom

Book a free strategy session if you want my team to map both layers for you, then run the weekly loop and let your own data settle generative engine optimization vs SEO for your site.