SEO, AEO & GEO in plain English
A short guide to how AI tools find and use web content, and how Visible Guide fits in.
The new Optimisation: SEO → AEO → GEO
Think of a house: SEO is the foundation, making pages discoverable and understandable to search engines. AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) is the frame, structuring content so answer engines and assistants can retrieve and cite it. GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is the roof: how your brand shows up inside generated answers, the story others (and models) tell about you.
They are not rivals. Strong SEO supports AEO; clear AEO helps GEO. You are not starting from zero if you already care about search.
How LLMs actually decide what to surface
- They still lean heavily on search for “right now”
When you ask for something that depends on current facts (what's true today), many assistants trigger a web search. When you ask how something works in general, they often rely on the model alone. Indexed, discoverable pages are still what frequently get retrieved and summarized, so classic SEO still feeds what the LLM sees.
- Semantic completeness beats keywords
Content that covers a topic thoroughly, from multiple angles, with clear explanations, tends to be easier to match to real questions than thin pages built around keyword repetition. Depth and clarity usually beat stuffing.
- Authority still matters, but not the same way as old-school SEO
Traditional ranking scores don't map one-to-one to chatbot citations. In practice, visibility shows up through paths like recommendations that influence decisions, how you appear in product- or shopping-style answers, and whether AI systems cite you consistently over time: signals of trust, not a single metric.
- Third-party mentions are gold
Coverage on other sites (roundups, directories, reviews, industry write-ups) feeds what models treat as credible. External citations signal trust in a way your own marketing copy alone cannot.
- Structured, conversational content wins
FAQ-style blocks and valid structured data (for example FAQ or Q&A schema) line up with how people ask questions in natural language. Write in a clear, conversational tone, and put the key answer early on the page. Assistants and search both favour content that states the point up front.
Products differ: some answers lean on live retrieval, others on training data alone. These patterns describe what usually helps, not a guarantee for any single prompt or platform.
What Visible Guide checks (and what it does not promise)
When you paste a URL, we fetch the page like a simple bot would and run five checks:
- HTML crawlability: Is there substantial readable content in the raw HTML?
- FAQ / schema markup: Is there JSON-LD structured data on the page?
- AI crawler access: Does robots.txt allow common AI-related crawlers?
- llms.txt: Is there a helpful file at
/llms.txt(or well-known path)? - Content freshness: Are published or modified dates visible?
Together, these are a practical readiness snapshot: they help you fix obvious gaps. They do not predict whether a specific assistant will recommend you tomorrow. That depends on models, queries, and the whole web.
Practical techniques to apply now
Use this as a checklist. The “Scout” column shows what our automated scan covers today.
| Technique | Why it helps | Scout |
|---|---|---|
| Answer-first, conversational copy | Matches how people prompt assistants and how snippets get quoted. | Related to crawlability & structured data checks |
| Valid JSON-LD / structured data | Helps systems classify entities and surface facts reliably. | Structured data check |
| Ensure important content is in HTML | Bots that do not execute JS may see an empty shell. | HTML crawlability check |
| Review robots.txt for AI crawlers | Accidental blocks stop crawlers from reading your pages. | AI crawler access check |
| Add or refine llms.txt | States how you want AI systems to summarize and cite you. | llms.txt check |
| Show publication or update dates where relevant | Signals recency for time-sensitive topics. | Content freshness check |
| Earn trustworthy mentions elsewhere | Third-party context can influence retrieval and trust. | Not automated in Scout |
| Track AI referral traffic in analytics | See whether assistants send visitors and which pages land. | Not automated in Scout |
For robots.txt, use the Robots.txt checker. Paid plans include full fix guidance for each check; see pricing.
Frequently asked questions
What is AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)?
AEO is the practice of making your site easy for AI assistants and answer-style products to find, parse, and cite when they respond to users. It builds on classic SEO: technical crawlability, clear structure, and content that directly answers questions people ask in natural language.
What is GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)?
GEO usually refers to how your brand is described inside generated answers: not only whether you appear, but how you are framed (accurate facts, fair positioning). It overlaps with AEO but emphasizes reputation and narrative in AI-generated text.
Does traditional SEO still matter for AI visibility?
Yes. Search indexes and crawled pages still feed many AI experiences. Strong SEO (discoverable pages, sensible site structure, quality content) remains the foundation. AEO adds habits like answer-first copy, structured data, and crawler policies tuned for AI bots.
How do LLMs decide what to surface or cite?
There is no single public formula. Products differ. In general: up-to-date questions often trigger web search, so discoverable pages still matter; thorough topical coverage tends to beat keyword stuffing; authority shows up through how you’re cited and recommended, not only classic SEO scores; mentions on other sites build trust; and clear, conversational content with key answers early (including FAQ-style blocks and valid schema where appropriate) helps. None of that guarantees placement for a specific query.
What does Visible Guide actually check?
Visible Guide runs five automated checks on a URL you paste: HTML crawlability (meaningful text in raw HTML), presence and quality of JSON-LD structured data, whether common AI crawlers are allowed in robots.txt, whether /llms.txt exists and looks useful, and whether the page exposes date signals for freshness. These are practical proxies for “can a bot read and understand this page?” They are not a prediction of how often a model will mention you.
Does a high score mean ChatGPT will recommend my product?
No. A good score means your page passes checks that often correlate with discoverability and machine-readable content. Real answers depend on the model, the exact prompt, region, and what else exists on the web. Use the score to prioritise fixes, not as a promise of rankings inside any AI product.
Should I add FAQ-style content or schema for AI visibility?
Clear, conversational Q&A on the page helps both people and parsers. Valid JSON-LD (for example FAQ or Organization) gives machines an explicit structure; broken schema can hurt more than no schema, so validate after changes. Visible Guide’s structured-data check looks for JSON-LD on the page.
What is llms.txt and do I need it?
llms.txt is a simple text file at /.well-known/llms.txt or /llms.txt that summarizes how you want AI systems to interpret or cite your site. It is optional and not a replacement for good content, but it can help when written clearly. Visible Guide checks whether a useful llms.txt is present.
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