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SEO vs GEO: what's the difference, and when should a small business care?

GEO is not a secret replacement for SEO. It is a new lens on the same visibility: the one of generated answers.

ARKHÉ7 min read

Short answer

SEO aims to be found and chosen in search results. GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) aims for your content to be accessible, understood and cited by AI engines and assistants. Both rely largely on the same foundations: a crawlable site, useful content and a clearly identified business.

01

SEO is still the foundation

Google Search Central is clear: SEO best practices remain relevant for its generative AI features. There is no special mandatory optimization to appear in them; a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Search.

An agency selling you "GEO" without talking about indexing, content or structure is probably selling smoke.

02

Where GEO adds a lens

GEO asks complementary questions: can AI assistants' crawlers access your pages? Are your answers clear enough to be reused? Are your claims backed by evidence? Is your business described consistently across sources?

  • Crawler access (e.g. OAI-SearchBot for ChatGPT search).
  • Content structured as direct answers.
  • Evidence, sources and identifiable authors.
  • Entity consistency: name, services, region.
03

How to measure each

SEO is measured with established tools: Google Search Console (impressions, clicks, queries), your site analytics and the contact requests generated.

GEO is still only partly measurable. Bing Webmaster Tools offers an AI Performance report—citations, cited pages, grounding queries and, since 2026, intents, topics, citation share and compare. These are useful observational signals, not a ranking score. Manual prompt testing completes the picture, carefully.

04

When an SMB should care

If your customers compare providers before calling—professional services, construction, B2B, home services—they increasingly ask AI assistants. In that case, understanding how you appear there becomes relevant.

If your SEO foundations are weak, start there. GEO without foundations is decorating a house with no floor.

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