What are SEO, GEO and AEO?
SEO helps search engines discover and understand pages. Generative engine optimization (GEO) focuses on discovery and citation in AI-generated answers. Answer engine optimization (AEO) focuses on clear answers to specific questions. All three benefit from accessible pages, helpful writing, accurate sources and consistent site information.
Google says its existing SEO practices also apply to AI Overviews and AI Mode. No special AI schema or AI text file is required, and inclusion is not guaranteed.
Make content accessible
Publish important content as text at a stable URL. Allow crawlers to fetch public pages, CSS and JavaScript. Use a descriptive title, one clear main heading, a relevant description and a canonical URL. Link each article from a topic hub and include indexable canonical pages in the sitemap.
Keep internal search results and empty templates out of the index. A sitemap helps discovery but does not guarantee indexing.
Write answers readers can use
State the answer near the start, then explain assumptions, examples and limitations. Use descriptive section headings and tables when comparing real alternatives. Cite primary sources next to factual claims. Publish benchmarks only when you can explain the hardware, method, sample and measurement date.
Identify the author and link to their background. Update dates only when the content actually changes. Short summaries help readers, but there is no universal word count or citation-boost percentage.
Use accurate structured data
Article markup can describe the headline, image, author and actual publication date. Breadcrumb markup describes the page hierarchy. Organization information should identify the real business consistently. Structured data must agree with what readers see.
Adding markup does not guarantee a rich result or AI citation. Google does not require special schema for AI features. Do not invent ratings, reviews, credentials, dates or local offices.
Reach readers in different countries
A public English page can serve readers in many countries. Keep it available without location restrictions. A language selector that changes text in the browser does not by itself create independently indexable translations.
For multilingual search, publish complete, reviewed translations at separate URLs. Add reciprocal hreflang annotations for the languages actually available, keep self-referencing canonicals, and let visitors choose their language. Do not create near-identical country pages that merely swap city names.
Measure results
In Search Console, compare impressions, clicks, queries and landing pages by country over equivalent periods. Check URL Inspection and indexing reports after publication. In analytics, inspect referral traffic from answer engines and verify that conversions are useful to the business.
A Lighthouse SEO audit tests a limited set of technical checks. Its score is not a search ranking, a country-coverage guarantee or an AI citation score. Search changes can take weeks or longer to evaluate.
Sources and further reading
- Google Search SEO Starter Guide
- Google: AI features and your website
- Google: Managing multilingual and multi-regional sites
- Google: Article structured data
Written by Dharmik Gohil, HEWN CRAFT. Updated .