TL:DR: There's a growing list of acronyms (GEO, GAIO, LLM SEO, LLMO, AEO) for optimizing for AI search outputs. But is this truly a separate discipline? Largely, no. The core strategies for improving visibility in LLMs – creating quality content, building authority, ensuring technical accessibility – overlap significantly with established, high-quality SEO practices. While nuances exist (like the increased importance of unlinked brand mentions and different impacts of content types), these are evolutions within the SEO framework, not a revolution requiring a separate field. Focus on solid SEO fundamentals; that's your best path to visibility in both traditional search and AI responses.
GEO, GAIO, LLM SEO, AEO... Or Just SEO Evolved?
Lately, it feels like every discussion about the future of search comes with a new acronym: GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), LLM SEO (Large Language Model Search Engine Optimization), LLMO (Large Language Model Optimization), AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), GAIO (Generative AI Optimization)... the list goes on. As business leaders and marketers, the crucial question is: Do these represent a fundamentally new set of tasks we need to master, distinct from our existing marketing and Search Engine Optimization efforts?
From where I stand, observing the rapid technological shifts and their practical implications, the answer – at least for now – seems to be a resounding no. While the landscape is evolving, the idea that we need a completely separate discipline called "GEO" or "LLM SEO" feels like an unnecessary complication. Let me explain why I believe it's mostly just SEO, evolved.
The Core Question: A New Field or SEO Adapting?
The fundamental goal remains unchanged: we want our brand, products, and expertise to be visible when potential customers are looking for solutions or information, whether through a traditional search engine or an AI assistant. The practical question is:
What specific actions improve visibility in LLM outputs that aren't already part of a robust SEO strategy?
So far, the actionable differences appear minimal. The strategies that lead to strong visibility in traditional search engines seem to correlate strongly with visibility in LLM responses. It feels less like a distinct process and more like a natural byproduct of effective SEO.
Why LLM Visibility Looks A Lot Like Good SEO
Based on current understanding, there are primary ways to influence your presence in LLM outputs:
- Increase Visibility in Training Data: LLMs learn from vast datasets. The more your brand is mentioned and associated with relevant topics within that data, the more likely it is to appear in related AI responses. How do you achieve this? By creating high-quality, well-structured content on your core topics (on your site and encouraging mentions on others). This is textbook content strategy and off-page SEO.
- Increase Visibility in RAG Data Sources: As we've discussed, LLMs increasingly use Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), often pulling real-time information from external sources, including traditional search indexes like Bing and Google. Improving your visibility in these indexes is, quite simply, traditional SEO. Ranking well makes your content available for the LLM to potentially retrieve.
- (Briefly) Adversarial Tactics: Yes, LLMs can sometimes be manipulated. But trying to "trick" an LLM into recommending you is akin to black hat SEO – risky, potentially damaging in the long run, and not a sustainable strategy. We focus on building genuine value.
Summarizing these points, the core mechanism remains consistent: create relevant, authoritative content about your areas of expertise, both on your own digital properties and across the wider web. That is the essence of modern SEO.
Acknowledging the Nuances: Where Things Are Shifting
Now, does this mean nothing is different? Not quite. There are nuances in how LLMs operate compared to traditional search crawlers, leading to subtle shifts in emphasis. However, I'd argue these are refinements within the SEO domain, not reasons to create a new silo:
- Unlinked Brand Mentions Gain Importance: This is perhaps the most significant shift. Traditional SEO heavily values backlinks (PageRank). LLMs, however, build understanding from the text itself – prevalence, co-occurrence of terms, context. An unlinked mention of your brand on a relevant site helps an LLM associate your entity with a topic, even without a hyperlink. This suggests broadening our view of valuable off-site presence beyond just link building. As consultant Eli Schwartz notes, mentions in credible publications or even forum discussions can enhance LLM visibility.
- Context Becomes Even More Critical: Tactics like building links on irrelevant sites or creating off-topic content for traffic (site reputation abuse) offered dubious SEO value before; they offer even less for LLM visibility. LLMs rely heavily on context; irrelevant mentions do little to build meaningful associations.
- Content Format & Type weighting May Differ: Research suggests LLMs might "prefer" citing core website pages (homepage, about, pricing) and documents (like PDFs) more than traditional search might emphasize them. Conversely, large listing/category pages might be less impactful for direct LLM citation (though potentially still useful for entity association). This implies ensuring all relevant content formats, including overlooked PDFs, are well-structured and informative.
- Potential for LLM-Specific Structures: Some suggest structuring documents primarily for LLM consumption (e.g., adding global context within text chunks). While interesting, this feels like an advanced tactic for specific use cases currently, perhaps an evolution of technical SEO.
- Training on Non-Traditional SEO Data: LLMs train on sources like public GitHub repositories. For businesses targeting developers, optimizing presence in these ecosystems becomes relevant – arguably an extension of audience-specific off-page strategy.
- JavaScript Rendering: Currently, some AI crawlers might not render JavaScript as reliably as Googlebot. While likely a temporary technical hurdle, it's a consideration for heavily JS-dependent sites today. This falls under technical SEO.
Still SEO's Domain
Here’s the key takeaway: Managing crawling and indexing, structuring content for machine readability (while serving humans), building off-page authority and mentions, understanding content types – these are all activities that experienced SEO professionals grapple with daily.
These nuances don't necessitate tearing up the playbook and creating "GEO" teams. They require skilled SEOs to adapt and potentially broaden their focus slightly. Empirically, we often see that brands with strong traditional SEO visibility also tend to perform well in LLM outputs. The fundamentals carry over.
As search engines integrate more generative AI, and LLMs continue to lean on search indexes, the lines are likely to blur further, not diverge dramatically.
Final Thoughts: Focus on Fundamentals
Don't get bogged down by the latest acronym. Whether you call it LLM SEO, GEO, AEO, or just plain SEO, the strategic imperatives remain remarkably consistent:
- Create high-quality, relevant, authoritative content that addresses user needs.
- Build your brand's presence and authority across the web through various means (including valuable mentions, linked or not).
- Ensure your content is technically sound and easily accessible to both users and machines.
The tools and specific tactics will evolve, as they always have in SEO. But the core principles endure. Focus on executing these fundamentals exceptionally well, and you'll be well-positioned for visibility, wherever your audience is searching.
Stay grounded, stay strategic.
