It’s All Just SEO: Making Sense of GEO, AEO, and LLMO

In the ever-evolving digital landscape, staying ahead of the curve means understanding not just traditional SEO but also a growing list of related acronyms—GEO, AEO, and LLMO. These terms may sound technical or even overwhelming initially, but they all stem from a common goal: improving your content's visibility in search and discovery platforms. Whether your internet strategy consultant targets Google Search, AI-powered assistants, or generative models like ChatGPT, the fundamentals remain the same. Let's break down what these terms mean and how they fit into your broader SEO strategy.

Learning The New Language of SEO

First things first! Let's familiarize ourselves with the various terms and acronyms, along with their meanings. These are some of the SEO-related terms you may have been hearing lately:

• SEO - You are probably already familiar with SEO, which stands for Search Engine Optimization. This is the collective term used to describe the process of enhancing a website's visibility in search engine results to attract more organic (non-paid) traffic.
• GEO - A newer term you may not have encountered yet is GEO, which stands for Generative Engine Optimization. GEO is the process of optimizing content to increase visibility and relevance in AI-driven, generative search engines, such as ChatGPT or Google's SGE.
• AEO - Answer Engine Optimization is a newer type of optimization that has been gaining popularity. It is the process of optimizing content to be directly used by answer engines, such as voice assistants and AI chatbots, to deliver concise and accurate responses to user queries.
• LLMO - Large Language Model Optimization is the process of tailoring content to enhance its visibility, accuracy, and usefulness within large language models, such as ChatGPT, ensuring it is more likely to be surfaced and cited in AI-generated responses.

Have you noticed a pattern across all of these definitions? As an internet strategy consultant, it's our job to stay on top of emerging technologies and techniques, but when you get to the root of GEO, AEO, and LLMO, one thread runs through them - it's all just SEO! All of these techniques relate to optimizing your website to make it more visible to search engines, whether that is in Google Search results, through voice assistants, or in AI-generated responses. There may be certain nuances to tailor answers to different platforms, but it is still just optimizing your website for search engine visibility! It's much simpler than it may seem!

How to Enhance LLM Visibility

Even though all of these approaches are essentially just SEO, there will be some specific techniques and requirements that you will need to incorporate into your website to satisfy every type of search. Working with your internet strategy consultant to ensure all of your bases are covered is a good idea. It is important to understand that large language models are trained using large text datasets. The more often your brand is mentioned in that data, the more visible your website will be in LLM output. While you won't be able to influence existing training data, you can make an effort to produce more content centered around your core topics so that it is included in future datasets. Creating high-quality, relevant content is one of the foundations of SEO in general, so this is something that your internet strategy consultant has already built into your online marketing strategy. There may be a point in the future where LLMO and SEO diverge since large language models are constantly evolving, but for now, LLMO is essentially just SEO by another name!

GEO vs SEO

Like LLMO, GEO is another subset of SEO. One of the most notable differences between SEO and GEO is that in GEO, unlinked brand mentions are more important. When your brand is mentioned on someone else's website without a backlink, there is little to no impact on SEO. However, GEO operates a little differently when it comes to brand authority by taking into account the prevalence of certain words in the text rather than backlinks. It is also important to look at the content requirements for GEO. As always, with any SEO, it all comes back to the content - content is king! While SEO content requires clear headers, bullet points, and keyword density, for GEO, you need to focus on producing context-rich conversational content that offers valuable information. This will enable your content to be utilized in AI-generated answers and summaries while the SEO factors contribute to improved ranking positions. Work with your internet strategy consultant to create an editorial calendar that will cover relevant topics that offer entertainment or education to your audience. Make sure you know your audience's pain points and think about content that can solve them.

Ultimately, whether you're talking about GEO, AEO, or LLMO, it's all rooted in the same foundational principle: optimizing your content so it's easily found, understood, and surfaced by traditional and AI-driven search engines. As these technologies evolve, the nuances in optimization will grow, but the core strategy remains focused on creating high-quality, relevant, and helpful content. With the proper guidance from your internet strategy consultant, you can confidently navigate this expanding landscape and ensure your brand stays visible across all search platforms—now and in the future.

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To Your Best Online!

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Ingrid Maddox, Internet Marketing & Strategy Consultant. bluedress INTERNET MARKETING®, an Internet Marketing Company headquartered in Knoxville, TN. Internet Marketing Developed, Implemented, and Managed to Full Circle! Organic Internet Search Engine Guru. Turn-Key Internet Optimization Programs Placing You Everywhere and Anywhere You Need to Be Online.

ingrid@bluedressinc.com

865-378-7712