How the four terms relate
People use several names for the same broad problem. Answer engine optimisation (AEO) is about being the page that supplies a direct answer. Generative engine optimisation (GEO) is about being used and cited when an AI system writes a response. Google's AI Overviews and ChatGPT are two specific places where that can happen.
The labels come from the industry, not from the platforms. Google's guidance on its AI features says AI Overviews and AI Mode have no requirements beyond Search's normal technical ones, and no special optimisations on top. Sites are included by default through a Search Console control, so the main risk is that someone switched it off. Its generative AI guide also says AEO and GEO are, from Google's perspective, still SEO. OpenAI, Anthropic and Perplexity publish crawler documentation, but none of it describes a formula for being chosen.
A sensible reading follows from that. Treat AEO and GEO as descriptions of good search work aimed at answers instead of lists of links. Then treat each platform as its own place, with its own crawler, its own controls and its own reporting.
The four pages at a glance
Each child page in this section goes deep on one angle. This table shows how they differ so you can see which one matches your question.
| Topic | Main focus | Good first step |
|---|---|---|
| Answer engine optimisation | Direct answers to specific questions, stated in the page text | Rewrite key pages so the answer comes first |
| Generative engine optimisation | Being used as a source when an AI writes a longer response | Make facts about your business consistent everywhere |
| Google AI Overviews | The summaries and AI Mode responses inside Google Search | Confirm pages are indexed and snippet-eligible |
| ChatGPT visibility | Appearing in ChatGPT search answers and being fetched on request | Check that OAI-SearchBot can reach your site |
Work that applies on every platform
Most of the practical work is shared. These five jobs come up whichever platform your customers prefer.
- Crawl access: Check robots.txt and any CDN or firewall rules for Googlebot, OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot and PerplexityBot, because a blocked crawler cannot read your pages.
- Answer-first pages: Lead with the direct answer, in plain text that a system can quote.
- Consistent facts: Use the same business name, services and service area wherever they appear online.
- Honest structured data: Mark up only what the page visibly says; it helps rich results, but Google states AI features need no special markup.
- Manual measurement: Ask real customer questions on a schedule and record what each platform shows, alongside the Generative AI report in Google Search Console.
Choosing where to start
You do not need to work on all four at once. This order suits most Canberra, ACT and Queanbeyan businesses.
- Ask your customersFind out which tools they actually use to research a purchase, and what questions they type or say.
- Check accessConfirm that the crawlers behind the platforms you care about are allowed to read your site.
- Fix the weakest pagesImprove thin, vague or outdated pages on the services that earn you money.
- Pick one platform to testChoose the platform your customers mention most and test ten to twenty real questions there.
- Repeat on a scheduleRun the same questions each month and compare, because results vary between runs and between people.
What is known and what is not
Known: the crawler names, what each one is documented to do, and the controls site owners have. Google, OpenAI, Anthropic and Perplexity each publish this, and it changes over time, so we recheck before advising.
Not known: how ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude or Gemini rank and select the sources they cite. None of the providers publish that logic. Anyone selling a secret formula is guessing, and the answers also differ from one person and one day to the next.
Where AI work should sit next to normal SEO
AI search work is not a replacement for the basics. Here is how we split the effort.
Do first
- Fix indexing and crawl problems found in an SEO audit.
- Tighten pages that already get impressions in Google.
- Keep your business details consistent on your site and listings.
Leave until later
- Rewriting every page into question-and-answer fragments.
- Chasing mentions on sites with no real connection to you.
- Building one page per imagined AI query.
Questions to ask before buying AI search work
Google's guidance on third-party SEO services says tools cannot see its ranking systems and cannot guarantee performance. That gives you a fair test for any proposal.
| If the proposal says | Ask | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| You will appear in ChatGPT | Which official document supports that? | Selection rules are not published by any provider |
| Our AI visibility score | What does the score measure, and who built it? | Outside tools cannot access Google's internal metrics |
| You need llms.txt | Which platform has said it reads the file? | Google says Search ignores it |
| Create hundreds of question pages | How does this avoid scaled content abuse? | Google names this as a spam policy risk |
How we help
We set up the access, page and entity work described across this section, then test real questions and report what we see. Where Google is the main concern, the foundations sit in technical SEO and local SEO, and the AI pages build on them.
Begin with whichever page matches your question: answer engine optimisation, generative engine optimisation, Google AI Overviews, or ChatGPT visibility for OpenAI's search product. If you are unsure, send us a message and we will point you to the right starting place.
Sources and further reading
- Google Search Central: AI features and your website: No additional requirements for AI Overviews or AI Mode beyond Search's technical requirements. Inclusion is a Search Console control (see Search Console Help), on by default.
- Google: Optimizing for generative AI features on Google Search: AEO and GEO are still SEO from Google's view; Generative AI performance report; guidance on third-party advice.
- OpenAI: Overview of OpenAI crawlers: Roles of OAI-SearchBot, GPTBot and ChatGPT-User, plus OAI-AdsBot for ads.
- Anthropic: Does Anthropic crawl data from the web: Roles of ClaudeBot, Claude-User and Claude-SearchBot.
- Perplexity: Perplexity crawlers: Roles of PerplexityBot and Perplexity-User.
- Search Console Help: Search generative AI control: Include is the default for all properties; Exclude removes a site from AI Overviews, AI Mode and Discover generative features.