What is the difference between SEO and GEO?

What is the difference between SEO and GEO?

SEO improves the ranking of a website in traditional search engines. GEO, instead, aims to get content cited inside AI-generated answers. With SEO the user sees a list of links and chooses where to click; with GEO the user often receives a synthesized answer already.

Signals matter differently too: SEO weighs keywords, backlinks and technical structure, while GEO values clarity, reliability, well-organized data and ease of information extraction. The two strategies are not mutually exclusive: they often complement each other.