What is the difference between SEO and GEO?

SEO and GEO are connected: AI engines rely on traditional search engines

The first thing they have in common is technical. When ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude look for up-to-date information on the web, they do not scan the web on their own: they draw on the indexes of traditional search engines. Gemini relies on Google; ChatGPT mainly uses Bing; Claude relies on Brave Search; Perplexity combines its own index with results from external sources.

The consequence is direct: if a website is not indexed or has poor visibility on these engines, it simply does not exist for AI. A generative system cannot cite what it cannot find. Indexing and ranking therefore remain the starting point for appearing in AI answers: GEO is built on top of SEO foundations, not in their place.

What SEO and GEO have in common

Beyond the technical side, the two disciplines share the same underlying principles. In both cases the goal is visibility, and in both cases clear, authoritative, up-to-date and well-structured content wins. A technically accessible website, with verifiable information and a solid reputation, is more likely both to rank on search engines and to be cited by an AI.

Trust signals count twice: the authority of the author, references to recognizable sources and precise data are what a search engine rewards in rankings and, at the same time, what a generative model evaluates when deciding which sources to use. In this sense, anyone doing SEO well has already done a good part of the GEO work.

The key difference: people and AI search in different ways

Here is where the real differences begin. A human being searches in a certain way: they type short queries, often just two or three words, scan a list of results, click a link, read, go back, compare. SEO optimizes exactly for this behavior: for the words people type and the way they read a page.

An AI searches differently: it turns the request into complete, descriptive questions, can run several searches in a row within the same conversation, does not scroll a page but reads it in full looking for clear passages it can extract, and finally synthesizes what it found while citing its sources. GEO optimizes for these searches: for the questions agents ask and the way they select and reuse content.

There is another detail that surprises many: sometimes AIs search "like programmers". Alongside the words, they use special commands with a precise syntax to narrow down the search. The best known is "site:", which restricts results to a specific website. An AI agent looking for information about a company or a professional can query LinkedIn directly by typing "site:linkedin.com", instead of running a generic search and browsing the results. These searches are more literal and structured than human ones, and this matters when designing content: the clearer and better defined the information, the easier it is for an AI to find and use it.

AImpeto specializes in exactly this: SEO and GEO together. One strategy to be found by people on search engines and by AI in its answers.

Where the two strategies meet

Since many searches are the same, good SEO helps GEO: anyone who answers people's questions well already holds many of the answers agents go looking for. The overlap is wide, and this is why SEO and GEO do not compete: they add up.

The added value of GEO lies elsewhere: knowing which questions AIs ask. Agents formulate longer, conversational queries, explicit comparisons and context-driven searches. Analyzing them surfaces information needs that classic SEO analysis does not show, and this leads to building more complete content.

Content for people, and for AI too

This is where GEO finds its purpose. Content should be written first of all for people, but also for AI: not instead of people. Anyone who knows the questions both users and agents ask can build pages that answer both, clear for the reader and structured for whoever extracts the information.

A page built this way enters both search results and generated answers, and every extra reader, human or artificial, is an extra visibility opportunity. The core message is simple: GEO does not replace SEO, it completes it. And those working on both fronts today have an advantage that tomorrow will be the standard.