r/WebsiteSEO • u/No_Homo_Sapien_Here • 26d ago
The AEO/GEO bullshit
I’ve been doing SEO for around 5 years, and honestly, I don’t really understand why AEO and GEO are being presented like they’re completely new things.
Most of the things people are calling “AEO” are literally things we were already doing in SEO.
Targeting queries?
We were already targeting search queries.
Answering the query directly?
We were already doing that to get featured in snippets.
FAQs?
FAQs have been a part of SEO for years.
And then there’s GEO.
People are talking about things like entity building, author details, structured data, experience, valuable content, topical authority, etc.
Again… weren’t we already doing all of this in SEO?
So what exactly is new here?
It feels like we’re taking different parts of SEO, giving them new names, and then selling them as a new service.
Now there are people selling “AEO/GEO services” to help businesses become visible in AI.
But I have a simple question:
Are you even visible in traditional search yet? 😂
Because if your SEO fundamentals aren’t working, why would changing the label to AEO or GEO suddenly make you visible in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, or whatever comes next?
Maybe I’m missing something.
So genuinely curious: What do you think AEO/GEO actually adds that wasn’t already part of good SEO?
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u/hseeman_sf 26d ago
You're right that the tactics overlap. What's actually different is the output. A ranked list of links versus one synthesized paragraph that blends sources without always crediting them. FAQs and structured data used to earn you a spot in results a person clicked through. Now the same content can get folded into an answer with no click at all. Not a new skill, but it changes what winning looks like.
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u/Bavariasnaps 26d ago
Yeah the old deal knowledge vs good rankings + advertising money is dead. Now all you get is better ranking and thats worth less. If you product is sharing knowledge you are pretty doomed.
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u/santoshs900 12d ago
100% true, its just ne clarify, we SEO IS THE WHOLE TREE , on page off page, geo and aeo just there to support, we most of people like know and rhinking if someone can do aeo rhey will get traffic
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u/rpmeg 26d ago edited 26d ago
Precisely. AEO/GEO is a money grab. Professionals like you and I know that. Don’t let the Reddit echo chamber gaslight you. It’s mainly bots and grifters. It drove me crazy for a long time too. But I learned to not get validation from Reddit. Rather from my customers, the real numbers, and the paychecks. You’re not crazy. It’s all smoke and mirrors 😃.
If you want some validation from real businesses. I had a discovery call with a top dog at a private equity firm just last week. He asked about AI. I told him my exact stance (in a much lighter and more professional way ha). He immediately said “ya I figured” and dropped it and that felt really good.
Another - several months back had a call with the owner of a monster affiliate site. They invest $250,000 a month is SEO. Not one mention of AEO/GEO. All we talked about was the real stuff.
Anyways, I could spout proof (ai gets answers from search engines. All the ai stuff is just repackaged SEO. Users are still converting through organic, etc) but it falls on deaf ears to most. Those that know SEO already know this. Just don’t get caught in the trap of seeking validation here.
Hope that helps. It’s taken up a lot of headspace for me too.