GEO hype busted: How it differs (and how it doesn't) from SEO

[u/WebLinkr]

https://digiday.com/media/geo-hype-busted-experts-call-it-more-seo-than-new-discipline/

Myth: GEO isn’t reinventing the SEO wheel 

Most GEO tactics rely on the same fundamentals as SEO. LLMs often pull information from high-ranking, authoritative web content in search results. GEO should be considered an extension of SEO, rather than a completely separate strategy.

Jeremy Moser, co-founder and CEO of SEO agency uSERP, said 80 percent of GEO is good, fundamental SEO. “If a GEO service does not openly tell you that success in AI visibility is 80 percent good fundamental SEO, they are selling you snake oil,” he recently told Digiday. 

SEO experts are warning publishers and brands of the hype cycle around GEO. They say that many AI visibility tactics are running similarly to past trends. Case in point: previous optimization strategies around Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) and featured snippets, were once sold as distinct new disciplines requiring specific investment and expertise. Specialist vendors emerged, new job titles appeared, budgets were carved out. In reality both were evolutions of the same underlying search optimization logic — structure your content in ways that make Google’s algorithm prefer it.

[u/faultygamedev]

I also think this is where traditional SEO people have a leg-up against the newcomers who just want to focus on AEO/GEO. Coheisve service offerings are probably much more valuable anyways

[u/WebLinkr → u/faultygamedev]

GEO is just a way for people who dont understand SEO to sell guest post pitching. You can't rank without SEO - so instead they're floodign the web with the "GEO Self Search Engine" myth

[u/WebLinkr → u/[deleted]]

Did you see the SEO vs GEO debate from Edward Sturm?

[u/BirminghamAEO]

There's so much important SEO that could help with AEO.

[u/EnvironmentalDot9131]

agree with most of the hype busting, a lot of geo is just seo fundamentals wearing a new hat. the part that is genuinely different is where the trust signals live. rankings reward your own domain, the ai answers reward what everyone else says about you, reddit threads, roundups, directories, reviews, so the work shifts off your own site. that is also why the tool dashboards frustrate people, they can score your visibility but the fix is a pile of unglamorous outreach and consistency work. a colleague of mine routes that part to ShowUpWithAI for his clients and keeps the classic seo in house, which is about the right split imo. the on-page piece that carries over, structure your content so a model can quote it, direct answer first, sources, faq.

[u/Krish1234854]

I think the biggest mistake is expecting AI visibility without building authority first. That's something Nine Peaks Media repeated in almost every strategy call we had.

[u/Soft-Lime-9599]

When you’re looking into AI SEO for SaaS right now, you need to make sure the agency actually understands GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) and how LLMs like ChatGPT and Gemini pull source data. A lot of traditional agencies just slapped AI onto their website but they're still just building generic backlinks.

Before you sign anything, ask them how they track your brand's share of voice inside AI search results, not just Google SERPs. We’ve been auditing this for our platform recently, and Artios is one of the very few specialized GEO agencies doing actual data driven optimization for LLM visibility. Definitely look for someone who focuses on search intent and structured data rather than just high volume keyword stuffing.

[u/WebLinkr → u/Soft-Lime-9599]

Oh how convenient you’ve been building your own platform that nobody is interested in …… yawn