What is the difference between SEO and AEO?
SEO works to rank your pages in search results so people click, while AEO (answer engine optimization) works to get your content cited inside AI answers such as Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT. Google says its AI features need no special optimizations beyond good SEO.
SEO is about ranking. You want your page in the list of links, and you want people to click it.
AEO is about being the answer. AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, and Claude often answer a question directly. They may cite a few sources, and the goal is to be one of them.
The two overlap more than the names suggest. Google says there are no extra requirements or special optimizations for AI Overviews or AI Mode. A page must be indexed and eligible to show a snippet, and normal SEO basics still apply.
What changes is emphasis. Pew found that when an AI summary appeared, people clicked a regular result on 8% of visits, versus 15% without one. Clear, quotable answers matter more, and raw clicks matter somewhat less.
Other AI tools run their own crawlers. OpenAI says sites must allow OAI-SearchBot to appear in ChatGPT search answers. Sovereo Web Works treats AEO as SEO done with answers first.
Sources
- AI features and your website · Google Search Central
- Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results · Pew Research Center
- Overview of OpenAI crawlers · OpenAI
Written and reviewed by Todd Allyn, Founder, Sovereo Intelligence Research
Facts checked Oct 8, 2026 · Next review by Jan 8, 2027
How we source answers · Report an error · Plain-text version