AEO vs GEO
The terms overlap and are often used interchangeably. The useful distinction:
AEO predates generative engines — it grew out of optimizing for featured snippets. GEO is the newer framing for multi-source generated answers. In practice the techniques converge: both reward direct, factual, well-structured content.
What AEO asks of a page
- Answer in the first sentence. State the answer, then explain. Do not build up to it.
- One question per page or per section. A heading that matches the question, followed immediately by the answer.
- Self-contained passages. Each section should make sense lifted out of the page, because that is how it will be used.
- Plain declarative sentences. Avoid pronouns that refer back across paragraphs.
- Structured data where the content type supports it — FAQ, HowTo, Product.
Question formats worth targeting
- Definitional — “what is X”
- Comparative — “X vs Y”
- Procedural — “how to do X”
- Evaluative — “best X for Y”