AI SEO is a loose term with two common meanings. In the editors’ reading of current usage, it most often refers to optimizing a website so that AI-driven search features and assistants, such as Google’s AI Overviews, ChatGPT or Perplexity, mention or cite it. It is also used for applying AI tools to everyday SEO tasks like keyword research, briefs or meta descriptions.
At a glance
- Type
- umbrella term from industry usage, two meanings
- Affects
- AI search such as AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT or Perplexity
- Origin
- no clear original source
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Meaning 1: SEO for AI search
In this sense AI SEO overlaps almost completely with GEO (generative engine optimization). The aim is to appear in AI-generated answers as a named brand or a linked source.
For Google Search, Google states that there are no extra technical requirements for AI Overviews and AI Mode. A page has to be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet. The usual controls apply: nosnippet, data-nosnippet, max-snippet and noindex. Google’s guide on generative AI features adds that optimizing for them is “still SEO” and that special AI text files, Markdown copies or extra schema markup are not needed.
Outside Google, access depends on each provider’s crawlers. OpenAI, for instance, separates OAI-SearchBot (ChatGPT search) from GPTBot (model training), and each can be allowed or blocked on its own in robots.txt. A site that blocks the search bot will not be cited in ChatGPT search answers.
| Term | Full form | Goal | Metric | Origin of the term |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEO | Search engine optimization | Help search engines understand content and help users find a site through search | Clicks, impressions, CTR and average position in the Search Console performance report | no clear first source; Google uses the term in its own documentation |
| GEO | Generative engine optimization | Increase the visibility of content in responses from generative search systems | in the research paper “Position-Adjusted Word Count” and “Subjective Impression”; for Google Search, impressions in the generative AI features performance report (since 2026-08-31) | Aggarwal et al., “GEO: Generative Engine Optimization”, arXiv:2311.09735 (2023-11-16), KDD 2024 |
| AEO | Answer engine optimization | Appear as a direct answer or source in answer systems (industry usage, no standard) | no defined metric | no clear first source |
| AI SEO (this term) | – | Umbrella term for SEO in AI-powered search, sometimes also for using AI tools in SEO work (industry usage) | no defined metric | no clear first source |
| LLMO / LLM SEO | Large language model optimization | Be mentioned in answers from large language models (industry usage, often used interchangeably with GEO) | no defined metric | no clear first source |
The table describes terms and does not rate methods. For AI Overviews and AI Mode, Google names no requirements beyond the basics of Search. The terms GEO, AEO and LLMO do not appear in Google's documentation on AI features. Goals without a primary source reflect industry usage. Sources: Aggarwal, P. et al.: GEO: Generative Engine Optimization. arXiv:2311.09735 (2023), KDD 2024; Google Search Central: SEO-Startleitfaden / SEO Starter Guide; Search-Console-Hilfe: Leistungsbericht (Suche) / Performance report (Search); Search-Console-Hilfe: Leistungsbericht zu generativen KI-Funktionen (Google Suche); Google Search Central: KI-Funktionen und deine Website / AI features and your website. Last checked: .
Meaning 2: AI as an SEO tool
Here AI SEO describes workflows where language models help with keyword clustering, outlines, drafts, title tags, internal link suggestions or data analysis. Google does not prohibit AI-generated content. Its guidance warns that generating many pages without added value for users may violate the spam policy on scaled content abuse, and that AI output can contain errors and needs fact-checking before publishing.
Example
A travel site wonders why it never shows up in AI answers about “best time to visit Madeira.” The audit finds two causes. An old test left a nosnippet tag on the guide page, and the robots.txt blocks a search crawler of an AI provider. Both are classic technical SEO issues that also affect regular search results.
FAQ
Can SEO be done by AI? Parts of it. Language models can speed up research, drafting and analysis. Strategy, fact-checking and technical decisions still need people, and Google expects AI-assisted content to be reviewed for accuracy.
What is AI SEO called now? There is no fixed name. GEO, AEO and LLMO are used for the same idea, with slightly different emphasis. Google itself keeps calling it SEO.
Is SEO still worth it with AI? Google’s AI features draw on pages from its index, and other AI search tools rely on crawlable pages as well. Without indexable, accessible content there is nothing to cite.
Sources
- Google's guide to optimizing for generative AI features on Google Search – Google Search Central (updated 2026-07-10)developers.google.com
- AI features and your website – Google Search Centraldevelopers.google.com
- Google Search's guidance on using generative AI content on your website – Google Search Centraldevelopers.google.com
- Overview of OpenAI Crawlers – OpenAIdevelopers.openai.com
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