Written by: Mackenzie Wilson
SEO. AI SEO. GEO. AEO. You aren’t the only one feeling overwhelmed by all of the acronyms being tossed around.
You’re likely trying to figure out one thing – what is the difference between SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and AI SEO (AI Search Engine Optimization)?
Before we break it down, let’s take a step back. For more than 20 years, “Just Google it” was the answer to every question. Now, in 2026, the question is where you ask it. Google, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini: people are turning to all of them for answers they once got from organic search results.
Understanding the difference will make you feel more confident building out the best strategy for your business.
The good news is that SEO and AI SEO actually share many of the same fundamentals – authority, consistency, structure, and user intent. So instead of picking between the two, they pair well together.
The main difference between SEO and AI SEO are the goals you are working towards.
Let’s dive in!
SEO is the practice of getting your business to appear in Google organic search results, so people will click through to your website. When you optimize your website, your pages rank higher, and your organic search traffic grows.
AI SEO is the practice of optimizing your brand’s content – across your website and within your brand ecosystem – to perform well across AI platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc. With AI SEO, you can’t just focus on your website – you have to focus on things outside of your owned marketing channels. Most searches on AI platforms don’t end in website clicks, so the success metric is more focused on being cited, mentioned, and ultimately increasing your brand visibility.
Consumer search behavior is changing. Understanding the differences is the first step, but how should you move forward?
Our recommendation? Including both SEO and AI SEO in your marketing strategy is going to be a winning approach. This will allow your brand to be visible regardless of where someone chooses to search for you!