Hi everyone! 👋 I've been seeing a lot of talk lately about something called "GEO" and "AEO" in some SEO communities and tool descriptions. I'm still wrapping my head around regular SEO, and now this new layer has popped up.
From what I gather, it seems tied to the rise of AI Overviews and AI-generated answers in search (like Google's SGE). Some tools are now marketing "GEO" (Generative Engine Optimization) or "AEO" (AI Engine Optimization) features. I *think* the idea is to optimize content so it's more likely to be cited as a source in these AI-generated answers, not just to rank as a traditional blue link.
Is that the basic gist? If so, I have a bunch of practical questions:
* Are there specific tools that focus on this, or is it more of a new feature set within existing SEO platforms?
* What kind of metrics would you even track for this? Is it about tracking "mentions" within AI answers instead of traditional rankings?
* Does optimizing for this require a completely different approach to content, or is it just an extension of good, authoritative E-E-A-T practices?
I'm mainly looking at tools for content and SEO at my company, and I want to make sure we're not missing a shift. Any guidance on what these tools actually do and if they're worth considering would be a huge help. Feeling a bit like I'm learning SEO all over again!