What is AEO?
AEO is the method of increasing the discoverability of your content to AI and LLMs so that it is presented to users who are searching for specific answers.
If your content is deemed trustworthy and concise, it will be cited in AI results, alongside a direct link to your website. (That “AI Overview” you now see when you search for something).
What is GEO?
Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is the practice of optimising your content to be surfaced, cited, and accurately represented by generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot. Where AEO focuses on appearing in AI-generated answer boxes within traditional search engines, GEO goes further, ensuring your content is understood, trusted, and reproduced accurately when users ask generative AI tools direct questions about your business, sector, or competitors.
For listed companies, the distinction matters. An investor asking ChatGPT "what does ITM Power do?" or "which AIM listed companies are working in green hydrogen?" is relying on generative AI to surface an accurate, current answer. If your content isn't structured, authoritative, and consistently published across the right channels, the answer they receive may not reflect your business accurately, or at all.
What is the difference between AEO, GEO & SEO?
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is the method of raising the discoverability of your website, focusing on your ranking position within traditional search engines such as Google. AEO is the optimisation of content for AI and LLMs to easily interpret and cite, targeting the AI-generated answer features that now appear at the top of search results. GEO goes a step further, focusing on how your content is understood and reproduced by standalone generative AI tools that operate entirely outside of traditional search. Because of these differences, the techniques for achieving each also differ, though in practice they overlap significantly, with many experts arguing that AEO/GEO are simply a subset of SEO.
Whilst many of the fundamentals of SEO are present in AEO/GEO strategies, it's important to recognise what has changed and amend tactics accordingly.
Is AEO & GEO replacing SEO?
No, AEO & GEO aren't replacing SEO. However, search has significantly changed in light of the age of AI and those who use these three strategies together will be best placed to secure digital visibility.
What does AEO & GEO mean for listed businesses?
For IR professionals and marketing teams working in listed businesses, the change in search brings potential risk.
More and more investors and analysts are using AI to locate important information about AIM and MAIN Listed businesses. If your information isn’t being regularly updated or deemed trustworthy, AI will pull potentially outdated information from elsewhere. This puts you at risk of missing out on potential investment.
How can listed companies implement AEO/GEO?
The good news is that the foundations for AEO and GEO are largely the same. Authoritative, well-structure, and consistently published content benefits all.
Here are five actions IR and marketing teams should take to support discoverability:
1. Provide definitive answers.
LLMs look for the most direct answer to a question. Integrate an FAQ or Q&A section on your website, posing a succinct answer immediately after the question.
2. Use structured data.
Work with your development team to ensure your investor landing pages use structured data (schema markup). By structuring and labelling your data with schema, it makes it easier for LLMs to interpret, making your content more likely to be cited.
3. Avoid burying high-value data in PDFs only.
Most Annual Reports, RNS announcements etc are distributed via PDF. Whilst AI can read PDFs, it prefers semantic HTML. Create “executive summary” HTML pages that summarise key pieces of information so it can still easily be found.
4. Check the consistency of your information.
AEO will favour verified entities. If information presented on your website differs from what’s shown on third party websites such as financial news wires, LSE and LinkedIn etc., AI models won’t trust, and therefore cite, your content.
5. Be present across multiple channels.
The more regular, authoritative content you have across various platforms, the more likely you are to be deemed a source of truth by both search engines and generative AI tools. This also includes participating in conversations on forums by providing helpful insight and guidance.
Summary
Search has evolved. SEO hasn’t been replaced by AEO or GEO, but your existing strategy needs addressing quickly to ensure you maintain and improve your discoverability.
For listed companies and IR teams who distribute regulatory and financial data, this is even more imperative.
If your content isn’t being cited, then the narrative isn’t yours.
Prioritise regular, concise, authoritative content that clearly provides definitive answers, isn’t buried in PDFs, and uses structured data.
