In a world where ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI overviews exist, search just isn’t the same anymore. Which also means that SEO (search engine optimization) isn’t the same either.
Key Takeaways
- Search has evolved beyond keywords, with AI tools, voice search, and zero-click results shaping how customers find businesses.
- SEO still matters, but success now means being the best answer—not just ranking on page one.
- GEO (generative engine optimization), AEO (answer engine optimization), and AIO (artificial intelligence optimization) help your business show up in AI-generated results, voice searches, and trusted recommendations.
- AI evaluates your entire online presence, including content quality, reviews, and business consistency.
- The strongest strategy combines SEO, GEO, AEO, and AIO to help your business get found, trusted, and chosen everywhere customers search.
Now, those of us in marketing and local business owners like yourself have a slew of new acronyms to pay attention to—GEO, AEO, and AIO. What exactly are all of these acronyms, and what do they have to do with AI, SEO, and the changes in ways consumers are searching for products and services online?
We’re glad you asked, because we’ve prepared a whole breakdown to help you keep your local business in the loop.
[Related: How AI could impact your small business]
The evolution of search
Before the AI boom, the process by which a customer found your business online was pretty simple. They pull up Google or another search engine, type in a question or problem they were having, and Google would return pages of results that hopefully included your business.
Then, to ensure your business was pulling up on page one of those search results, you’d hire a marketer or digital marketing agency to optimize your website for the keywords that consumers were searching for.
But consumers don’t follow that keyword organic search results click to website process anymore. Now they ask ChatGPT or see the answer to their question in an AI overview and never click on to your website—something called a “Zero-Click Search.”
It’s not all about showing up on page one of search results anymore… it’s about being the best answer to whatever question someone asks. And you do that through practices like GEO, AEO, and AIO.
So, let’s take a look at SEO, GEO, AEO, and AIO to see how exactly they differ from one another in local business marketing.
[Related: Podcast: The Importance of Small Business SEO]
1. SEO — Search engine optimization
You’re probably already pretty familiar with SEO (search engine optimization), also sometimes called organic SEO, because it’s been a prominent digital marketing practice for nearly 30 years now. It’s the process of optimizing your website to help it appear more prominently on search engine results pages (SERPs).
The higher your website ranks on the SERPs, the more organic (unpaid) traffic you’ll be able to drive to it. Studies tell us that the top 3 organic search results receive more than two-thirds (68.7%) of all clicks on the Google Search page. You can optimize your website to rank higher using strategies like:
- Adding the right keywords to your content
- Creating relevant, helpful content via blog posts or pages
- Making sure pages load quickly
- Making sure your website is mobile-friendly
- Acquiring reputable backlinks from other sites
- Building an easy-to-follow site structure
In essence, SEO is all about making sure your website and content come up when people search for your products or services online.
Local SEO
As a local business owner, you might also be familiar with local SEO. Local SEO is the process of optimizing your online presence specifically to increase visibility in localized search results. For example, someone searching, “plumbing near me.”
Strategies for optimizing your business for local SEO include:
- Claiming and verifying your Google Business Profile
- Ensuring your business information (name, address, phone number) is accurate and consistent across the web
- Creating localized content for your website
- Acquiring a steady stream of positive reviews
Local SEO helps make sure your business is showing up when potential customers within your service area are searching for your products and services online.
[Related: Organic SEO v Local SEO: What's the Difference?]
2. GEO — Generative engine optimization
The term GEO, or generative engine optimization, is gaining popularity with the recent rise in AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and other generative AI platforms.
Where SEO was about creating content that would rank highly for search engines, GEO is about creating content that AI tools can easily understand and then reference and cite in their responses.
For instance, if someone asks ChatGPT a question like, “What type of house siding is best to withstand the weather?” And the tool responds with a reference to your blog post, “A Guide to the
Best Types of Exterior House Siding,” that’s good GEO.
Optimize for generative AI tools by:
- Creating high-quality content that focuses on real questions customers might ask
- Structuring your content in ways that AI tools can easily understand, i.e., proper headings, adding a “Key Takeaways” section, etc.
- Incorporating schema markup on your pages to make them easier for AI to index (a digital marketing pro can help with this!)
- Making sure your content is useful, authentic, and written naturally
GEO is really just going the extra mile in SEO to ensure your business is showing up in AI search queries, along with traditional search engine queries.
[Related: Do Local Businesses Need to Blog?]
3. AEO — Answer engine optimization
Answer engine optimization, or AEO, has gained traction due to yet another shift in how people are using technology to find out answers to their questions—asking full-sentence questions on Google and talking to voice assistants like Siri and Alexa.
Where at one point it was common for people to search just using keywords like “clogged drain service” or “emergency plumber,” now that search might look something more like, “Is there a plumber who can unclog my drain today?” And they could be typing out that question into Google or starting it with, “Hey, Siri…” if they’re actively trying to keep a bathroom from flooding.
Research tells us that more than 58% of users turn to voice search to find nearby businesses, and nearly 90% of users find voice search easier than typing. So, it’s safe to say you want to make sure your business is visible when potential customers make these types of searches.
You can do that by:
- Creating content that’s structured to directly answer questions
- Adding FAQs and Q&A sections to your web pages
- Incorporating schema markup on your web pages
- Aligning content with Google’s E-E-A-T recommendations (experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness)
Basically, AEO is SEO for the shift toward voice-powered and conversational search.
[Related: Hibu Expands Voice Search Visibility for Local Businesses]
4. AIO — Artificial intelligence optimization
AIO, which stands for artificial intelligence optimization, might be arguably the most forward-looking of all the strategies we’ll discuss in this post.
While SEO focuses on search engines, GEO focuses on generative engines, and AEO focuses on answer engines, AIO zooms out and looks at the entire AI-powered ecosystem that’s influencing how customers discover, evaluate, and choose local businesses.
It’s about optimizing your digital presence so that AI systems trust your business enough to recommend it.
Today’s AI tools don’t just pull information from a single blog post or webpage. They analyze your website, your reviews, your business listings, your content consistency, and even how customers talk about you online. Then they use all of that data to decide whether or not your business is a credible option worth mentioning.
For example, if someone asks an AI tool, “Who’s the best HVAC company near me?” the AI isn’t just scanning keywords. It’s evaluating which businesses look legitimate, reliable, and active online. And if your business checks those boxes, you’re far more likely to be included in the response.
You can optimize your business for AIO by:
- Maintaining accurate and consistent business information across the web
- Actively managing and responding to customer reviews
- Publishing helpful, trustworthy content that demonstrates expertise
- Keeping your website up to date, secure, and easy to navigate
- Building a strong overall digital footprint—not just focusing on optimized pages
You can think of AIO as reputation optimization for the age of AI. It’s not about gaming an algorithm; it’s about proving to both humans and machines that your business is credible, experienced, and worth recommending.
AI will continue to play a role in how consumers find local services, and AIO helps ensure that not only is your business being found, but it’s also being selected.
[Related: Hibu is Making Sure Your Small Business Stays Visible in AI Search]
What should your local business focus on?
With all these new acronyms, strategies, and optimizations floating around, you might feel like you need to overhaul your entire marketing strategy overnight… but don’t go that far just yet. The good news is that you don’t need to choose between SEO, GEO, AEO, or AIO, because they all work best together as part of a comprehensive digital marketing strategy.
The goal hasn’t changed. It’s always been making it easy for potential customers to find you, trust you, and choose you. The only difference today is how that happens.
A well-rounded strategy keeps all these strategies in mind:
- An optimized, mobile-friendly website (SEO)
- Helpful content that answers real customer questions (GEO and AEO)
- Clear structure and accurate business information (SEO, GEO, and AEO)
- A steady stream of positive reviews and active engagement (Local SEO + AIO)
- Showing expertise, authenticity, and trustworthiness across all your online channels (AIO)
Focus less on every trend that you see and focus more on being the best answer wherever customers are searching… whether that’s Google, an AI overview, a voice assistant, or a chatbot.
[Related: Why Local Businesses Need an All-in-One Marketing Platform]
Take all the stress out of digital marketing with Hibu One
We get that keeping up with SEO, AI search, reviews, listings, and content is a lot, especially when you’re also busy running a business. So let our team of digital marketing experts and Hibu One help.
Hibu One is an all-in-one, AI-powered digital marketing platform designed to help local businesses stay visible everywhere customers are searching—on Google, in AI tools, and beyond. It brings your website, online listings, reputation management, ad campaigns, and customer communication together in one simple platform.
With Hibu One, you don’t have to worry about keeping up with every new trend in search. Your business is built to be found, trusted, and chosen… no matter how search continues to evolve!
That means less stress, smarter marketing, and more time to focus on your business.
To learn about all the ways Hibu One can take your local business to the next level, call us at 877-237-6120 or request a free Hibu One demo.
