SEO vs AEO vs GEO for Irish Businesses

6 min read

Quick answer: SEO (search engine optimisation) helps your website rank in Google’s list of links. AEO (answer engine optimisation) helps your content become the direct answer in featured snippets, voice assistants and AI summaries. GEO (generative engine optimisation) helps AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews mention and cite your business. You need all three, and they build on the same foundations.

The way people find businesses is changing. Your customers still search on Google, but more and more of them also ask ChatGPT, or read the AI summary at the top of the results and never scroll further. If your business doesn’t show up in those answers, you’re invisible to a growing share of buyers.

So which should you focus on: SEO, AEO or GEO? Here’s a plain-English guide for Irish businesses.

SEO: still the foundation

Search engine optimisation is the work of getting your pages to rank well in search results. It covers three areas:

Google still dominates search in Ireland, with a 93.5% market share in September 2026, according to StatCounter. Bing has about 4%. For local businesses, SEO also means a well-kept Google Business Profile, so you show up in the map results when someone searches “web designer near me” or “printers in Laois”.

AEO: be the answer, not just a link

Answer engine optimisation is about structuring your content so search engines can lift it out as a direct answer. That includes featured snippets, “People also ask” boxes, voice assistants like Siri and Alexa, and AI summaries.

The shift matters because fewer people now click. In a 2025 study, Pew Research tracked almost 69,000 Google searches by 900 US adults. When an AI summary appeared, people clicked a normal result in 8% of visits, compared with 15% when there was no summary. They clicked a link inside the AI summary just 1% of the time (The Decoder, reporting on Pew).

So the first answer matters more than ever. If it’s yours, your brand gets seen even when nobody clicks.

GEO: get recommended by AI

Generative engine optimisation is the newest of the three. The term comes from a 2023 research paper by Princeton University, IIT Delhi and others, published at the KDD 2024 conference. The researchers found that adding citations, quotes and statistics to content raised its visibility in AI-generated answers by up to 40%. Old-school keyword stuffing didn’t help at all (GEO paper).

GEO is about being the business that AI tools trust enough to mention. These tools pull from websites, reviews, directories, news and forums. They favour sources that are clear, specific, consistent and backed by evidence.

SEO vs AEO vs GEO at a glance

What Google says about AI search

Google’s own guidance is reassuring. It says there are no special optimisations needed for AI Overviews or AI Mode. To appear, a page must be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet. That’s it. Google also says you don’t need new AI text files or special schema (Google Search Central).

In other words, good SEO is the entry ticket for AEO and GEO. If Google can’t crawl and trust your site, AI tools built on search won’t find you either.

12 practical tips for Irish businesses

These are the tips you’ll see shared again and again in short-form posts on Pinterest and LinkedIn. They work because they’re simple.

  1. Claim and complete your Google Business Profile. Add services, photos, opening hours and posts. Reply to every review.
  2. Keep your name, address and phone number identical everywhere, from your website to Golden Pages, Facebook and industry directories.
  3. Ask for reviews. AI tools read them, and so do customers.
  4. Use questions as headings. Write H2s the way people ask, like “How much does a website cost in Ireland?”
  5. Answer first, in 40 to 60 words. Then add the detail. This is the format snippets and AI summaries like best.
  6. Add an FAQ section to your key service pages.
  7. Include real numbers, sources and quotes. It’s exactly what the GEO research found works.
  8. Use schema markup for your business, services, products, FAQs and reviews, and make sure it matches what’s on the page.
  9. Show who’s behind the content. Author names, experience and real case studies build trust (Google calls this E-E-A-T).
  10. Get mentioned on trusted Irish sites, like local news, business networks, chambers of commerce and partner websites.
  11. Make your site fast and mobile-friendly. Slow pages lose people and rankings.
  12. Make it accessible. Clear headings, alt text and real text help AI understand your pages, as well as people. Read why accessible websites matter.

You may also see advice to add an llms.txt file for AI tools. It’s harmless, but there’s no evidence yet that the major tools use it, and Google says it doesn’t need one. Spend your time on the basics first.

So which one should you focus on?

All three, in order. Think of it as a pyramid:

  1. SEO first. A fast, crawlable, well-structured site with a strong Google Business Profile.
  2. AEO next. Content that answers your customers’ real questions, clearly and quickly.
  3. GEO on top. Evidence, reviews and mentions across the web that make AI tools confident about recommending you.

The good news is that you don’t need three separate strategies. The same work feeds all three.

How Neon Digital can help

At Neon Digital, our SEO and AI search service covers all three, from technical SEO to AI visibility. We can:

Every website we build is fast, accessible and SEO-ready from day one. If you want to know how your business shows up in Google and ChatGPT today, get in touch and we’ll take a look.

Frequently asked questions

Is SEO dead because of AI?

No. AI search tools rely on the same signals as search engines: crawlable pages, clear content, trust and reviews. Google says pages need to be indexed and snippet-eligible to appear in its AI features. Good SEO is now the entry ticket to AI search.

What is the difference between AEO and GEO?

AEO focuses on being the direct answer in snippets, voice search and AI summaries. GEO focuses on being mentioned and cited in AI-generated answers from tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. They overlap a lot, and the same content work helps both.

How long does it take to see results?

Quick fixes, like your Google Business Profile and page titles, can help within weeks. Content and reputation work usually takes three to six months to build up.

Do I need a separate strategy for ChatGPT?

Not really. ChatGPT and other AI tools look for clear, trustworthy information about your business across the web. A strong website, consistent listings and good reviews do most of the work.