Three useful lenses
| Lens | Question to investigate | Observation to record |
|---|---|---|
| SEO | Can a search product discover, understand and surface the page? | Indexing, search appearance and useful visits |
| AEO | Does a system answer a question accurately using the available information? | Answer wording, accuracy and source support |
| GEO | How is a brand or source represented within a generated response? | Mentions, recommendations, citations and context |
These are practical distinctions, not universally fixed definitions. A single generated answer can involve search retrieval, direct answers and brand recommendations at the same time.
Work through an example
Imagine a person choosing an accounting service. A conventional results page may list agencies. An answer may explain the selection criteria. A generated recommendation may name three firms and explain why each suits a situation. The same business can appear in a result, be absent from the recommendation and still have a useful page cited for background.
Record those outcomes separately. Calling every appearance a “ranking” hides differences that matter to a business and to the person reading the answer.
What does this change in practice?
Start with accurate, accessible information about what the organization does, who it serves and what evidence supports its claims. Then examine the sources a system actually surfaces. Clear structure helps a reader assess a page, but no page format guarantees that an AI system will recommend a brand.
Google’s documentation explains that its AI features use existing search foundations and may issue related searches. The original GEO paper studies content visibility under defined benchmark conditions. Neither source establishes a universal tactic that works identically across products.
Try this exercise
Take three versions of the accounting question: a definition, a comparison and a purchase recommendation. For each response, label the task, named brands and visible sources. Then use the measurement worksheet to preserve the differences.
References: The original GEO paper · Google Search: AI features and your website.