Google says GEO and AEO are still SEO

What businesses need to know

For the past 12 months, the SEO industry has been flooded with new acronyms.

GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation). AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation). AI SEO.

As AI Overviews and AI-powered search experiences become more common, many businesses are being told they need to abandon traditional SEO and adopt a completely new strategy.

The reality is far less dramatic.

In July 2026, Google published official guidance explaining how website owners should approach AI-powered search features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode. The biggest takeaway? Google’s position is that SEO fundamentals still matter and remain the foundation of visibility in generative search experiences.

At Think, we’ve been monitoring the evolution of AI search closely. While AI is certainly changing the way people discover information online, we’re seeing more evidence that businesses should focus on strengthening their SEO foundations rather than chasing the latest buzzwords.

In our recent article exploring AI search visibility, we explained why strong website foundations remain essential regardless of how search evolves.

Traditional SEO still delivers results. The ranking improvements shown below were achieved through technical SEO, content optimisation, internal linking improvements and ongoing website enhancements, rather than any dedicated GEO or AI-specific optimisation programme.

Over the past 12 months, one of our client campaigns achieved significant ranking improvements through technical SEO, content optimisation and ongoing website enhancements, increasing top-ranking keywords and improving overall search visibility.

In this article, we’ll explain what Google’s guidance means, where GEO and AEO fit into the conversation and how businesses can improve their visibility in both traditional and AI-driven search results.

What are GEO and AEO?

The rise of AI-powered search has introduced a number of new marketing terms.

GEO: Generative Engine Optimisation

GEO refers to attempts to optimise content so that it appears within AI-generated answers produced by platforms such as:

• Google AI Overviews
• Google AI Mode
• ChatGPT
• Perplexity
• Microsoft Copilot

AEO: Answer Engine Optimisation

AEO focuses on helping content become the direct answer to users’ questions, whether through featured snippets, voice search or AI-generated responses.

On the surface, both sound like entirely new disciplines.

However, Google’s own guidance takes a much simpler view.

Google states:

“From Google Search’s perspective, optimising for generative AI search is optimising for the search experience and thus still SEO.” (Source: Google Search Central, Optimising your website for generative AI features on Google Search).

That is probably the clearest statement Google has made on the subject.

While new search experiences are emerging, the core principles remain remarkably familiar.

Over the last six months, we’ve started to see a growing number of clients asking whether they need a separate GEO or AEO strategy. In most cases, the websites making the biggest gains are typically those that have already invested in strong technical foundations, clear website architecture and expert-led content.

Google’s official position on AI search optimisation

One of the most interesting sections of Google’s guidance addresses whether SEO is still relevant in an AI-driven search landscape.

Google’s answer is straightforward:

“The best practices for SEO continue to be relevant because our generative AI features on Google Search are rooted in our core Search ranking and quality systems.” (Source: Google Search Central).

In simple terms:

AI Overviews do not exist separately from Google’s search ecosystem.

They are built using the same search index, ranking systems and quality signals that Google has relied on for years.

This should be reassuring news for businesses investing in SEO.

At Think, we’re seeing this reflected in the results we achieve for clients.

Over the last 12 months, we’ve worked with businesses to improve technical SEO foundations, optimise meta data, strengthen internal linking structures and expand topical content coverage.

In one recent example, a client’s Google Search Console visibility grew to over 512,000 impressions and 5,200 clicks over a twelve-month period following a programme of ongoing SEO improvements.

Importantly, this growth wasn’t achieved through any dedicated GEO or AEO strategy. The results came from applying established SEO principles consistently:

• Technical SEO improvements
• Meta data optimisation
• Improved page targeting
• Better internal linking
• Strengthening topical authority
• Ongoing content development

The data reinforces Google’s position. Businesses don’t need to abandon SEO because AI search exists. They need to continue investing in the foundations that help search engines understand, trust and surface their content.

Rather than rebuilding everything from scratch, organisations should focus on creating better content, improving technical performance, strengthening topical authority and delivering a better user experience.

Those activities remain valuable regardless of whether somebody discovers your website via a traditional blue link or an AI-generated answer.

Why technical SEO matters more than ever

One misconception surrounding AI search is that technical SEO has become less important. In reality, the opposite may be true.

During recent technical SEO audits, we’ve consistently found that the biggest barriers to AI visibility aren’t a lack of GEO tactics. Instead, they’re the same issues that have affected SEO for years: poor internal linking, weak topical coverage, duplicate content and indexation problems.

AI systems need to:

• Crawl content efficiently
• Understand page relationships
• Interpret site structure
• Identify entities and topics
• Access accurate, current information

Without strong technical foundations, search engines and AI systems can struggle to understand your content properly.

That’s why our technical SEO audits continue to focus on fundamentals such as:

• Indexation
• Internal linking
• Crawl efficiency
• Structured data
• Canonicalisation
• Page speed
• Core Web Vitals

These are not “old SEO” activities.

They are the infrastructure that allows modern search engines and AI systems to interpret your website accurately.

As Google’s guidance highlights, AI-generated responses are grounded in existing search systems and rely on content retrieved from Google’s index.

The growing importance of topical authority

One trend we’re seeing across many client websites is the increasing importance of topical depth.

Publishing a handful of disconnected blog posts is no longer enough.

Google increasingly rewards websites that demonstrate expertise across an entire subject area.

For example, a business selling industrial roofing products shouldn’t simply publish one article about roof access hatches.

They should build a knowledge hub covering:

• Roof access regulations
• Access hatch specifications
• Safety compliance
• Installation guidance
• Maintenance best practice

This creates a broader signal of expertise.

AI-powered search experiences appear to favour websites that demonstrate broader topical expertise, allowing search engines to better understand authority and relevance across a subject area.

Many of the websites gaining visibility in AI-powered search experiences are also organisations with strong technical SEO, authoritative content and established topical expertise.

At Think, we’ve seen first-hand how expanding coverage around a subject can increase overall visibility.

Over the last 12 months, articles and service pages covering SEO, AI search, agentic search, SEO copywriting and technical SEO collectively generated more than 100,000 impressions in Google Search.

Rather than relying on a single page to rank, each piece helps strengthen the overall topic cluster and reinforces our expertise across related search queries.

While strong SEO foundations remain critical, businesses should be aware that AI Overviews can change how users interact with search results. Some informational searches may generate fewer clicks, making it increasingly important to measure visibility, engagement and conversions alongside rankings and traffic.

Why expertise beats AI-generated content

Many businesses have responded to AI by dramatically increasing content production.

Unfortunately, more content doesn’t automatically mean better visibility.

Google continues to prioritise content that demonstrates experience, expertise and genuine value for users. Its guidance recommends creating “valuable, non-commodity content” for audiences rather than producing generic material designed purely to rank.

This presents both a challenge and an opportunity.

AI can help speed up:

• Research
• Content planning
• Draft creation
• Content repurposing

However, it cannot replace the experience gained from working directly with clients, customers and industries.

At Think, we’ve found the strongest-performing content often includes:

• First-hand observations
• Case studies
• Technical expertise
• Industry insights
• Practical recommendations

Those are precisely the elements AI tools struggle to generate independently.

We’ve also found that websites with strong content clusters and well-structured service pages are far more likely to appear for longer-tail informational searches than those publishing large volumes of disconnected AI-generated content.

Structured data and AI search visibility

Google’s latest guidance confirms that no special AI schema is required for AI Overviews. However, structured data remains one of the clearest ways to help search engines understand entities, services and content relationships.

Structured data helps search engines understand:

• Services
• Organisations
• FAQs
• Reviews
• Articles
• Products

While Google has stated that no special AI schema is required for AI Overviews, structured data remains an important way of helping search engines understand content and entities more effectively. This is one reason why many businesses are reviewing schema markup, author information, FAQs, breadcrumb navigation and entity signals as part of broader SEO and AI-readiness initiatives.

For many businesses, this means ensuring:

• Organisation schema is implemented correctly.
• Service pages use appropriate structured data.
• Articles are marked up correctly.
• FAQ content is properly structured where relevant.

Schema alone won’t guarantee visibility.

However, it helps reinforce the meaning and relationships behind your content.

How to prepare your website for AI search

Rather than chasing GEO strategies that promise instant results, we recommend focusing on the underlying foundations that support both traditional search and AI-powered experiences. Here are five fundamentals.

1. Strengthen your technical SEO

Run regular audits to identify:

• Crawl issues
• Indexation problems
• Broken links
• Redirect chains
• Page speed issues

Our technical SEO services focus heavily on maintaining these foundations.

2. Build topical authority

Create content clusters around your core services.

Connect related content using clear internal linking.

3. Improve content quality

Publish content that demonstrates genuine expertise rather than simply summarising information already available elsewhere.

4. Implement structured data

Use appropriate schema to help search engines understand key areas of your website.

5. Support your wider digital presence

Visibility increasingly extends beyond your website

This includes:

• Video
• Social content
• PR coverage
• Brand mentions
• Industry expertise

Your broader digital footprint reinforces your authority.

Our view at Think

The biggest mistake businesses can make right now is treating GEO, AEO and AI SEO as entirely separate activities.

Google has made its position clear:

“Optimising for generative AI search is optimising for the search experience and is still SEO.”

The tools are changing.

The interfaces are changing.

User behaviour is changing.

As we’ve discussed in our article on Google’s new AI user agent, the future of search may involve AI agents completing tasks on behalf of users rather than simply returning search results.

However, the principles of search remain remarkably consistent.

Ultimately, we see GEO and AEO not as replacements for SEO but as outcomes of strong SEO. Businesses with technically sound websites, useful content and genuine expertise are often best positioned to benefit from traditional search, AI Overviews and emerging search experiences alike.

How we can help

At Think, we help businesses improve visibility through a combination of:

• Technical SEO
• SEO Copywriting
• Content Marketing
• Website Design
• Digital Marketing Strategy

If you’re unsure how AI search is affecting your visibility, we’d be happy to review your website and identify opportunities for improvement.

Want to understand how prepared your website is for AI-driven search? Book a call with our team.