GEO et AEO : le SEO sous un autre nom
GEO (generative engine optimization) and AEO (answer engine optimization) name the work of showing up in an assistant's answer rather than in a list of links. Both acronyms sell the idea of a new discipline with its own tools, audits and A to C grades. Google, which builds one of those assistants, answers in its official guide that this is SEO. **What the guide asks for:** - Content that is not generic, written for your audience: the guide says to write for your audience, not for a machine. - A clean technical structure: reachable pages, clear headings and sections, text a bot can read. - Up-to-date business and product listings, if you sell in an area or online. **What the guide files under myths** for Google Search: AI-dedicated files such as `llms.txt` (see the llms.txt entry), chopping text into small pieces, rewriting "for AIs", chasing artificial mentions, over-investing in structured data (which stays useful for rich results). **The limit to keep in mind.** This guide covers Google Search's AI features (AI Overviews, AI Mode). It names neither ChatGPT, nor Claude, nor Gemini, unlike the videos relaying it. For those assistants, what you can check is thinner: can their crawlers get into your site, and do they cite you on your customers' questions (see the “Référencer son site avec Claude” kit). **Measurement.** Google provides a "Generative AI performance" report in Search Console. It warns that no third-party tool has access to its internal ranking or AI systems: a tool promising a "GEO score" measures access conditions, not your place in the answers.