GEO builds on SEO, it does not replace it: Google says optimizing for its AI features is still SEO. What is documented, what is hypothesis, and a 30-day plan for B2B teams.
Louis Mauclair · CEO
Updated October 2026 · 10 min read
TL;DR Generative engine optimization (GEO) aims to get your brand cited in an AI-written answer, while SEO aims to rank your pages. Google's own documentation says optimizing for its generative AI features is still SEO, and Ahrefs found that 76.1% of pages cited in AI Overviews already rank in the top 10. For a small or mid-sized B2B company, the right order is a sound SEO foundation first, then focused AI SEO and GEO support on 3 to 5 pages, verified crawler access and a query panel you check every month. This guide separates documented fact from agency hypothesis and lays out a 30-day plan with no promise of results.
Search "generative engine optimization" and you get an AI Overview, Wikipedia, Google's own guide, a Reddit thread and vendor guides. The two Semrush guides we opened on October 30, 2026 state most tactics without supporting data, and neither gives a dated plan or a realistic way to measure results with a small team. Google's guide comes closest to separating fact from folklore, but it covers only Google and offers no plan.
Klickbee sells GEO, so we would rather not oversell. Below: GEO vs SEO, what changes and what does not, an evidence level for each lever, then the plan.
SEO aims to place your pages high in classic Google and Bing results. GEO aims to get your brand cited or recommended inside an answer written by an AI: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, or Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode. The term comes from a November 2023 research paper (Aggarwal et al.). AEO, "AI SEO" and AI search optimization cover much the same ground: there is no consensus on definitions.
Google. Its guide (last updated July 10, 2026) answers "yes" to "is SEO still relevant?" and states that optimizing for generative AI search is optimizing for the search experience, and thus still SEO. A page must be indexed and eligible to appear with a snippet. Google says you do not need AI text files, special markup, content split into tiny pieces or writing tailored for AI, and that indexing and serving are never guaranteed.
Citation data. Ahrefs matched 1.9 million citations, taken from 1 million AI Overviews, to the Google rankings of the cited pages: 76.1% are in the top 10, 9.5% rank between 11 and 100, and 14.4% rank beyond 100. The study covers AI Overviews only and shows overlap, not causation.
The AI vendors. OpenAI asks site owners not to block OAI-SearchBot if they want to appear in ChatGPT search, and Perplexity recommends allowing PerplexityBot. Our guide to ranking in ChatGPT covers OpenAI's crawlers and a tracking protocol in detail.
A site that is poorly indexed or blocks the crawlers does not have a GEO project to run: it has an SEO or access problem.
Fewer clicks at the same position. Pew Research Center's U.S. study (900 adults, 68,879 Google searches in March 2025) found a click on a classic result link in 8% of visits with an AI summary, versus 15% without one. That is American data across all query types, not B2B specifically. In 2 of our last 10 action plans, traffic projections for online stores, we use click rates below published studies to account for Shopping blocks and AI summaries.
A different set of competitors. On discovery searches, the ones without your name, the brands cited are not always your direct competitors.
The reverse happens too. On an online store we audited, Google's AI summary cited the brand on a product query where it ranked only third in classic results, while citing two specialist resellers on generic queries. Also isolated. Ranking and citation overlap without being the same thing, as Ahrefs shows.
Our reading: GEO starts where branded SEO stops, on searches without your name, where you need to be tied to a category of offers and not merely found.
Four levels. Documented: the engine's operator writes it. Observed: a published measurement, with its limits. Experimental: a lab test. Hypothesis: an agency practice with no published measurement. The grading is our judgment.
Our take: GEO builds on a sound SEO foundation, it does not replace it. Fund the documented levers first, then first-hand content with sourced numbers, which also serves your readers. Judge the rest on your own tracking, not on a tool's promise. If your revenue pages are not indexed, the priority is technical SEO, not GEO.
Not sure whether your revenue pages are indexed, let alone cited by an AI? Our free action plan gives you the 3 priority levers and the order to tackle them, with no commitment. Get your free action plan
This plan assumes a live site, Search Console, analytics and access to robots.txt. It lays foundations and measures, without promising a result within 30 days.
On October 30, 2026 we opened the pages ranking for "generative engine optimization" in the United States (Wikipedia, Google's guide to generative AI features, Semrush's practical GEO guide) plus Semrush's GEO vs SEO comparison, which ranks in the French results, to note numbers, evidence level, plan and measurement. None of their sentences is reused.
The volume for "generative engine optimization" comes from DataForSEO, October 2026: 4,400 searches per month in the United States.
The official sources and studies were opened on October 30, 2026, and the figures quoted appear in them: Google's documentation (updated July 10, 2026), OpenAI's publishers FAQ, Perplexity's crawler page, the Ahrefs and Pew studies (July 2025) and the Aggarwal et al. paper.
Limits. The two field findings are isolated, taken from a single snapshot during external audits with no access to accounts. We measured no citations in ChatGPT, Perplexity or Gemini and ran no test ourselves. The evidence levels are our judgment. Ahrefs covers AI Overviews only, and Aggarwal et al. dates from 2023.
Generative engine optimization is not a choice between two disciplines. SEO gives you indexing, access and credibility. GEO adds a target (being cited) and a measurement (a panel, referral visits, Search Console). What is documented fits in three lines: indexed pages, search crawlers allowed, first-hand content. In 30 days a small or mid-sized B2B company can lay those foundations and measure, without being able to promise a citation.
A 30-day plan is only worth something if you know which pages to start with. We pick them with you, with the order of execution. Get your free action plan
Generative engine optimization is the practice of making your content and brand easy to find, understand and cite for AI-powered answer engines such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google's AI Overviews. The term was introduced in a 2023 research paper. It rests on the same foundation as SEO: indexable, accessible, credible pages.
They are not rivals. Google's documentation says optimizing for its generative AI features is still SEO, and 76.1% of pages cited in AI Overviews rank in the top 10 (Ahrefs). GEO adds a citation target and its own measurement on top of that base.
No, but click behavior changes. In Pew's U.S. data, users clicked a classic result link in 8% of visits with an AI summary versus 15% without. Position still matters, and what you measure has to widen to include citations and referral visits.
No tool sees inside the engines: Google notes that no third-party tool has access to its internal ranking or AI systems. Paid trackers sample answers. Start with a manual panel of 15 to 30 buyer questions, Search Console and an analytics segment for chatgpt.com and perplexity.ai.
In practice, yes. The terms overlap and there is no agreed definition. What matters is the target (a citation in a generated answer) and the engine, since each has its own crawler and rules.
Not for Google. Its documentation says you do not need new machine-readable files, AI text files or special markup, and that an llms.txt file neither helps nor harms in Google Search. Structured data stays useful for rich results.
Louis Mauclair
Louis leads growth and digital acquisition for B2B and e-commerce companies in France and the UAE. Before Klickbee, he co-built and sold an e-commerce business that served more than 13,000 customers. He moved to Dubai in 2026 to work with companies across the GCC.
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