GEO, AEO and SEO explained, in plain terms
The vocabulary around AI visibility sounds technical, but it all describes one shift: people increasingly want the answer, not a list of links. Here is what each term means, without the jargon.
SEO, AEO and GEO are nested, not rivals
SEO (search engine optimisation) is the original discipline: helping your pages rank in search engines. AEO (answer engine optimisation) is the part focused on being chosen as the direct answer - in featured snippets, voice results and AI replies. GEO (generative engine optimisation) is the newest and narrowest: being cited as a source inside an AI assistant's generated answer.
They sit inside one another rather than competing. The same groundwork - a readable site, clear facts, credible content - feeds all three. We use AI visibility as the plain umbrella term for the AI-facing part, and you will see GEO and AEO used for the same idea.
Being the answer, even without a click
Zero-click is when someone gets what they need straight from a search or AI result and never visits a site. It can feel like lost traffic, but it is also an opportunity: if you are the source the answer is built from, you shape the decision even when there is no click.
Answer-first writing is how you earn that. Lead with the direct, self-contained answer in plain language, then add detail. Models can lift a clear answer and attribute it to you; they tend to skip content where the answer is buried.
Why being a clear entity matters
An entity is simply a well-defined thing a model can recognise with confidence - your company, not a similarly named one. Consistent naming, structured data and credible, corroborating information all strengthen how clearly you are understood.
E-E-A-T - experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness - is the quality lens behind this. It is not a single setting you switch on; it is the overall impression that makes a model comfortable citing you.
Measuring it: share of citation and the citation gap
Share of citation is the AI-era version of share of voice: how often AI answers name or cite you compared with others in your space. A citation gap is a topic where the answers cite others but not you - a clear, addressable opening.
These are exactly what LLMrank measures. Instead of guessing from a checklist, you see where you are cited, who appears in your place, and in which contexts - so the work you do is aimed at the gaps that actually move your visibility.
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