From SEO to GEO, and everything in between – Understanding modern search visibility

Drawing on years of experience in SEO, Parker’s Marketing Manager María Puche-Jiménez helps us navigate the shifting landscape of digital discovery.

To see where search is going, we have to look back at how the journey started. Optimising your website for online search (SEO: search engine optimisation) used to be relatively simple. Back in the early 2000s, repeating your target keyword throughout your copy (what’s known as keyword stuffing) may have been enough to push that page to the top of Google’s organic search results, bringing with it traffic to your website, and potentially enquiries if that was your aim.

Let’s pause for a second before we get any further: do you know what we mean by “organic” search results? In a nutshell, it’s anything that’s not a paid ad, aka a “Sponsored result”. And, as you read on, you’ll notice we refer to Google quite a bit, that’s simply because it still accounts for around 90% of global searches.

But the days of simply peppering your copy with your target keyword to shoot to the top of search results are long gone. One of the reasons for this is Google’s algorithm updates – regular changes to how search results are ranked. Those updates are designed to improve (what Google sees as) the quality and relevance of the search results users see, pushing website owners to ensure the content produced is genuinely useful, trustworthy and well structured. With multiple Google algorithm updates each year, maintaining visibility requires constant attention.

Search today – a more complex, multi-layered landscape

Today, the landscape is far more complex than in the heady days when keyword stuffing ruled at the turn of the millennium, and the world of online search continues to evolve at a pace we haven’t seen before.

Businesses can now appear in traditional search results, AI-generated answers, featured snippets and voice search results, as well as map listings (particularly important for location-based searches). Within these map listings, factors such as Google Business Profile information and Google customer reviews can also influence visibility.

Although Google still reigns, in the last few months we’ve seen more people use AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini to search for information, or products and services.

SEO strategy has grown new branches and we now also talk about AEO, GEO and AIO to describe the different strategies that influence online visibility. And we wait with bated breath for the next wave of technology, and the terminology, that will come with it.

In the meantime, for organisations investing in digital marketing, understanding how SEO and its AI versions connect can make the difference between simply having a website or building an online presence that consistently attracts traffic, and enquiries if that’s your goal.

How search works today – beyond traditional SEO

Search engines have evolved from being simple keyword matching tools into sophisticated systems that interpret user intent behind the search, context and authority. This means understanding not just what someone types into a search bar, but what they’re actually trying to achieve, and why.

At the same time, Google increasingly evaluates content based on E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness), a set of principles used to assess the credibility and quality of content (as interpreted by Google, let’s not forget).

Google now also combines traditional search rankings with AI-generated answers, AI Overviews, local map results, featured snippets and knowledge panels. At the same time, generative AI tools (a term sometimes interchanged with LLMs – Large Language Models, although that’s the power behind the tools) are becoming new discovery engines in their own right. You will have undoubtedly heard of some of them: ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, Claude, to name a few.

As a result, modern search visibility is shaped by several complementary disciplines rather than a single optimisation approach.

The foundation – What is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)?

Let’s go back to the beginning. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the foundation of online visibility; it’s the process of improving a website’s visibility in organic search results.

The goal is straightforward: ensure that when potential customers search for topics related to your services, your website appears prominently – in position 1, 2 or 3, ideally (not counting Sponsored results; those are ads, remember?).

SEO typically involves:

• researching the search terms you know your audience uses, or you think they use, and also looking at how the keywords that correspond to your products and services behave online (for example, how many monthly searches a keyword gets)
• structuring website content so search engines understand it
• creating valuable, relevant content that answers user questions (like this article, for example)
• building authority through links and external references

When done well, SEO allows organisations to attract consistent organic traffic without relying solely on paid advertising, or even having to consider it.

Making every page work harder in search – On-page SEO

Now that we’ve covered the basics of SEO, it’s time to dig a bit deeper and talk about the distinction between on-page and off-page activity. On-page SEO focuses on the elements that exist directly on your website, optimising the content and structure of individual pages so search engines can understand and rank them.

When we work on on-page SEO, we ensure each page is clearly written, structured and aligned to what users are searching for, so that search engines can understand it and rank it appropriately.

On-page SEO also focuses on headings, metadata, internal links within your website and how information is structured. Metadata (in other words, information about information) refers to the information attached to a page, such as its title and the short description that show in search results, which helps users and search engines quickly understand what the page covers.

For example, a well-optimised page will clearly communicate:

• the topic of the page
• the questions it answers
• how it relates to other pages on the website

Strong on-page SEO ensures search engines can interpret the content accurately while visitors can easily navigate and understand it.

There are also tools that can help guide this process. Options such as Yoast SEO (primarily for websites built with WordPress), Semrush and Authority Labs can show how your pages are performing in search, highlight areas for improvement, and provide practical recommendations to help optimise content more effectively.

Reputation beyond your website – Off-page SEO

Off-page SEO refers to signals that exist outside your website but influence how search engines perceive your authority. Off-page SEO focuses on building credibility and trust through external signals such as links, mentions and shared content, including content distributed through channels such as social media.

The most well-known example of off-page SEO is backlinks. When other reputable websites (and they have to be reputable) link to content on your website, it signals credibility and relevance. But backlinks are not for every business. In many cases, they require ongoing outreach, specific content creation and PR activity, which may not be practical or necessary depending on your goals or your business model.

Other off-page signals include mentions of your brand across the web and citations in directories or industry websites.

Solid foundations – Technical SEO

Technical SEO focuses on the infrastructure of your website, ensuring that search engines can access, crawl and understand your website effectively.

Even excellent content can struggle to rank if the technical foundations of the website prevent search engines from crawling or understanding it properly. In other words, you need your foundations to be solid, or your building will crumble to the ground no matter how good it looks.

Technical SEO includes areas such as:

• website speed and performance
• mobile responsiveness, so your website works without any hiccups across all devices
• structured data markup (Schema markup), helping search engines better understand your content
• crawlability and indexing, ensuring your pages can be found and listed in search results
• website architecture

These factors ensure that search engines can access, interpret and evaluate your content efficiently.

The age of AI – Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO)

AEO is one of the latest terms in the world of online visibility. Instead of simply ranking on a results page, this new discipline focuses on working towards appearing in direct answers within search engines and voice assistants.

Examples include:

• featured snippets in Google
• voice assistant answers
• knowledge panels and quick answers

Content that performs well in AEO often provides concise explanations to common questions, structured in a way that search engines can easily extract.

Is that one reason why FAQ sections and clearly structured content have become increasingly important?

Yes it is.

Search without the click – AI Overviews (AIO)

AI Overviews are AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of some search results, bringing together information from multiple sources to answer a query directly within the search page.

Rather than pointing users to a list of links, these summaries aim to provide a more complete response instantly, often reducing the need to click through to individual websites.

This means search is shifting from a list of results to a blended experience where traditional listings, direct answers and AI-generated summaries sit alongside each other. It’s a tapas approach, if you like.

For organisations, this creates a new layer of visibility. Content now needs to be not only optimised for rankings and featured snippets, but also structured and credible enough to be included within these AI-generated summaries. But one word of advice: don’t treat AI summaries as gospel, as the information they provide is not always accurate. Always check the source.

Time for a Chat – What is Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)?

Generative Engine Optimisation refers to strategies designed to help brands appear within responses generated by AI platforms, such as ChatGPT.

Before we continue: you may have heard of the term GEO also referring to geography or location in other search contexts, but here it relates specifically to visibility within generative search environments.

In the GEO we’re discussing here, tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Copilot increasingly condense information from multiple sources when answering queries.

A focus on GEO as part of your strategy ensures that authoritative content about your organisation exists across the web so these systems can reference it confidently.

This involves:

• creating high-quality informational content
• building strong domain authority
• ensuring consistent brand references across credible sources

So, GEO is a natural extension of SEO, its AI twin if you like. And while it’s still in its early stages, it’s rapidly becoming a key driver of how organisations can become discoverable online.

A winning team

Although all these terms (SEO, on-page, off-page, technical, AEO, AIO, GEO) may initially sound like separate strategies, you’ll know by now that they’re all closely connected.

A website that performs well in traditional SEO is also far more likely to perform well in AI-driven discovery systems. Strong content, clear structure and recognised authority all combine to benefit every form of search visibility.

In other words, SEO is not being replaced, it’s expanding into new forms.

All together now

Each of these areas brings its own level of detail, but taken together they form a clear framework for how modern search visibility works in practice:

• SEO builds visibility in search results
• On-page SEO shapes how content is understood
• Off-page SEO builds authority
• Technical SEO ensures your website can be accessed and indexed
• AEO helps content appear in direct answers
• AIO introduces AI-generated summaries in traditional search (AI Overviews)
• GEO focuses on visibility within AI platforms

Being found in a moving landscape

For many companies, the challenge is not understanding that search visibility matters, but knowing where to begin and how the different disciplines fit together in a landscape that may often feel like shifting sands.

A strategic approach considers the full picture, from technical website performance and content structure to authority building and now also AI-driven search visibility.

The result of that strategic approach isn’t simply better rankings, but a stronger digital presence that can transform how audiences discover your organisation, understand what you offer and take the next step.