| Primary Goal | Be cited in AI-generated answers across platforms (ChatGPT, Gemini, etc.) | Rank full web pages in Google SERPs |
| User Intent | Deeper exploration, comparison, and analysis | Direct answers or quick discovery |
| Search Format | Conversational answers built by large language models (LLMs) trained on structured data and real-world search patterns | 10 blue links + snippets |
| Content Optimization | Modular, intent-driven content creation structured for AI search to deliver answers and citations | Page-level content creation rich with target keywords and search intent alignment |
| Query Handling | Query fan-out: Google creates multiple hidden sub-questions | One-to-one keyword targeting |
| Visibility Mechanism | Be cited or featured in AI-generated summaries and assistant responses | Rank on Page 1 of results |
| User Experience | Zero-click, AI-assembled experiences with predictive guidance | Click-based discovery |
| Content Structure | Snippet-ready content blocks and FAQs, entity tagging and semantic optimization | Full articles or landing pages |
| Measurement Metrics | AI citations, passage rank, visibility across AI-driven search engines | Impressions, CTR, rankings, backlinks |
| Technical Signals | Structured, snippet-ready content blocks, schema, and HTML optimization for AI-readability | Metadata, backlinks, core web vitals |
| Tools & Platforms | Perplexity, ChatGPT, Bard/Gemini, SGE tools, LLM evaluation tools | Google Search Console, traditional SEO suites |
| Result Delivery | AI delivers blended answers; your content is quoted or summarized | User navigates to site via link building and rankings to access the full answer |
| Example Use Cases | Being quoted in an AI-generated answer sourced from a leading GEO agency’s content | Ranking #1 for “top GEO SEO agencies” in Toronto |