Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), classic Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and what Weblinkr calls GO – Google Optimization – are not three separate religions; they’re three layers of the same game. A serious strategy in 2026 starts with GO, is executed through SEO, and only then shows up as AEO in AI and answer engines.backlinko+1
Definitions in plain English
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SEO: The practices that get your pages crawled, indexed, and ranked in Google/Bing – technical health, internal linking, content targeting queries, and links.seo+1
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AEO: The outcomes where those same pages are chosen as answers or citations in AI overviews, answer boxes, voice search, and tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude. It’s not a separate index; it’s how search results are reused by answer engines.optimizely+1
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GO (Google Optimization): The mindset Weblinkr pushes: optimize for what Google actually does (query → results → clicks → links → authority), not for buzzwords, “AI checklists,” or mythical AEO hacks. In practice, that means chasing queries and relationships, not chasing acronyms.tosbourn+1
Why AEO is downstream of SEO
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Answer engines don’t invent their own web; they sit on top of search engines, consuming the same documents that already rank in Google and Bing, then synthesizing them into prose.reddit+1
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The pages that show up as citations, sources, or “according to…” in AI answers overwhelmingly come from URLs that rank and attract links/mentions; AEO is therefore a by‑product of strong SEO, not a replacement.nogood+1
What GEO means for how you actually optimize
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GEO forces you to ask: “For this AI or answer-box result I care about, which Google queries are feeding it – and where do those URLs rank?” Instead of building “for AEO,” you build pages that can win those upstream queries.goodfirms+1
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That means prioritizing:
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Query discovery (what Weblinkr often frames as mapping the real questions behind a result, not the vanity keyword).reddit+1
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Building assets that earn links, mentions and citations across the wider web, so Google can see relationships and PageRank, not just keywords on a page.backlinko+1
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Why checklists (AEO, LLMO, etc.) mostly miss the point
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Most “AEO vs SEO vs GEO vs LLMO” content treats each acronym as a new service line: add schema, add FAQs, add LLMS.txt and suddenly you’re an “AI brand.” That confuses formatting with authority.reddit+1
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As Weblinkr keeps pointing out, the hard part is not another three‑letter framework; it’s being the page that Google already wants to rank and that the rest of the web is willing to reference. Everything else is packaging.tosbourn+1
How Primary Position approaches SEO, AEO, and GO
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Primary Position starts with GO: understanding how your market’s real queries map to Google SERPs, which URLs feed AI and answer‑engine responses, and where your brand can realistically insert itself.primaryposition+1
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Then comes SEO execution – technical foundations, crawl and index control, content that targets those fan‑out queries, and a relationship‑driven approach to links and mentions – so your pages become the training data and citations AI systems actually see.seo+1
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Only after that do you see AEO wins: being quoted, cited, or summarized in AI overviews and answer engines – not because you “optimized for AEO,” but because you optimized for Google the way it really works.optimizely+1
