The digital marketing world is currently having an identity crisis. Every new AI feature seems to spawn another acronym—AIO, AEO, GEO, LLMO. This is leaving both new and experienced professionals scratching their heads, wondering, “Should I even learn SEO anymore, or is it time to switch to GEO?”
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After 14 years in this industry, I’ve seen updates from Panda to HCU, and I can tell you this: SEO is not dead. It’s just being redefined by people who don’t understand its foundations.
The core principles of optimising a website for a search engine haven’t changed. They’ve just gotten a little more complex. Here’s a breakdown of why all the new terms are just old wine in new bottles, and what you really need to focus on. (hstech)
The True Meaning of SEO (It’s Not Just Ranking)
First, let’s clarify a common misconception. The term Search Engine Optimisation is technically incorrect—we optimise our pages for the search engine, not the engine itself. It should probably be OSE, but SEO is what stuck.
More importantly, most people think SEO’s job is a one-step process: ranking a page. That’s a tiny part of the job, and it’s the last step.
A modern search engine works in five fundamental steps, and a real SEO optimises for all of them:
| Step | What the Search Engine Does | What the SEO Does (The Task) |
| 1. Discovery | Learns that your URL exists. | Ensures the website structure is good and provides a Sitemap. |
| 2. Crawling | The bot visits and reads the page’s code. | Ensures the bot is not blocked, and the server/hosting is fast enough. |
| 3. Rendering | Executes the code (like JavaScript) to “see” the page like a human. | Verifies that the entire page is properly visible and legible to the bot. |
| 4. Indexing | Saves a copy of the content to potentially show to users later. | Convinces the search engine the content is useful and indexable. |
| Convince the search engine that the content is useful and indexable. | Decides where to place your page in the search results for a query. | Convince the search engine that the content is useful and indexable. |
If you skip the first four steps, your page will never rank. SEO is website management.
Why the New Acronyms Fall Short
The recent explosion of new terms like AIO, AEO, GEO, and LLMO is causing confusion, but when you look closely, they all miss the point.
1. Artificial Intelligence Optimisation (AIO)
- Problem: We don’t optimise for AI itself. AI is a tool or a part of an algorithm. We optimise for the platforms that use AI, like Google Search or ChatGPT. It’s a nonsensical term for a marketer.
2. Large Language Model Optimisation (LLMO)
- Problem: LLMs are huge fields that do far more than just give search answers (they generate images, predict data, etc.). Optimising for the entire model is too broad and beyond the scope of a marketing professional.
3. Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
- These are the most sensible names, as they focus on platforms (like the AI Overview or ChatGPT) that generate direct answers instead of just links.
- The Big Reveal: The activities people label as “Generative Engine Optimisation” are things good, technical SEOs have been doing for years.
Why “GEO” Is Just SEO, The Myth Busted
Let’s look at what the industry publications claim is new about GEO versus traditional Search Engine Optimisation:
| “New GEO Task” (According to Publications) | Why It’s Already SEO |
| Response Generation (Optimizing for summaries) | News SEOs have been creating ‘Too Long, Didn’t Read’ summaries (gist) of articles for years to help users and bots. |
| Content Contextualization (Content relevant to user query) | Understanding User Intent (Informational, Commercial, Navigational) is the absolute foundation of all keyword research. This is not new. |
| Information Synthesis (Collecting info from multiple pages) | Good SEOs use a Silo Structure, creating a core topic page supported by multiple in-depth sub-pages. This has been a best practice forever. |
| Algorithmic Adaptation (Reacting fast to updates) | Google releases an update every 2.5 hours on average. SEOs are constantly adapting. We are not new to speed. |
| Content Formatting (Using diverse formats) | Response Generation (Optimising for summaries) |
The Conclusion
Generative Engine Optimisation simply means optimising your content so that it can be easily understood and pulled into a summarised, authoritative answer by an AI model.
The way to achieve that is by doing great SEO: creating comprehensive, well-structured, authoritative, and user-centric content.
What to Focus on Now: SEO’s Eight Duties
So, if you’re new to the industry in 2025, or an experienced pro looking to level up, you don’t need to chase new acronyms. You need to master the Eight Duties of a Modern Search Engine Optimisation:
- Discovery Optimization
- Crawling Optimization
- Rendering Optimization
- Indexing Optimization
- Ranking Optimization
- Content Creation & Approval (Which often includes AI tools now)
- Analytics (Tracking traffic, queries, and business suitability)
- Reporting (Proving your value to the client—a non-negotiable skill!)
If you manage your website according to these eight duties, your site will be robust, fast, and authoritative. A well-managed website is the only kind that can convert traffic effectively, regardless of whether that traffic came from Google Search, a paid ad, or a Gemini AI Overview.
Would you like to dive deeper into the first of the five search engine steps—Discovery—to see how Search Engine Optimisation practically applies these rules?
