A growing share of searches no longer end on a list of ten blue links. People ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity directly, or read Google’s AI Overview at the top of the results, and get one synthesised answer that names a handful of businesses. AI SEO is the work of making sure your business is one of the names in that answer — and that what the AI says about you is correct.
It covers four overlapping disciplines. Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) targets featured snippets, voice search and direct answers. Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) targets citations inside ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity responses. AI Overview Optimisation (AIO) targets Google’s AI summaries. LLM Optimisation (LLMO) makes sure large language models know your brand, understand what you do and where, and describe you accurately.
AI models don’t rank pages the way Google’s classic algorithm does. They cross-check facts across many independent sources, favour structured data they can read directly, and quote content that states the answer clearly in the first sentence. So the work focuses on consistency (the same business details everywhere), structure (schema, entity profiles, llms.txt) and quotability (answer-first pages and FAQs), plus genuine third-party mentions that make an AI confident enough to recommend you. This shift is already visible in India, especially for considered purchases like real estate, healthcare and professional services.