I spent most of 2025 hearing news about AI. Allegedly, it’s taking away jobs and making writers obsolete, but I was able to ignore those rumors — until I wasn’t.
In the fall of 2025, I got laid off from my job as an editor. Before the end of this job, I had heard chirps about new concepts that would impact digital marketing: GEO (generative engine optimization) and AEO (answer engine optimization). I tried to follow the trends and incorporate best practices, but it seemed like a difficult topic to master.
I was right, because no one has mastered this topic yet. The role of generative engines in content optimization is quickly evolving, and professionals are still experimenting to see what works and what doesn’t.
At the end of 2025, I took a temp job where my title was “AI GEO Consultant.” These are 10 things I learned in the position, and they’re the reasons I’m not scared of AI taking over all writing jobs… yet.
Note: This article was 100% written by me, a human, but ChatGPT and Gemini helped with the images.
1. Answer questions quickly and correctly
This may be obvious, but generative engines want to provide users with an answer, and they want to find it fast. Engines also want users to return, and nothing scares people away more than wrong answers.
So, if you want to optimize for GEO and AEO, give an answer, be direct, and remove all fluff. There’s a time and a place for descriptive writing, and this isn’t it. Whenever possible, keep your writing to one paragraph and try not to exceed four sentences.
2. Headings and hierarchy are your friend
When you simplify the goal of AI tools, the objectives are simple: skim, find, and answer.
Remember when you were in school, and you didn’t want to read the entire chapter, but you still needed to complete your assignment? Write for that person. Make your headings as clear as possible, use a logical hierarchy, and explain each topic concisely. There’s a reason chatbots gravitate to FAQ-style articles, but writing for GEO and AEO doesn’t mean you need to write FAQs exclusively. If you structure your articles correctly, you can answer multiple questions in one article and include other elements, like CTAs or personal narratives.
3. Authority and reputation matter significantly
In the world of SEO, authority plays a major role in rankings. You may hear terms like E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness), and those principles may be even more relevant in the worlds of GEO and AEO.
Think about it, are there many sources online that answer common questions. You may have a thorough and accurate review of the iPhone 17 on your website, but you’re unlikely to outperform a source like CNET or Apple’s website — at least not right away. As you build your web presence and continue to create accurate, thorough, and optimized content, you’ll compete with the big dogs. Even if you can’t surpass an Apple or a CNET, there are ways to get discovered by generative engines (keep reading).
4. Answer what the chatbots can’t or won’t
If you’ve ever chatted with a generative engine like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude, you’ve likely had your questions answered with a broad overview. Then, the chatbot invites you to dig deeper. This presents an opportunity for smaller sources to outperform bigger, more-established brands because they’ll go where big brands won’t.
How do you do this? Put yourself in the shoes of the reader, not your competition. Apple won’t outright say that the iPhone 17 doesn’t have a headphone jack; the company assumes customers already know this. That tech spec may not be obvious to a 65-year-old smartphone user, so they search for it online. As a smaller creator, this is your opportunity to answer the question Apple won’t, and it could help generative engines cite you over a more-established outlet.
5. GEO and AEO technically aren’t the same thing, but for most uses, they are
In the generative engine space, there are a few terms being thrown around, but the two most prominent are AEO (answer engine optimization) and GEO (generative engine optimization). The two terms aren’t quite the same. AEO aims to provide a clear and authoritative answer to a question, while GEO explains the topic so AI systems can understand and synthesize the data, allowing them to reference it when producing responses.
On a technical level, the two areas are different. Functionally, employers often use the terms interchangeably, especially because AEO content feeds into GEO responses. Unless you have a deep understanding of the two topics (and some companies may require it), you’re probably going to create content that’s designed for AEO and SEO.
6. Talk to Gemini, not just ChatGPT
When people talk about SEO, they’re almost always referencing Google as the default search engine. In the world of generative AI tools, ChatGPT seems to be the default. But here’s the catch: ChatGPT is (allegedly) using Google to answer queries.
This means you may want to use Gemini as a reference when writing GEO-focused content, because who knows Google better than its own tool? Of course, you still want to ensure all data is factual, but there’s reason to believe Gemini may feed ChatGPT more than the chatbot feeds itself.
7.SEO is not obsolete (by a long shot)
So there’s AEO and GEO, but what about good ol’ search engine optimization (SEO)? It’s not going away anytime soon, especially because generative engines rely on search engines. Google Gemini relies on Google, Microsoft Copilot relies on Bing, and ChatGPT uses Bing and (allegedly) Google. Then there are AI engines that use independent search tools, but then those feed into existing search engines (like Perplexity’s model, for example).
This tells us two things. Firstly, if AI tools are using search engines, there’s still a heavy reliance on them, and you’ll benefit if you rank highly. Secondly, tech companies like Google and Microsoft are investing in their own AI tools. You won’t be penalized for writing content that focuses on AEO and GEO; in fact, the search engines will likely reward you.
8. You still need to cite your sources
Ranking for AEO and GEO can feel like a bit of a paradox. In order to rank, you need to be an authority, but to prove your authority, you need to cite someone else. You can’t hide this, and if you got information from somewhere else, you still need to give credit where it’s due.
Having these citations is an indicator of trust, and acknowledging other credible resources demonstrates your expertise in the field. And as always, you don’t want to plagiarize, especially because your unique voice might explain a topic perfectly, which could get you recognized by AI engines.
9. There are responsive and reasoning chatbots — learn the difference
Many people have a negative opinion of AI because their experience using chatbots has been frustrating. If you’ve ever tried to resolve an issue on a website (think paying your cable bill or asking a question about your internet service), the AI-powered assistant is seldom helpful.
When interacting with these assistants, you’re dealing with a responsive chatbot — a tool that has predefined responses with little room for variance. Tools like ChatGPT or Gemini are designed to be reasoning chatbots, which can use logic, context, and analysis to answer questions. Yet most people use them like responsive chatbots, so they barely scratch the surface. Once you understand the benefit of using reasoning chatbots, you’ll understand how they can be superior to regular search engines.
10. Human are still needed, perhaps more than ever
If you’ve used any AI tool, you’ll know they make mistakes — like, a lot of mistakes. While I was working, I asked ChatGPT for some of the top albums of 2004. It listed Mariah Carey’s “The Emancipation Of Mimi” in the results. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big Mariah fan, but this album came out in 2005. That’s super easy to verify, and it’s prominently displayed on any website mentioning the album. Plus, I was alive in 2004, so I immediately knew this was wrong.
Generative engines can be useful, and I see a spot for them in the future, but the more you use them, the more flaws you’ll find. If you use them frequently, you’ll feel more like a project manager and less like a writer, but it still feels like you have a full-time job. I’d rather just do the writing myself, but if ChatGPT can help more people find my writing, I’m willing to incorporate AEO and GEO practices into my work.
You must be logged in to post a comment.