Local SEO blog
Are AEO and GEO Dead? Do People Still Need SEO?
September 7, 2026
Every few months, SEO gets a new acronym.
AEO. GEO. LLMO. GSO. AI search optimization. Generative search optimization.
At this point, the acronym generator has more job security than most of us.
The search experience really has changed. People now ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, and Copilot for recommendations. Google shows AI Overviews and AI Mode for some searches. Buyers ask longer questions and expect a complete answer instead of ten blue links and a treasure map.
The work behind visibility still depends on SEO.
That means crawlable pages, useful content, search intent, internal linking, accurate business information, clear claims, real experience, and a website that search systems can understand.
AEO and GEO describe new discovery environments. They do not erase the foundation that makes a business findable in the first place.
What AEO is trying to solve
Answer Engine Optimization focuses on making content useful for systems that provide direct answers.
That can include featured snippets, People Also Ask results, voice search, Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, and answer engines such as Perplexity and Copilot.
The goal is simple. Give the system a clear answer it can understand, retrieve, summarize, and connect to the right source.
That requires more than stuffing a paragraph with a question and an answer.
A page needs context. It needs to explain who the business serves, what it offers, where it operates, and which questions the page can answer. It needs a logical structure that works for a person reading on a phone and a search system processing the page.
This is why I care about the page underneath the answer.
If the page is thin, vague, impossible to crawl, or disconnected from the rest of the site, an FAQ block will not perform magic tricks.
What GEO and LLMO are trying to solve
Generative Engine Optimization and Large Language Model Optimization usually focus on visibility inside AI-generated answers.
A person asks ChatGPT which dispensaries serve a city. Someone asks Gemini to compare CBD product types. A business owner asks Claude for local HVAC recommendations. A buyer asks Copilot to find packaging suppliers.
Those systems may summarize information from multiple sources. Some show citations. Some use web search, business data, product feeds, or other connected sources. The results can change based on the wording, location, freshness of the information, and the system being used.
That creates a new discovery layer.
It also creates a lot of opportunities for people to sell three retainers for one neglected website.
I am skeptical of that approach.
If a site needs better service pages, stronger internal links, accurate location information, clearer product details, and content that answers real customer questions, those improvements support traditional search and AI discovery at the same time.
Google still points site owners toward SEO fundamentals
Google’s official guidance on AI features in Search says pages need to be indexed and eligible to appear in Google Search before they can appear as supporting links in AI Overviews or AI Mode.
Google also says there are no additional technical requirements for appearing in those features.
The recommended work includes allowing crawling, making important content available in text, using internal links, maintaining a solid page experience, keeping structured data aligned with visible content, and updating Business Profile and Merchant Center information.
That sounds a lot like SEO because it is SEO.
The search surface changed. The underlying responsibility stayed familiar.
A homepage cannot answer every customer question
A homepage is supposed to explain the business at a high level.
It should help someone understand what you do, who you serve, where you operate, and what to do next. It should not carry every question your customers might ask like an overloaded backpack.
Different searches need different pages.
| Search need | Useful page type | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Informational | Educational guide | What are liquid diamonds? |
| Comparison | Comparison article | Rosin diamonds versus live resin |
| Local | Location or service area page | HVAC repair in Grand Rapids |
| Product | Product page | CBD sleep gummies |
| Service | Service page | Cannabis dispensary SEO services |
| Transactional | Category, menu, booking, or checkout page | Grand Rapids dispensary menu |
A local contractor may need a page about water heater replacement, a page for each major service area, and an article answering how long a replacement takes.
A dispensary may need location pages, product education, strain or format explainers, and a menu that search engines can actually understand.
A CBD brand may need product pages with clear ingredients, usage information, and careful language around claims.
A health business needs educational content that respects sensitive topics and avoids unsupported promises.
An e-commerce company needs category pages, product pages, buying guides, comparison content, and clean product data.
A B2B packaging supplier needs pages for specific materials, formats, industries, and use cases.
The homepage can introduce all of these paths. It cannot replace them.
The SEO work AEO still needs
AEO depends on the work many businesses have been postponing since their website launched.
Keyword research
I still need to understand how people search, which language they use, and where their questions fit in the buying journey.
The phrase a business uses internally may have little relationship to the phrase a buyer types into Google or an AI tool.
Search intent
A person searching “what is live resin” needs an explanation.
A person searching “live resin near me” needs local options, product information, and a path to purchase.
Those searches may contain related words. They need different pages.
Technical SEO
Search systems need access to the page. The site needs crawlable links, indexable content, sensible canonicals, usable templates, and a structure that does not bury important information under six layers of navigation.
Technical issues rarely make exciting LinkedIn posts. They still matter.
Internal linking
Internal links show how pages relate to one another.
An educational guide can link to a relevant product category. A city page can link to the services available in that location. A comparison article can link to both service pages being compared.
This helps people move through the site and helps search engines discover important pages.
Accurate business data
Names, addresses, phone numbers, hours, locations, services, products, and business categories need to be accurate.
Google specifically calls out Business Profile and Merchant Center information in its AI search guidance. AI systems also need reliable details to describe a business correctly.
Useful sources and clear authorship
A page making a claim should support it with appropriate sources and explain who created or reviewed the content.
That matters in every industry. It matters even more in regulated and claim-sensitive categories.
Implementation
A strategy document sitting in a shared drive is not a result.
Someone needs to write the page, add the links, review the claims, publish it, check the template, monitor performance, and update the content when the information changes.
That is where a lot of shiny AI search strategies quietly wander into the woods.
What I change for AI search
I make the answer easier to find early in the page.
That does not mean reducing every article to a two-sentence answer. It means answering the main question clearly before forcing the reader through 1,500 words of throat clearing.
I also make entities and locations obvious.
If the page is about a dispensary in Grand Rapids, I want the business, city, services, products, and relevant neighborhoods represented accurately. If it is about a B2B supplier, I want the company, products, industries, materials, and use cases explained in plain language.
I structure pages so useful passages can be retrieved.
That means descriptive headings, short sections, direct definitions, supporting detail, relevant internal links, and structured data that matches what visitors can see.
I support claims with credible sources and review content before publication.
AI can help me organize research, identify gaps, and move faster. A human still needs to decide if the claim is accurate, appropriate, compliant, and useful.
These improvements help human readers too.
People like clear answers. People like knowing where a business operates. People like pages that do not make them dig through a digital junk drawer for basic information.
Regulated industries need extra human review
I have worked in cannabis and CBD SEO since 2020, and the language matters.
A dispensary needs useful product and location information. It also needs careful wording around product effects, intended use, legal restrictions, and customer expectations.
A CBD brand needs content that helps shoppers understand products without drifting into unsupported medical claims.
Human review is essential because an AI-generated sentence can sound polished while creating a compliance problem.
I do not promise rankings, AI citations, or guaranteed traffic. Search systems make their own decisions.
I build content and site structures that give those systems accurate, useful information to work with.
My cannabis SEO services and dispensary SEO services follow that same principle. Answer the question. Explain the business. Respect the rules. Give the visitor a useful next step.
How I approach implementation
I start with the existing site.
I review Search Console data, analytics, rankings, traffic patterns, conversions, indexed pages, internal links, and obvious content gaps. I look for pages that attract impressions but fail to earn clicks. I look for pages that rank for the wrong intent. I look for important services that have no dedicated page at all.
Then I map customer needs to page types.
That may include service pages, category pages, product pages, location pages, comparison articles, FAQs, and educational guides.
I also map the search journey.
Someone may begin with an informational question, move to a comparison, check local availability, review a product, and finally call, book, visit, or buy.
The site needs to support that journey.
I measure rankings and organic traffic, but those are only part of the picture. I also care about conversions, branded searches, calls, form fills, store visits, AI citations when measurable, and revenue-related actions.
A pretty impression number cannot pay an invoice.
I sometimes use AI tools as part of the research and workflow. I have written about that process in my Galaxy AI Magica AI review, along with the practical limitations that come with AI-assisted work.
Before a business invests in a giant new acronym strategy, I recommend starting with a free SEO audit and finding out what the existing site needs.
So are AEO and GEO dead
The labels are useful when they help people describe a specific discovery environment.
AEO can describe work focused on direct answers and answer features. GEO can describe work focused on generative systems and citations. LLMO can describe optimization for language model discovery. GSO can describe another version of the same conversation.
The labels become expensive nonsense when they turn one connected search program into three disconnected retainers.
Google still needs to crawl and index the page.
AI systems still need useful information.
Customers still need answers.
The practical strategy is Search Everywhere Optimization, with traditional SEO, answer optimization, and generative search visibility handled together.
That means building the right pages, connecting them properly, explaining the business clearly, supporting claims, keeping information current, and reviewing everything before it ships.
AEO and GEO can help name the new places people search.
SEO still builds the roads that get you there.
Businesses that need help scaling that system can hire me for SEO and AI search strategy.