Guide
SEO, AEO, and GEO: what B2B software marketers need to know
Short answer
SEO helps your pages rank in search results. AEO, answer engine optimization, helps your content become the direct answer an assistant or search feature gives. GEO, generative engine optimization, helps your company get named and described accurately when AI writes a response. They overlap heavily, and for B2B software all three start in the same place: clear positioning, expressed in well-structured content that others confirm.
Why the distinction matters now
For most of the last twenty years, a B2B buyer's research started with a search results page. Today a growing share starts with a question to ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot, or Google's AI features: "What's the best way to monitor a hybrid network?" or "Which supply chain security tools work with GitHub?"
Those assistants don't return ten links. They return an explanation and a short list. Being on that list, and being described the way you'd describe yourself, is the new top of the funnel.
The three, side by side
| SEO | AEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goal | Rank a page | Be the direct answer | Be named and described accurately |
| Where it shows up | Search results | Featured answers, AI summaries, voice | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot, Google AI |
| What wins | Relevance, links, technical health | Concise, well-structured answers | Clear positioning, consistent facts, third-party confirmation |
| How to measure | Rankings and organic traffic | Answer placements | Share of answer across a fixed prompt set |
What's different about GEO for software companies
- Category framing comes first. AI explains a category before it recommends vendors. If your point of view on the category isn't published anywhere, the explanation follows your competitors' framing, and the shortlist follows the explanation.
- Third-party sources carry weight. Review sites, analyst coverage, community discussions, and integration partners' pages often shape AI answers more than your own homepage.
- Docs are marketing now. Technical buyers ask detailed questions, and AI often answers from documentation. Clear, crawlable docs help you get cited.
- Comparisons are inevitable. Buyers ask "X vs Y" and "alternatives to X." If you don't publish fair, specific comparison content, AI assembles the comparison from whatever it can find.
Where to focus first
- Measure. Run 30 to 50 prompts your buyers actually use across the major assistants and record who gets named.
- Fix the positioning layer. Make sure your homepage and product pages state plainly what you are, who it's for, and what makes you different.
- Publish answers. Create pages that answer the category, comparison, and use-case questions buyers ask, in an answer-first structure.
- Make it readable. Check that AI crawlers can reach your site and docs, and that key facts are in text, not images or gated PDFs.
- Strengthen confirmation. Update review site profiles, partner listings, and analyst briefings so outside sources match your story.