If someone recently pitched you a new marketing service with the words “AEO” or “GEO” in it, you probably felt a familiar pit in your stomach. The same one you felt the first time you realized you needed a website. Or a Google Business Profile. Or an “SEO strategy.” I know that feeling. I have been in this field long enough to recognize when someone is selling you fear dressed up in an acronym. And I need to tell you what I just found — because Google themselves published documentation in May 2026 that answers this question directly, and it is not what the agencies want you to see.
Someone Just Pitched You a New Acronym
Here is the scenario: you are either sitting in your inbox looking at an email from a marketing agency, or you just got off a discovery call, and somewhere in that conversation, someone said one of these:
- “You need Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) to show up in AI search results.”
- “Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the future — without it, your practice will disappear.”
- “We offer a specialized AI search optimization package on top of your regular SEO.”
And it felt urgent. Like the ground was shifting under your practice and you were about to be left behind. Like everyone else already knew about this and you were the last one to hear about it because — once again — none of this was in your training.
That urgency was manufactured. I want to show you why.
What AEO and GEO Actually Mean (In Plain English)
Let me define these terms without the jargon:
- AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) means making your website content show up when AI tools generate direct answers to questions. Think of when someone asks Google a question and an AI-written summary appears at the top of the page instead of the usual list of links.
- GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) means the same thing. Different acronym, same concept — getting your content cited or referenced by AI-powered search tools like Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, or Perplexity.
Now here is the part that changes everything:
Google published official documentation on May 15, 2026 that directly addresses both of these terms. In a highlighted callout box on their developer documentation page, they wrote:
“AEO stands for ‘answer engine optimization’ and GEO for ‘generative engine optimization.’ These are both terms you may see used to describe work specifically focused on improving visibility in AI search experiences. From Google Search’s perspective, optimizing for generative AI search is optimizing for the search experience, and thus still SEO.”
If someone is charging you extra for ‘AEO’ or ‘GEO’ on top of your SEO work, they are charging you twice for the same thing. Google just said so.
Google Search Central →Read that last line again: “Thus still SEO.”
Three words from Google that end the entire debate. AEO is SEO. GEO is SEO. They are not separate services. They are not new disciplines. They are marketing terms for work that a competent SEO provider should already be doing.
And here is something else worth noticing: Google filed this documentation under “SEO fundamentals” in their site navigation. Not under a separate “AI” category. Not under “AEO.” Not under “GEO.” Under SEO. Because that is what it is.
How AI Search Actually Works (It Is Simpler Than They Told You)
Here is the part that agencies leave out when they pitch you: AI search does not use a separate, secret system. It uses the same Google.
When Google’s AI features (like AI Overviews or AI Mode) generate an answer to someone’s question, two things happen:
- Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) A technical method where AI pulls information from an existing database (in this case, Google’s Search index) rather than generating answers from memory alone. It means the AI is reading the same websites that show up in regular Google search. That is a technical term, but what it means is simple — the AI pulls information from Google’s existing list of websites (called a “Search index” — think of it as Google’s master catalog of every website it knows about). This is the same catalog that regular Google search uses. If your website shows up in a normal Google search, the AI can already find it too. There is no separate, secret AI catalog you need to pay someone to get into.
- Query fan-out: When someone asks AI a question, the AI does not just search once — it breaks the question into several smaller related questions and searches Google’s catalog for each one. More searches of the same catalog. Not a different catalog.
Think of it this way: regular Google search and AI search are reading from the same library. There is no secret back room. If your book is on the shelf, both can find it.
Google Search Central →This means the work you do to show up in regular Google search — having a well-built website, writing helpful content about your specialties, maintaining your Google Business Profile, getting genuine reviews — is the same work that helps you show up in AI-generated answers. Not different work. Not additional work. The same work.
Five Things Google Says You Do Not Need to Do
Google did something unusual in their documentation: they included an entire section called “Mythbusting generative AI search: what you don’t need to do.” They specifically listed tactics that agencies commonly sell as “AI optimization” and said they do not work:
This is Google’s own list of things you can skip. If an agency includes any of these in their proposal, they are either uninformed or hoping you will not check.
Google Search Central →What You Should Actually Focus On Instead
If AEO and GEO are just SEO, what should you actually be doing? Google’s guidance on this is refreshingly simple:
- Create content that only you can write. Google specifically says to prioritize “unique point of view” and “non-commodity content.” For therapists, this means writing about your actual clinical experience, your specific approach to treatment, the real questions your clients ask — not generic “5 Tips for Managing Anxiety” posts that could come from any practice. If you want to understand how Google evaluates whether content is trustworthy, read about E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust) and what it means for your practice.
- Maintain a clean, readable website. A site that loads quickly, is easy to navigate on a phone, and has clear headings and organized pages. These are standard SEO practices that have been important since long before AI search existed. If you have a web developer, they should already be handling this.
- Keep your Google Business Profile complete and current. Your Google Business Profile (the box that shows up when someone searches your practice name — with your address, phone number, hours, and reviews) is one of the most important assets you have. AI search pulls heavily from it. And it is free.
- Build your reviews — ethically. Reviews matter for both regular search and AI search because they signal to Google that real people trust you. But I know the word “reviews” makes most therapists tense up, and for good reason — your licensing ethics codes (like APA Standard 5.05) have specific rules about who you can and cannot ask, and HIPAA limits how you can respond. The good news: there are ethical, low-pressure ways to build reviews without crossing any lines. I wrote an entire guide on how to handle Google reviews as a therapist — including the actual ethics code language, HIPAA-safe response templates, and exactly when it is and is not appropriate to ask.
- Be patient. There is no shortcut. Google rewards consistent, helpful, trustworthy content over time. If someone promises instant results, they are either not being honest or using risky tactics that could actually get your site pushed down in search results instead of up.
To understand how AI search specifically affects therapy practices and what the real traffic impact looks like, see How AI Search Is Changing How Clients Find Therapists.
Red Flags in a Marketing Pitch
Google’s own “Do you need an SEO?” page includes direct warnings that apply here:
Nobody — not the best agency in the world — can promise you a specific ranking on Google. Google says so. If someone promises you will show up in AI results, apply the same rule.
Google Search Central →“No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.” Beware of SEOs who claim to guarantee rankings, allege a “special relationship” with Google, or advertise a “priority submit.” If this applies to regular search rankings, it absolutely applies to AI-generated answers — which are even less predictable.
Google literally gets these spam emails too. They compare them to Nigerian prince scams. If you are getting cold emails from agencies you have never heard of, this is exactly what Google is talking about.
Google Search Central →“Be wary of SEO firms and web consultants or agencies that email you out of the blue.” Google shared that they receive these same spam emails — and compared them to “burn fat at night” diet pills and “requests to help transfer funds from deposed dictators.” That is Google telling you, in their own words, that unsolicited marketing pitches are spam.
How to Have the Conversation (Without It Being a Confrontation)
Here are some ways to bring it up that feel more like a conversation than a confrontation:
- “I came across something on Google’s website that said AEO and GEO are really just part of regular SEO. Can you help me understand how what you’re offering is different from that?”
- “I was reading up on this and Google seems to say that things like special AI files and content chunking don’t actually help. I just want to make sure I understand what’s included in your proposal and why.”
- “If this AI optimization work is part of SEO, would it make more sense for it to be included in what I’m already paying for? I just want to make sure I’m not paying for the same work twice.”
- “I’d feel a lot more comfortable if I could talk to a couple of other therapists you’ve worked with before I move forward. And could you send me a list of exactly what you’d be doing each month?” (If you want a full list of what to look for in a contract, we put together a contract evaluation checklist.)
Notice what these questions do: they are curious, not accusatory. They give the agency a chance to explain themselves. A legitimate agency will have clear, specific answers. An agency that gets defensive, vague, or pressures you to “decide now” is telling you everything you need to know.
The Bottom Line
The marketing industry creates new acronyms at a pace that benefits the people selling services, not the people buying them. AEO, GEO, AIO, LLMO — every time a new term emerges, it creates an information gap, and information gaps are profitable. Someone gets to say “you need this new thing,” charge for it, and by the time you figure out it was the same thing as the old thing, you have already paid.
Google just closed this particular information gap. They published it in plain language on their developer documentation site: AEO and GEO are SEO. The AI search features use the same Search index. The same ranking signals. The same quality standards.
You do not need to buy a new service. You need to invest in what actually works — good SEO — and protect yourself from the people who profit from your confusion.