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For Google Search, optimizing for AI search (AEO, GEO) is still SEO

For Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, AEO is still SEO. Google's own guide, covered by Search Engine Journal on May 15, 2026, files AEO and GEO under SEO.

By Janie Nguyen · · 6 min read

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The work stays the same, the way you read the results changes, and ChatGPT needs one separate check.

Google's answer: for AI Overviews and AI Mode, it is still SEO

Google's guide to optimizing for generative AI features in Search settles the naming question in one line: "From Google Search's perspective, optimizing for generative AI search is optimizing for the search experience, and thus still SEO."

Google's guide answers "What about AEO and GEO?" by calling it still SEO, on Google Search Central, captured November 2026

The AEO and GEO note in Google's guide to generative AI features, on Google Search Central, captured November 2026.

The entry rules are the ones you already know. A page must be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet, and your site must be included in Search generative AI features in Search Console. Meeting them does not guarantee a page will show, and for stores the extra lever Google names is a Merchant Center product feed, which helps products appear in AI answers and other Google results.

Meet Google's search rules and the Search Console setting, and your product pages are eligible for AI answers too.

What the AEO pitch sells that Google says you can skip

Most of what gets sold as AEO is on Google's list of things to ignore for Google Search:

  • llms.txt and other "special" AI files or markup, which Google Search does not use
  • chunking pages into small pieces for AI
  • rewriting content just for AI systems
  • chasing inauthentic mentions
  • special schema for AI (structured data still helps with rich results)

Field data on llms.txt points the same way. Common Crawl looked at 584,107 files and found 68% came from a plugin or template and 22% had no links, Search Engine Journal reported on September 8, 2026, and Ahrefs data in the same report found 97% got no requests. Google also says no third-party tool has access to its internal ranking or AI systems.

Does ChatGPT work the same way?

Google's guide does not cover it, and Search Engine Journal notes that ChatGPT and Perplexity may weigh signals differently. OpenAI's crawler page gives one concrete rule: sites that block OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers. GPTBot, used for model training, is a separate setting, so you can block training and still allow search.

Keep that work in proportion.

Marie Haynes analyzed 100 websites and 12 months of GA4 data, MarTech reported on October 22, 2026. ChatGPT sent 0.62% as many sessions as Google organic, and Google organic drove 27 times as many conversions as all LLMs combined.

Why your new AI report has no clicks column

Search Console's Generative AI performance report has one metric: impressions. It counts how often links to your site were shown in AI Overviews or AI Mode, and Google rolled it out to all websites as of August 31, 2026. Clicks from those features stay in the regular Performance report under the Web search type, according to Google, blended into the totals.

Search Console Help lists AI Overviews and AI Mode under impressions only, on Search Console Help, captured November 2026

What the Generative AI performance report includes, on Search Console Help, captured November 2026.

GA4 now has an AI Assistant channel for referrers such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude, Search Engine Journal reported on May 14, 2026. Visits without a referrer still land in Direct.

Being seen more can come with fewer clicks.

For "college backpacks" in the US, @aleyda shared Similarweb estimates of searches up 20% and organic clicks down about 6% year over year, with an AI Overview now on top. It is one query, and the numbers are estimates.

What to check before you pay for AEO

  1. Open the Search generative AI setting in Search Console and confirm your site is included. Skip this if Google organic brings you little traffic.
  2. For your 5 best-selling product pages, put the last 3 months of AI impressions and Web clicks next to revenue and branded searches for the same pages, before you rewrite anything. Organic traffic can fall while revenue holds, as Dan Taylor, head of technical SEO at SALT.agency, writes in MarTech.
  3. Check whether your robots.txt blocks OAI-SearchBot. Skip this if you do not want your store in ChatGPT search.

The scoreboard now counts how often you are seen, and revenue per page shows whether that pays.

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