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Callum
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AEO & GEO
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A customer might find your business through a local search, a specialist service page or an AI-assisted comparison. Those routes can overlap, but they do not all call for the same content or measure success in the same way.
For an Australian business choosing where to invest, the useful starting point is the customer’s decision. What are they trying to arrange or understand? Does location affect the choice? What would they need to see before contacting you? Answer those questions first, then decide how SEO, AEO and GEO fit into a coherent plan.
Discuss your search strategy
What SEO, AEO and GEO actually mean
SEO, or search engine optimisation, improves how your website can be discovered and understood through organic search. That can involve technical foundations, page structure, useful content and the experience after someone arrives.
AEO means answer engine optimisation. GEO means generative engine optimisation. The terms overlap and are commonly used for work focused on how a business is represented in answer-based and generative search experiences.
The distinction matters most in the questions you investigate and the evidence you report. A search impression, an AI mention, a cited source and an enquiry are different observations. A good plan can connect the work while keeping those measures clear. Creato’s AEO and GEO approach explains how question research, content and visibility reviews fit together.
Compare the work behind SEO, AEO and GEO
When comparing proposals, use the comparison below to identify the actual job. These are common areas of work, not standard package inclusions. AEO and GEO overlap, and providers use the terms differently.
Where SEO and AI search work can overlap
Access and discovery
SEO scope may include
Checking indexing, internal links and technical barriers on important pages.
An AEO or GEO scope may add
Checking access for named AI search products and reviewing their relevant publishing controls.
Service information
SEO scope may include
Explaining the offer, coverage, process and buyer questions on useful pages.
An AEO or GEO scope may add
Investigating specific omissions or errors found in sampled AI answers, then improving the source information.
Evidence
SEO scope may include
Publishing approved project detail and maintaining accurate business information.
An AEO or GEO scope may add
Checking which sources support or contradict important claims in those answers.
Measurement
SEO scope may include
Search impressions, clicks, useful visits and qualified enquiries.
An AEO or GEO scope may add
A repeatable question sample, with mentions, linked citations and factual accuracy recorded separately.
A service-page rewrite may support both objectives. That does not make it two separate deliverables. Ask which work is already covered, what genuinely changes and who owns it.
Start with the service and the customer
Write down the work you want more of and who is likely to buy it. Be specific enough to distinguish a suitable enquiry from a general expression of interest. A clinic appointment, an architecture brief and a specialist supplier enquiry each require different information.
Then list the questions that come before the enquiry. These may concern suitability, process, location, evidence or what a customer needs to prepare. Your sales and service teams are useful sources because they hear where people become uncertain.
This exercise helps choose priorities. A service with fewer searches can still matter when it closely matches the work your business wants and can deliver.
When local search deserves the focus
Local information is important when proximity or on-site delivery changes the choice. A prospective customer may need to know where an appointment takes place, whether you cover their suburb or which services a particular location offers.
Make those facts clear on the website. Distinguish a staffed office from an area you travel to and from a service delivered remotely. For eligible businesses, Google Business Profile information should reflect the real operation; Google’s business representation guidelines set out the requirements.
The content should help someone make a practical decision. A location label alone does not explain availability, access or whether the service suits their needs.
When national or specialist search matters more
Some customers choose primarily on capability. A Perth consultancy may support a project elsewhere in Australia. An Adelaide technology business may serve buyers who search for a problem before they know the product category. A Canberra specialist may need to explain expertise without naming confidential clients.
In these situations, strong service and application content can be more useful than a large set of city pages. Explain the problem addressed, the role your business plays and the evidence a buyer can inspect.
Location can still matter for delivery and working arrangements. State it accurately, while giving the actual capability enough space to be understood.
For an Australia-wide service brief, explore our SEO for businesses across Australia and AEO and GEO services across Australia.
Choose city pages because they help the reader
A separate city page needs a useful reason to exist. That might be a genuine location, different service arrangements, relevant approved work or a distinct customer journey. The reader should learn something that helps them assess the business.
Before adding one, ask: What is different here? What can we substantiate? Would the page still be useful if the city name were removed? If there is little to say, a clear coverage section on a strong service page may be the better structure.
Google’s spam policies identify doorway abuse, including pages targeting similar location queries that funnel users towards the same destination. The practical response is to build a coherent website with meaningful pages, rather than create variations whose only purpose is another search target.
Use AI visibility research to find information gaps
An AI-assisted question can combine several requirements: a service, location, specialism and type of customer. That makes it a useful research prompt. Does your website explain those details well enough for a reader to check a comparison?
Agree a focused sample of questions that reflects genuine customer needs. Record the platform, wording, date and relevant context, then distinguish business mentions from linked citations. Repeat the checks consistently enough to understand changes.
Treat the findings as a sample, with limits. One favourable answer does not establish a permanent recommendation, and a missing mention does not reveal exactly why the system selected other information.
Keep the website foundations working together
For Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode, Google Search Central says established SEO practices remain relevant and no special AI markup is required. Important information should be available in readable text, connected through useful internal links, and supported by accurate structured data where appropriate.
That is a useful reason to review the website as a whole. A detailed answer is less helpful when it sits on an isolated page, conflicts with the main service description or leaves the reader unsure how to contact the business. Technical access, content and the customer journey should reinforce each other.
Connect claims with evidence people can inspect
Useful evidence is specific and accurately described. A project story can explain the brief, your role and the work completed. A team page can show verified expertise. Service information can state important boundaries instead of relying on broad claims about quality.
Creato’s Michael Bell Architects project is an example of presenting a real brand and website engagement. A case study should retain its own context; it is not automatically proof of results in another city or for another service.
Where client work is confidential, publish only authorised material. Clear capability explanations and verified credentials can still be useful. There is no need to fill an evidence gap with an invented anonymous result.
Measure progress at the right level
A report should begin with the work completed and the question it was intended to address. Then consider the evidence: relevant search visits, the pages people use, available enquiry actions and feedback about customer fit.
For AI-assisted discovery, keep mentions, citations and identifiable referral traffic separate. Some people may discover you in one place and contact you through another, so attribution will be incomplete. A longer buying process adds further uncertainty.
Your team’s feedback matters. Are people asking about the services you want to grow? Do they understand the coverage and scope? Those observations help interpret the numbers and choose the next improvements without treating every increase in traffic as a business outcome.
Choose a practical first scope
Work through these three scenarios in order. Stop at the first unresolved problem. The examples are illustrative, not Creato packages or client results.
Choose the first unresolved problem, not a second label for work already included in your agreement.
1. Important pages cannot be found or used reliably
A local service business has a useful website, but its intended public service page is unintentionally excluded from search or the mobile enquiry form fails.
Pay for first: a defined diagnosis and repair of the affected pages. Ask for the URLs, the fault found, the change made and evidence of the retest. Check whether that repair already belongs in your current website or SEO agreement.
Defer: a separate AI content programme while a confirmed access or enquiry problem remains unresolved. A repaired page is a verifiable deliverable; indexing and recommendations are not guaranteed.
2. The website works, but buyers cannot check whether you fit
An Australia-wide specialist can be found, yet its pages do not explain who it serves, what is excluded or whether work is delivered remotely.
Pay for first: a focused service-page and evidence improvement. Supply approved facts and examples, then agree which existing page should answer each question. This may already be part of an SEO content scope.
Defer: more articles or city pages that repeat the same incomplete offer. Use our practical AI search implementation brief to turn missing information into assigned tasks.
3. The foundations are sound and you have a specific AI search question
An established business wants to know whether AI answers accurately describe its specialist service and cite relevant evidence.
Pay for first: a focused AEO or GEO review. Agree the customer questions, platforms, location context, baseline, proposed changes and review point. The output should show what was observed, what was changed and what remains uncertain.
Continue only when: the review identifies worthwhile work to implement or monitor. One missing mention is a reason to investigate, not proof that another retainer is needed.
Check for duplicate work before approving a second fee
Put both proposals side by side and ask the providers to complete this line for every shared task:
Deliverable and URL → already included or additional → responsible person → acceptance evidence → fee or allowance.
For example, if your SEO scope already includes rewriting a service page, an AI search proposal should identify the additional research, changes or testing it will provide. It should not quietly charge again for the same rewrite. Equally, do not assume new monitoring is included in an older agreement: confirm it in writing.
Ask what happens after the initial work is delivered. Ongoing fees should have ongoing tasks, a review schedule and a clear way to assess their usefulness, rather than simply renewing the acronym.
Build one clearer account of your business
The strongest starting point is a website that accurately explains who you help, what you offer and why someone should consider you. Local SEO, specialist search and AI visibility can then support that same account in different ways.
Creato is Sydney-based and works remotely with businesses across Australia. If you want to identify the most useful search priorities for your website, tell us about your services and goals. We can discuss the starting point and a suitable scope.
Explore search services by location
Creato is Sydney-based and works remotely with businesses across Australia. Choose a location to explore the search service that fits your brief. These are service-area pages, not a list of local offices.
Prefer a national starting point? Explore SEO Australia or AEO & GEO Australia.
