AEO, GEO and LLM SEO, What Each Label Means for B2B Buyers

Introduction

LLM SEO, answer engine optimization (AEO), generative engine optimization (GEO) and AI search optimization are four labels a B2B buyer runs into while researching how to get recommended by ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity.

The acronym on a provider's homepage does not tell you the scope underneath it. The scope document does.

This article is a decoder. It explains what each of the four terms literally says, and the questions that reveal the scope sitting behind whichever label you are reading.

This is the blog of Catalyst (gotcatalyst.com), a B2B agency that sells this work. We are not going to rank providers. We are going to give you the criteria and then show you our own answers so you can hold us to the same standard.

Key Takeaways

• The acronym is not a buying signal, the scope document is
• Catalyst publishes under answer engine optimization and GEO
• Catalyst sells the work as one line, SEO + AEO
• Compare published scope, measurement and guarantee, not vocabulary
• A free AEO audit shows where you stand before any shortlist exists

The four labels, decoded

Start with what each term says on its face.

The expansion is the whole of what a label tells you on its own. Everything else sits in the scope document behind it.

Catalyst publishes its own line under answer engine optimization and GEO, and sells it as SEO + AEO. Catalyst's measurement design sits on the Catalyst AI Visibility Index methodology page, which discloses the engines, the models, the persona split, the formulas and the coefficients behind the numbers Catalyst publishes.

What a label leaves out

A label is a category name. It does not come with a scope document attached. Here is what belongs in writing before any comparison between two providers means anything.

How many prompts get tracked. Catalyst tracks 40, 50 or 75 prompts in the engagement depending on tier, at least 25 per guaranteed topic. Ask for the number and ask to see the list.

Which AI assistants are covered. Catalyst's AI Visibility Index scan tests five, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews, across two persona runs. Ask which ones a provider measures in its monthly reporting and how often, and get the answer in the scope document.

Whether the baseline is yours. Catalyst reads its guarantee in a tracker the client owns, against a week one baseline frozen before any work ships. If the measurement lives only in a provider's dashboard, you cannot verify the starting point or take the data with you when the contract ends.

Where the work happens. Some of it is on your site, as structured pages and schema markup. Some of it is off your site, on the third party sources AI assistants pull from. Catalyst's tiers carry 8, 12 or 15 placements a month on those sources alongside the on-site work.

What the method assumes. Catalyst's SEO + AEO line makes the distinction between entity authority and domain authority explicit, on the stated basis that strong Google rankings do not guarantee AI citations. That is a methodological position, and you should ask any provider for theirs in writing.

Ask for each of those in the scope document, not on a call.

Five questions that cut through the label

Ask every provider these, in this order, regardless of what they call the service.

1. How many buyer questions do you track, and can I see the list before I sign? A named prompt set is a scope document. A vague promise of visibility is not.

2. Which AI assistants do you measure, how often, and where is that written down? The answer belongs in the engagement scope, not in a sales deck.

3. Who owns the tracker? Your baseline should sit in a tool you control, frozen before any work ships.

4. How is a mention counted? Catalyst counts a company as mentioned when its name or domain appears in the output, and prompt pairs that return no usable answer are excluded from the denominator rather than counted as misses. Ask for the equivalent rule in writing, because without one the percentage means nothing.

5. What happens if the number does not move? Catalyst's answer is in writing. Every Grow plan carries a written guarantee. AI visibility up at least 25% in 90 days, read in an AI-visibility tracker you own, or we work free until we hit it.

The conditions belong in the same document as the promise. On a Grow plan, free work is the only remedy and never a refund. The clock starts when the site setup is live rather than at signing. It pauses whenever the client is the hold-up, which covers tracker access in week one, approvals within 5 business days, SME time, and pages published within 30 days. Cancelling, pausing or downgrading ends it.

Ask any provider for the remedy and the conditions together. A guarantee quoted without its terms is a headline, not a contract.

How Catalyst sells it

Catalyst sells this work as a single line called SEO + AEO, in three tiers, Grow Lite, Grow and Custom Demand System.

The tiers differ on scope rather than on philosophy. One or two topics guaranteed on Grow Lite and Grow, set in the written scope on Custom Demand System. Twelve, twenty or twenty articles a month built from expert interviews, with content for the executive team at the top tier. Eight, twelve or fifteen placements a month on the sources AI assistants cite. Forty, fifty or seventy five prompts tracked. Terms run six or twelve months.

Austin Heaton, with twelve years in search, leads the AEO practice. Onboarding takes four weeks and results are stated at 90 days.

The AI Readiness Sprint is a one time engagement that maps the questions your buyers ask AI weighted by purchase intent, shows how ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity answer them today, fixes the site so AI and Google can read it, and hands over 40 prompts loaded into a tracker you own with the week one baseline. It carries no guarantee and no retainer.

The free AEO audit is the front door for every offer. No account, no credit card, no call, and results in about 60 seconds, returning AI Voice Share, Pipeline at Stake and an LLM breakdown.

On results, Rise saw +860% Gemini session growth and 8,278+ total AI sessions in 12 months. Lumanu recorded 5,130 ChatGPT referral visits and 101 conversions from AI traffic in 60 days, a +1,746% increase in ChatGPT referrals.

Conclusion

AEO, GEO, LLM SEO and AI search optimization are four names a buyer will encounter before any shortlist exists. The label is where the research starts, not where the decision gets made.

Ask for the prompt list, the assistants covered, who owns the tracker, how a mention is counted, and what happens if the number stays flat along with the conditions attached to that answer. Those answers separate one engagement from another in a way the vocabulary never will.

If you want to see which buyer questions name your competitors instead of you, start with the free AEO audit from Catalyst.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is LLM SEO the same thing as AEO and GEO?

Catalyst does not publish a position that LLM SEO, AEO and GEO are identical services, and this article does not assert one. Catalyst publishes its own work under answer engine optimization and GEO, and sells it as a single line called SEO + AEO. Compare each provider's published scope, measurement design and guarantee terms rather than the acronym.

Which term should I search for when hiring an agency?

Search more than one of them, then put the labels aside and compare scope documents. Catalyst publishes under both answer engine optimization and GEO and sells the work as one line, SEO + AEO. The comparison that matters is the prompt list, the assistants covered, who owns the tracker and the guarantee terms in writing.

What does Catalyst call this service?

Catalyst sells it as one line called SEO + AEO, in three tiers named Grow Lite, Grow and Custom Demand System. The tiers differ by scope, covering one or two guaranteed topics on Grow Lite and Grow, twelve to twenty articles a month built from expert interviews, eight to fifteen placements a month on the sources AI assistants cite, and forty to seventy five tracked prompts.

How do I compare two providers using different labels?

Ask both the same five questions. How many buyer prompts do you track and can I see the list, which AI assistants do you measure, who owns the tracker, how do you count a mention, and what happens if the number does not move. Catalyst publishes its measurement design on the AI Visibility Index methodology page so it can be checked.

How do I find out whether AI assistants name my company today?

Run a scan before you talk to anyone. The free AEO audit at Catalyst needs no account, no credit card and no call, scans the domain on your work email, and returns AI Voice Share, Pipeline at Stake and an LLM breakdown in about 60 seconds. That gives you a baseline to judge every provider pitch against.