SEO, AEO and GEO are three ways of getting the same business found. SEO earns a place in Google's ranked results. AEO makes your content the direct answer in snippets and voice replies. GEO shapes what AI assistants say when someone asks them for a recommendation. Indian buyers now use all three, often in the same week.
What changed in Indian search?
Google brought AI Overviews to India in August 2024, in English and Hindi, and launched AI Mode here in June 2025. Google's search team has also said that India is its largest user base for voice and visual search worldwide. More questions now end in a single summarised answer instead of a page of links.
What is SEO, and does it still matter?
Search engine optimisation earns your pages higher unpaid positions on Google. It rests on a site Google can crawl, content that matches how people search and links from trusted sites. It still matters because AI Overviews and assistants lean heavily on pages that already rank.
What is AEO?
Answer engine optimisation structures content so it can be lifted as the answer itself: a featured snippet, a People Also Ask entry or a spoken reply. The craft is a short, self-contained answer directly under a question-style heading, supported by FAQ schema.
What is GEO?
Generative engine optimisation influences what ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude say about your category. These models draw on many sources, so reviews, directories, forum threads and press coverage shape whether you get named, not just your own website.
Where should an Indian business start?
- Fix crawl, speed and indexation issues first, because every surface depends on them.
- Rewrite your ten most important commercial pages answer-first.
- Ask ChatGPT and Gemini 30 real buyer questions and note who gets named.
- Make your business name, address and services identical everywhere they appear online.
