Different targets, mostly the same underlying work.
SEO targets ranking in traditional search results; AI-search optimization targets being accurately understood and referenced by AI-generated answers. They overlap heavily in the underlying work — genuine expertise, clear structure, accurate data — but they optimize for different outcomes, and it's worth knowing which one you're actually solving for on a given page.
A page with real topical depth, a direct answer near the top, and accurate schema markup tends to perform well by both measures at once. The practical takeaway isn't to pick one — it's that the fundamentals (clarity, accuracy, structure) serve both, so building to that combined standard is usually more efficient than treating them as two separate projects. See what GEO actually means for the specific terminology, or GEO, SEO & AI-search strategy for the fuller picture.
No one can guarantee a specific ranking or that an AI system will cite a page — anyone claiming otherwise isn't being straight about how either system actually works. What's realistic is building the structural foundation that gives genuinely useful, well-organized content its best shot at both.
The AgingParentsHome.com case study shows both disciplines working together — FAQ structured data built from the same real Q&A content shown on the page (serving AI-search optimization), alongside a deliberate internal-linking graph and citations to established sources (serving traditional SEO). Neither was treated as a separate project from the other.