| Approach | Main question | Observable measures |
|---|---|---|
| SEO | Can customers discover the right page? | Indexing, impressions and clicks |
| AEO | Does the content answer the question clearly? | Answer completeness and enquiry quality |
| GEO | How do generated answers describe and cite the brand? | Sampled mentions, citations and recommendations |
Begin with customer intent
A customer might search for a Hong Kong web design company or ask whether SEO or ads should come first for an existing website. The first needs service scope and contact information; the second needs conditions, comparisons and practical steps.
Group synonyms and the same buying need on one primary page. Use guides for deeper questions rather than creating near-duplicate pages for each phrase.
SEO: make useful information discoverable
Keep the site public and crawlable, with meaningful titles, headings, internal links and canonical URLs. Pair Chinese and English pages with correct language signals and reciprocal links.
Search Console reports impressions, clicks and indexing information. Its query rows are not a complete list of market demand, so a missing query does not prove that no demand exists.
AEO: answer the question directly
State the answer first, then explain conditions, steps and examples. A pricing answer should describe cost factors rather than invent a starting price. Comparisons should use consistent criteria and explain when each approach fits.
Answers must help readers and make sense independently. An FAQ is a reading format; adding markup does not guarantee a special search display or an AI recommendation.
GEO: make facts clear and verifiable
Explain the brand, audience, deliverables, boundaries and contact details. Sources, example labels and actual review dates help readers and search systems assess the information.
Google says AI Overviews and AI Mode use SEO fundamentals, without additional special markup. OpenAI documents separate controls for search discovery with OAI-SearchBot and model training with GPTBot.
Build one practical content system
Start with priority service pages: audience, problem, deliverables, preparation and collaboration. Add useful real questions and connect them to relevant guides.
Check platform features against official sources. Distinguish your experience, tests and demonstrations. Use only verified brand relationships, reviews and delivery claims.
Measure discovery, citations and enquiries separately
Compare complete periods for search impressions, clicks and useful enquiries. For AI visibility, keep a fixed prompt, platform, language and sampling method. Record whether the brand is mentioned, cited or recommended as separate observations.
One appearance or absence is only one observation. Referral traffic captures only part of AI exposure because people may later search for the brand or contact it directly. A sample citation rate is not a traffic or revenue forecast.