Welcome to Episode 59 of The GEO Show, the daily podcast on Generative Engine Optimization: how brands earn visibility, mentions and citations inside AI answers.
In this episode, Paris Childress, founder of Hop AI and co-founder of GEOforge, debates David Quaid of Primary Position on one question: are SEO and GEO the same thing? Recorded on The Edward Show with host Edward Sturm (E1196), just after brightonSEO, and republished here with thanks. Six arguments, no agreement, plenty of heat.
In this episode:
🏋️ Same gym, different sport
Paris argues that powerlifting and bodybuilding train the same way but win on different scores. SEO and GEO share tactics, but SEO is scored on traffic and GEO on share of voice.
📊 Two different dashboards
An SEO report shows organic traffic. A GEO report shows how often your brand is mentioned or cited versus competitors, with no click in sight.
🔗 Brand mentions vs links
Paris says GEO chases brand mentions on reputable third-party sites, links or not. David says every one of those sites is only there because it does SEO.
⭐ G2, Capterra and listicles
Why review sites and listicles keep showing up in AI answers, and whether that is authority or just retrievability.
💰 ROI without a click
Paris: SEO kept its budget because clicks made ROI measurable, and GEO has no click. David: attribution was broken long before LLMs.
🛠️ David's toolkit
Bing Webmaster Tools, Microsoft Clarity prompt reports and exact match domains, and why David thinks LLMs are easy to game.
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💬 Question: Is GEO a new discipline, or SEO with a new dashboard?