How SEO and GEO fit together
SEO is the foundation; GEO is the upgrade layered on top once that foundation is in place, typically a few months in. Google still matches user intent with the most appropriate format — local searches trigger the map pack, commercial queries show ads, and informational queries increasingly surface AI-generated answers. A firm needs to show up across all of them, not just one.
Most firms only work the traditional search side of this, and not always well. GEO is the largely uncontested second front door — the businesses building that footprint on purpose now are the ones AI systems will keep citing later.