SEO
Search engine optimization helps a page become eligible, understandable and competitive in traditional search. It includes crawlability, indexing, technical quality, useful content, internal links and authority. That foundation still matters because AI search systems retrieve information from the web.
AEO and GEO
Answer engine optimization and generative engine optimization focus on whether a company, person, product or claim appears accurately in an AI-generated answer. In practice, the terms overlap.
The work includes explicit entity information, direct answers, dedicated pages, structured data that matches visible content, original evidence, clear authorship and third-party corroboration. I look for clear, accurate information that helps the customer make a decision. Being mentioned is useful only if the answer represents the business correctly. These practices support that goal; they do not guarantee a mention, citation or ranking.
ACO
I use Agentic Commerce Optimization, or ACO, as a working term for product-level readiness for AI shopping systems and agents. Terminology varies across the industry; ACO is not a universal platform requirement or certification. A product must be identifiable, comparable, trustworthy and actionable.
That requires clean product identity, variants, attributes, images, price, availability, delivery, returns, reviews, policy clarity and reliable connections between the canonical product and each seller offer. Transaction readiness adds consent, payment, fraud, auditability and exception handling.
How the disciplines work together
I treat these as overlapping areas of work. SEO supports discovery and retrieval. AEO and GEO focus attention on how the company or product is represented in answers. ACO brings the product information and buying handoff into that same discussion.
Poor technical access can limit retrieval. Missing or conflicting evidence can make answers less reliable. Confusing product records can make comparison and buying harder. None of these factors, on its own, predicts every AI result.
What to do first
My starting point is access and accurate product information. Confirm that approved systems can reach the content, then audit the highest-value products and buyer questions. Fix inconsistent facts and policies before publishing more marketing copy.
Make your offer easy for a customer, and an assistant, to understand and act on.
Verification
Linked sources
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About the author
Jeff Douglas
I bring 20+ years of ecommerce leadership experience, including revenue and budgeting responsibilities, customer experience and digital marketing leadership, Salesforce Commerce Cloud modernization and high-consideration retail. I advise businesses on customer experience, growth priorities, technology and AI-driven discovery.
Experience