SEO Is Not Dead: It’s Becoming AEO and GEO
By Michael Collins, Founder and Managing Director, TravelMedia.ie
At TravelMedia.ie, we have been involved in SEO, client content, website optimisation and technical SEO for many years. For a long time, the fundamentals have remained broadly consistent: create useful content, structure it properly, understand what your audience is searching for, and make sure your website is technically sound enough to be found, read and ranked.
More recently, though, I have been asked on more than one occasion: is SEO still relevant?
My answer is yes. In fact, I believe SEO is still incredibly relevant. But it is evolving.
The way people search is changing. Search is no longer just about typing a query into Google and scrolling through a list of links. Increasingly, people are finding answers through AI-generated summaries, featured snippets, voice search, Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and other answer-led platforms.
This is where newer terms such as Generative Engine Optimization, or GEO, and Answer Engine Optimization, or AEO, come into the conversation.
In simple terms, AEO is about helping search engines and answer engines understand your content well enough to use it as a direct answer. That might mean appearing in a featured snippet, a voice search result, or a short AI-generated answer.
GEO goes a step further. It is about how brands can become visible, trusted and potentially referenced within generative AI platforms and large language models. In other words, it is not just about being ranked. It is about being recognised as a reliable source of information.
For travel brands, this is particularly important. Travel planning is naturally built around questions. People want to know where to go, when to travel, how to get there, what is new, what is safe, what suits families, couples, groups, luxury travellers or adventure seekers. These are exactly the types of questions that AI-driven search tools are increasingly being used to answer.
At TravelMedia.ie, we are actively exploring this space and investing time in understanding how GEO and AEO will affect travel marketing, PR, content strategy, SEO and digital visibility. It is already influencing how we think about website content, media coverage, FAQs, destination storytelling and the overall digital footprint of the brands we work with.
One early observation stands out. The clients who are best placed to benefit from GEO and AEO are often those who already have strong SEO foundations.
That is an important point. GEO and AEO do not replace SEO. They build on it.
Clear content, well-structured pages, strong authority signals, trusted third-party coverage and consistent messaging still matter. If anything, they matter more. AI tools need reliable information to draw from, and brands that have invested properly in their digital presence are more likely to be understood, surfaced and recommended.
So, SEO is not dying. It is widening.
For travel brands, the opportunity now is to think beyond rankings alone and consider how your brand appears in the answers people receive — whether that answer comes from Google, an AI overview, a voice assistant or a generative search platform.
The brands that prepare early will not need to reinvent everything. But they will need to refine how they publish, how they structure their expertise, and how they build authority across the digital ecosystem.
Search is changing. The fundamentals still count. And for those willing to adapt, the next stage of search presents a real opportunity.
Are you a travel brand still focused only on SEO, or are you already looking at GEO and AEO? We would be very interested to hear how you are approaching this, what you are seeing, and where you think search is heading.
And of course, if you would like to have a conversation about how TravelMedia.ie can help, please do get in touch.
Here are a few conferences/events where GEO, AEO and SEO look to be central, that we are looking at attending:
brightonSEO UK October 2026
Location: Brighton Centre, Brighton, UK
Dates: 8–9 October 2026
Training day: 7 October 2026
Link: https://brightonseo.com/events/october-2026
GEO KNOW HOW
Location: Festsaal Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany
Date: 1 October 2026
Link: https://www.geoknowhow.com/
The Masterminders
Location: Manchester Deansgate, Manchester, UK
Dates: 24–26 June 2026
Link: https://themasterminders.com/
SERP Conf. Vienna 2026
Location: Vienna, Austria
Date: 3 November 2026
Link: https://serpconf.com/vienna/
SMX Munich 2027
Location: ICM – International Congress Center Messe Munich, Germany
Conference dates: 6–7 April 2027
Workshops: 5 April 2027
Link: https://smxmuenchen.de/en/
Michael Collins
Founder and Managing Director, TravelMedia.ie
michael@travelmedia.ie
Meet the team
https://www.travelmedia.ie/our-travel-public-relations-experts/