Traditional SEO is about appearing in a ranked list of links on a search results page. The buyer clicks a result, lands on your website, and your content does the work from there.
AEO and GEO address a different problem. AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude do not return a list of links. They generate a direct answer, often naming specific companies or approaches they have synthesised from across the web. The buyer may read that answer, accept the shortlist it implies, and move to outreach without visiting any website at all.
For B2B companies with considered purchases, where buyers research extensively before they enquire, this is the part of the funnel that is changing fastest and being tracked least.