AI Overviews Are Rolling Out. But Do You Really Need AEO, GEO, or LLMS.txt?

As Google’s AI Overviews become more prominent in search, many SEOs are scrambling to adjust their strategies — exploring concepts like AEO, GEO, and even the newly proposed llms.txt.

But here’s the reality:

“Normal SEO still works,” said Gary Illyes at Search Central Live. No new tricks. No AI markup. No special treatment.

So what are AEO and GEO, and do they matter?

• AEO (Answer Engine Optimization): A strategy designed to optimize content for AI-generated answers and voice search. It focuses on creating concise, structured answers that AI models can easily extract and present.

• GEO (Generative Engine Optimization): A newer concept aimed at optimizing content for generative AI systems, like AI Overviews or Bing Copilot, where search results are synthesized rather than listed.

These sound futuristic — but Google just confirmed you don’t need them (yet). Instead, AI Overviews pull from the same index and ranking systems as classic Search.

And LLMS.txt?

It’s a proposed web standard designed to let website owners control which of their pages can be used to train large language models (LLMs). Think of it as robots.txt, but for AI training.

But as John Mueller clarified, no current AI system uses LLMS.txt — and Google has no plans to.

What Should You Do Now?

✅ Stick to foundational SEO: clear structure, trusted authority, and helpful content.

❌ Don’t waste time chasing AI-specific hacks or speculative file formats.

🧠 Focus on your users — Google’s AI is trained to do the same.