What is AISO (AI Search Optimization)?
AISO, or AI Search Optimization, is optimizing for search surfaces mediated by AI. It is the broadest of the four terms: it covers conversational assistants (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Copilot) and the answers generated inside traditional search, such as AI Overviews and AI Mode on Google.
Why does the term exist?
Because the line between "search engine" and "assistant" stopped being sharp. A user asks the same question in different places and gets, everywhere, a synthesized answer with few sources. AISO names the work of being present across all of those surfaces instead of treating each one as a separate channel with its own discipline.
In practice most of the effort is shared: the same structured content, readable without JavaScript, with self-contained answers and clear authorship, serves several surfaces at once. What differs between them is the weight of each signal and the index each system retrieves from.
AISO, GEO, AEO and LLMO: which one to use?
They are slices of the same work, and the difference today is more vocabulary than method. GEO emphasizes the generative engine, AEO the answer engine, LLMO the model itself and AISO the search surface. None of them names a technique the others ignore.
The practical choice is commercial: use the term your counterpart uses. In Brazil, "AI Visibility" and "GEO" circulate more; in the English-speaking market, "AEO" and "relevance engineering" gained traction. What matters is that the method underneath stays the same, and that it is measured.
Related terms
Compare with GEO, AEO and LLMO, and read GEO, AEO, LLMO, AISO: are they the same thing? The result of all of them is measured by citation rate.
Frequently asked questions
Does AISO include optimizing for classic Google?
It does, because Google’s AI surfaces are fed by the same crawling as Search: Googlebot. Blocking Googlebot removes the brand from AI Overviews and AI Mode along with classic search.
Which term does ReBo use?
"AI Visibility" as the name of the outcome we sell, and GEO, AEO, LLMO and AISO as technical synonyms for the discipline, depending on the audience. The method is the same: six delivery workstreams, measured across four levels.
Do I need a different strategy per surface?
No. The base is shared: readable, structured, self-contained, signed content. What varies is distribution and verification: each engine has its own index and revisit cadence, which is why measurement is done engine by engine.