No — SEO and GEO share a foundation but target different surfaces and are measured differently. SEO optimises for rankings and clicks in traditional search results, whereas GEO optimises for inclusion and citation inside AI-generated answers. SEO nonetheless remains the base layer, because AI answer engines draw heavily on the same index and authority signals; Ahrefs‘ 2025 analysis of 300,000 keywords found that the presence of an AI Overview was associated with a roughly 58% lower click-through rate for the top-ranking page, which shows that ranking alone no longer captures the value. The modern approach layers GEO on top of solid SEO.