Visibility in AI searches
In the e-learning on the learning platform, you can find out more about visibility in AI searches and which specific points you should consider as a web editor when creating and revising your web pages:
Do AEO and GEO belong together?
You could say they belong together, but they are two different sides of the same coin.
In the professional world, they are often seen as a unit because they both have the goal of being visible in the new world of artificial intelligence (AI).
Think of AEO and GEO as a team:
- AEO provides the building blocks: You prepare your information in such a way that an AI can easily "eat" (extract) it. Without this structure, the AI cannot find you at all.
- GEO provides the trust: You ensure that the AI not only finds your information, but also believes it enough to include you as an expert in its generated text.
In short: AEO ensures that the machine understands you, and GEO ensures that the machine recommends you.
Should you treat them separately?
No. If you're doing modern optimization today, you're doing both at the same time.
If you write a good FAQ list (AEO), you simultaneously provide the AI with the material to quote you in a longer article (GEO).
It's a layered strategy: the foundation is classic SEO, on top of which you build AEO (structure) and GEO (authority).
What is Answer Engine Optimization?
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) optimizes content for direct answers in voice assistants and AI searches such as Siri or Google Assistant. As an editor of a hospital website, you can reach patients faster and build trust.
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) aims to ensure that search engines and assistants take your content directly as an answer. Imagine a patient asking "How do I prepare for an MRI?" - AEO ensures that your explanation appears.
Unlike traditional SEO, which directs visitors to the website, AEO answers questions directly. In this way, patients get to know LMU Klinikum as a helpful resource, even if they don't click. In contrast to SEO, which is aimed at click lists, AEO provides ready-made solutions.
Patients are increasingly using natural language: 58% of all searches will be conducted via voice search in 2025. AEO makes clinic information such as consultation times or symptoms immediately available.
Why is AEO important for LMU Klinikum?
Around 40% of health searches end without a click - answer engines are already taking over the information.
In clinics, many inquiries revolve around everyday questions such as consultation times or directions. AEO therefore boosts your visibility with Siri, Alexa or Google's SGE. Patients can find directions or waiting times at lightning speed. This positions the LMU Klinikum as a reliable source.
AEO protects against misinformation, especially in the healthcare sector: Clear, technically correct answers strengthen the LMU Klinikum's image as a reliable partner.
Procedure for hospital editors (step-by-step)
- Collect the top 10 patient questions from emails or phone calls.
- Write a 50-100 word answer for each question: direct, structured, with E-E-A-T signals.
- Create an FAQ block on the website (question as H2/H3, answer below).
- Update quarterly and measure usage.
Start with 5 FAQs - success motivates.
How long should a good answer for answer engines be?
FAQs from the patient's perspective (as examples)
How do I make an appointment at the clinic?
What are the current visiting hours?
What is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)?
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) optimizes the clinic content so that it can be used in AI responses such as LeChat(recommended European GPT), Perplexity, orChatGPT - perfect for patient searches for appointments, symptoms or treatments.
GEO makes the texts the preferred sources for AI systems, which will process 45% of health queries by 2025. Patients receive direct answers from content, which creates trust and increases inquiries by up to 25%.
The following basis is important:
- Clear facts and sources
GEO aims for AI engines such as LeChat (recommended European GPT), Perplexity or Google AI Overviews to adopt and cite your content as a reliable source. Since the rise of generative models in 2023, these tools have fundamentally changed search: instead of click lists, synthesized answers are created.
Origin and definition
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) was developed in 2023 by researchers at Georgia Tech University to prepare content for Large Language Models (LLMs) - AI systems that summarize texts from sources. GEO uses techniques such as source citations, lists and precise formulations to promote citations. With GEO, website content becomes "AI-ready".
GEO vs SEO - The difference
SEO ensures that your content appears at the top of traditional search results pages by optimizing keywords, structured content and backlinks - with the aim of getting users to click on your site.
GEO, on the other hand, prepares content in such a way that AI assistants incorporate text modules directly from your website into their answers, so that no click is necessary, but your clinic is visibly mentioned as a competent source.
An example: For the question "LMU Klinikum visiting hours", good SEO work results in a link to your clinic page appearing prominently, while GEO ensures that an AI assistant outputs the specific times (for example "Mon-Fri: 2-6pm") directly as a quote.
From 2025, the two complement each other: SEO generates targeted traffic to your website, while GEO also strengthens brand awareness and trust in your facility.
Why GEO is crucial for clinics?
GEO ensures that your clinic can be found in the long term because more and more patients are directing medical questions to AI assistants such as LeChat or ChatGPT first. Well-structured, comprehensible and medically reliable content from the website can thus be incorporated directly into answers, including naming the clinic as a source.
By 2025, the majority of 18-35-year-olds will be using such assistants regularly for quick health information, for example on symptoms, visiting times or consultation hours. This makes the quality and GEO-compatible preparation of website content a key lever for ensuring the visibility of your clinic in these new, dialog-based information channels and strengthening trust in the LMU Klinikum brand.
Advantages in the healthcare sector
GEO strengthens the credibility of your clinic because content is specifically prepared in such a way that experience, professional expertise, authority and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) are clearly recognizable for AI systems. This is particularly important in the medical environment so that AI assistants can better understand the content of your website and cite it directly. The LMU Klinikum is then preferred as a reliable source for citations.
For example, the LMU Klinikum appears when people ask for "emergency clinic opening hours". If the AI mentions your clinic with clear times and contact details at this moment, the patient's trust in the LMU Klinikum is immediately established, even before the first click on the website has taken place.
Impact on patient searches
Patient searches such as "treat heart palpitations symptoms" or "book oncology appointment" account for 40% of all AI queries. Users want quick, direct solutions.
GEO places your content in a targeted way so that AI assistants prominently adopt precise information (e.g. treatment paths, contact details or booking links) - including naming the LMU Klinikum as a source. Studies show 30% more inquiries because patients immediately receive relevant help and build trust.
