Check whether people can find the page, then test whether an agent can use it to complete a specific task.
| Approach | Meaning | Main question |
|---|---|---|
| SEO | Search engine optimisation | Can the right pages be discovered, crawled, indexed and shown in relevant search results? |
| AEO | Answer engine optimisation | Can the content support a clear and useful answer to a user's question? |
| GEO | Generative engine optimisation | How is the content represented or referenced in generated responses? |
| AX | Agent Experience | Can an AI agent access, understand and use the content to help someone complete a task? |
What the terms describe
SEO focuses on how people discover your pages in search. Teams use AEO and GEO to describe work on visibility in answers and generated responses. Teams may use the terms differently, so agree which result you want to check before choosing a measure.
Agent Experience looks at what the agent receives from a website or product and what it can do with it. On an information website, the main job may be making public content easy to read and verify. If the product supports actions, check the interfaces and permissions an agent needs to use them.
The foundations often overlap
Public content, descriptive links, semantic HTML and accurate metadata can support both discovery and agent use. Compare the initial response with the rendered page to check whether the same facts are available in each.
A page can appear in search while an agent struggles to extract a condition from its comparison table. A readable page can also stay uncited when an answer system selects other sources.
Test whether an agent can complete a task
For visibility, check whether the intended page appears in relevant searches. For AX, follow the page and try the user's task. Can the agent retrieve the answer? Are facts tied to the right product, date or source? Does an action require someone's approval?
Use your access and interpretation checks to explain what the agent could retrieve. Measure rankings, recommendations or citations separately in the services that produce them.
Use AX alongside your existing work
Keep the search, content, accessibility and engineering teams involved. Reuse evidence where the problem is shared, and state which outcome each change is intended to improve. A content delivery fix should be verified as a delivery fix, even if it also has benefits for search.
Tityra's AX Audit documents the barriers that affect access and understanding in the agreed website sample. Use the evidence to plan fixes alongside the findings from your search, accessibility or security work.
