Combining SEO, GEO and accessibility

What do SEO and accessibility have in common?

A screen reader and a search engine crawler do not see your page the way a person with a mouse and screen does. Both rely on text and a clean structure: page titles, headings, link text, text alternatives and real text content instead of text in images.

Accessibility is therefore not a trick for better rankings. But many of its foundations make a page easier for people to understand and easier for machines to classify at the same time. The work pays off for your visitors first. Plain language is part of it too: short sentences and explained terms help people with learning difficulties as much as anyone looking for a quick answer.

An example: a banner saying ‘20% off until Friday’ as an image reliably reaches neither screen readers nor search engines. If the same information is on the page as text, all of them understand it.

What does GEO mean?

Generative engine optimisation means preparing content so that AI-powered search systems can understand it, summarise it correctly and cite it as a source. The term is new and not defined consistently.

For AI Overviews and AI Mode, Google names the same fundamental SEO practices. Special AI files or dedicated markup are not required. A page must be indexed and eligible to appear in search with a snippet. Inclusion in search results or AI answers cannot be guaranteed.

GEO is therefore governed by the same principles as good content in general: a clear answer, well-sourced claims, plain language and a clean technical foundation.

How does semantic HTML help search engines and screen readers?

Semantic HTML says what an element is: a main heading, a list, a table, a navigation area or a button. Screen readers use this information to let people jump through the page. In criterion 1.3.1, WCAG requires structure and relationships to be programmatically determinable.

Use one H1 per page with a logical hierarchy beneath it. Do not just make text bold when it is really a heading. Use links for routes to other pages and buttons for actions. A button built as a div is often not reachable at all by keyboard or screen reader. Real tables with header cells make comparisons readable for everyone.

Regions such as header, nav, main and footer help screen reader users jump straight to the main content. Also set the page language in the lang attribute (WCAG 3.1.1) so that screen readers choose the right pronunciation.

How do you write page titles and link text that help both?

1. 1Give every page a unique title that names its topic (WCAG 2.4.2). It appears in the browser tab and in search results, and it is the first thing read out.
2. 2Word link text so that its destination is clear from the text or its context (WCAG 2.4.4). ‘See prices for associations’ helps more than ‘click here’.
3. 3Put the most important information at the start of the title and the website name at the end, for example ‘Accessible forms: labels and errors | Company name’.
4. 4Avoid several identical links such as ‘Learn more’ with different destinations.
5. 5Keep descriptions short and factual. They should reflect the content of the page, not collect search terms.

Is alt text good for SEO?

Google uses text alternatives together with image recognition and the page content to understand what an image shows. At the same time, Google advises against stuffing alt attributes with search terms. This makes for a worse user experience and can look like spam.

Here the SEO recommendation matches the accessibility one: describe what the image conveys in context. Only include a search term if it fits naturally, such as the product name in ‘Alpina hiking boot in grey, side view’. Decorative images still get an empty text alternative.

How do you structure content for AI answers?

1. 1Start with a direct answer to the question the page addresses. Then explain prerequisites, limits and next steps.
2. 2Word subheadings the way people actually ask. Each section answers one part of the question.
3. 3Write short paragraphs with concrete examples.
4. 4Define technical terms in one sentence when they first appear and spell out abbreviations once, for example ‘Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG)’. A clear definition is easy to quote and helps people who are new to the topic.
5. 5Present key information as text instead of placing it only in images, graphics or videos. Google expressly recommends this. Transcripts and captions help as well.
6. 6Link to verifiable original sources and state the date for time-sensitive claims.
7. 7Keep content up to date and show the date of the last revision visibly.

What role does structured data play?

Public content should be reachable, linked internally and allowed to be indexed. Unique page titles, descriptions and canonical URLs help with classification. Structured data can additionally describe content in a machine-readable way.

However, it must match the visible content. FAQ markup without visible questions, or invented reviews, do more harm than good. Google does not require any special schema markup for AI features. Check your markup with Google’s Rich Results Test and compare it with the visible page after content changes.

How do you measure whether your content helps?

Watch which questions bring visitors to your website and whether they find their next step. Check contact forms and calls to action for clarity and usability. If a field cannot be operated, an enquiry never arrives, however well the page was found. An accessibility scan complements this work; it is not a full SEO or GEO analysis.

Google Search Console shows you which search queries your pages appear for. If a page does not match the question, revise the title, introduction and structure instead of adding more search terms.