What is the difference between SEO and AI visibility?

What is the difference between SEO and AI visibility? SEO aims to earn useful visibility in search results, while AI visibility measures whether answer engines mention or cite a product in generated responses. They overlap because AI systems can retrieve web pages that search engines have indexed and ranked, but they are not the same surface.

SEO gives you durable foundations: crawlable pages, clear intent, reputable links and useful content. AI visibility adds a separate question: what did the model actually say for a buyer prompt, and what evidence did it return? A product can rank in Google but be omitted from an AI answer, or be mentioned without owning a top organic result.

Track AI visibility alongside SEO, without treating either as a guarantee of recommendations.