For years, getting found online meant one thing: ranking on page one of Google. Today, a growing share of customers skip the list of links entirely and ask an AI assistant such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or Google’s AI Overviews for a direct recommendation. That shift has created a new discipline alongside SEO: Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO).
What is the difference?
SEO helps your pages rank in traditional search results. AEO helps your business get mentioned and cited inside AI-generated answers. The good news is that they share the same foundations: a fast, well-structured website, genuinely helpful content, and a strong, consistent reputation across the web.
Five steps to improve both
- Answer questions directly. Put a clear, one or two sentence answer near the top of each page, then expand on it. AI tools and featured snippets both favour content that gets to the point.
- Add structured data. Schema markup for your organisation, services, FAQs and reviews helps search engines and AI systems understand exactly what you offer.
- Keep your details consistent. Your business name, services and contact details should match on your website, Google Business Profile, directories and social profiles.
- Earn mentions on trusted sites. Reviews, industry directories, local press and relevant forums are all sources AI models learn from.
- Track real prompts. Each month, ask AI assistants the questions your customers would ask and note whether your business appears.
Where to start
If your website has technical issues or thin content, fix those first: they hold back both SEO and AEO. Then build out pages that answer your customers’ most common questions. If you would like a free review of how visible your business is on Google and in AI answers, book a strategy call with our team.