Whether you love AI or hate it, using AI can save so much time and procrastination. Time is the one thing none of us can get more of, so it’s human nature that people will want to take advantage of this technology.
So, what does it mean for your own website? Can your website still be discovered when people are using AI to search for products and services? The answer is yes.
Does AI search replace SEO?
No, it doesn’t.
This is the main question many business owners and marketers are asking right now. SEO is still relevant and should feature as part of your marketing strategy. Many of the core activities involved in SEO are also valuable for AI search.
Being found online – an all-round strategy
It’s important in the article to treat being found online as a whole strategy, rather than thinking you can just wave a magic wand in one direction.
The overall strategy
There are three boxes your business now needs to tick. In no particular order, they are SEO, GEO and AEO. We’re going to take each of these in turn and explain the basics.
Feel free to skip the bits you already know. This is for filling in your knowledge gaps rather than teaching you how to suck eggs.
Quick explanation of SEO
– Search Engine Optimisation
If you’ve never found a resource that explains SEO simply, we hope this helps. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. It’s a strategy that helps your website become more visible to people searching for your products or services online.
What does SEO involve?
In basic terms, its goal is to attract more traffic to your website when people ‘Google’ something, by following a set of rules that Google approves of.
The core activities involved in an SEO campaign are shown below.
Technical Optimisation
- Improve the speed at which your website loads.
- Ensure your website is responsive – easy to use on mobile devices.
- Your website has been indexed correctly, so your web content is easy to find.
- Schema markup (helps search engines understand your website content)
On-page Optimisation
- Your web text includes the keywords and phrases that your customers are searching for.
- Information added to the back-end of the website, such as title tags and meta descriptions, to help search engines understand its relevance.
- Sensible naming of images and image descriptions.
Off-page Optimisation
- Links from other websites that are credible, ideally with a high domain authority.
- Social media marketing.
- Being featured on local directory listings.
- Being mentioned on other websites or guest-blogging.
Search platforms that prefer SEO
- Bing
Best content for SEO
- Blogs
- Landing pages
- Web articles
Quick explanation of GEO
– Generative Engine Optimisation
What does GEO involve?
GEO is the practice of improving how your brand and content are understood, cited and mentioned in AI-generated answers. It overlaps heavily with SEO, content strategy, digital PR and brand consistency.
The core activities involved in a GEO campaign are shown below.
Build Credibility
- Clearly define what your brand and company represent.
- Use consistent names and links across your website.
- Demonstrate expertise.
- Enhance your E.E.A.T. (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness).
Technical and On-Page Optimisation
- Schema markup (helps search engines understand your website content).
- Ensure website content is easy to understand and well-researched.
- Relevant internal links across your website.
Off-page Optimisation
- Get mentioned on trusted platforms such as G2, Capterra, Reddit, Quora and Wikipedia.
- Reviews on trusted review platforms.
- Digital PR using press releases.
- Being active on platforms like Reddit, YouTube and LinkedIn.
- Consistent brand naming and information wherever you appear online.
Search platforms that prefer GEO
- ChatGPT
- Gemini
- Copilot
- Perplexity
- Google AI Mode
Best content for GEO
- Q&A/FAQ sections.
- Conversational content.
- Semantic content – broken into easily digestible sections.
Quick explanation of AEO
– Answer Engine Optimisation
What does AEO involve?
The primary goal of an AEO strategy is to improve your chances of being selected as a direct answer, summary or cited source across answer-focused search experiences, including featured snippets, AI-generated responses and some voice assistants.
It works alongside traditional SEO, with the core elements shown below.
Technical Optimisation
- Schema markup (helps search engines understand your website content).
- Clean website page structure with clear headers (titles).
- Clear HTML source code (not buried in JavaScript)
- Ensure it has a command in the coding that allows AI bots to crawl the website.
On-page Optimisation
- Content that answers questions using natural language.
- On website pages, include a concise answer (40-60 words) at the top that answers the question.
- Include conversational phrases.
- Refresh content regularly (update blogs and dates etc).
- Provide clear, concise answers to customer questions.
- Improve the readability of the text using bullet points, numbered lists, tables, and graphs.
Off-page Optimisation
- Appear on multiple third-party platforms to build trust.
- Get mentioned on trusted platforms such as G2, Capterra, Reddit, Quora and Wikipedia.
- Create original research and publish unique data, surveys or studies that are useful to AI.
- Encourage your satisfied customers to leave reviews and mention you as a trusted provider in their social posts.
Search platforms that prefer AEO
- Google AI Overviews
- Google Assistant
- Siri
- Alexa
Best content for AEO
- FAQ/Q&A Sections
- Q&A Sections
- Structured snippets
In conclusion
Based on a variety of research, as well as our own knowledge, it’s clear that it is just as important as ever to have a high-quality website containing relevant, up-to-date information that answers the questions your customers ask.
By following a consistent marketing strategy across the board, you’re likely to tick all the boxes for both traditional search engines and AI.
For more marketing advice, read our other articles.
