You'll see two terms thrown around: SEO (search engine optimization) and AEO(answer engine optimization, sometimes called GEO, generative engine optimization). Same idea, different target: instead of Google's ranked-list of pages, AEO is about getting recommended by name in AI-generated answers.
The core difference
SEO is about pages. AEO is about brands.
- In Google, you rank a specific URL for a specific query.
- In ChatGPT, you (or your brand name) get mentioned in a 200-word synthesized answer.
The implication: you don't need to publish ten variants of the same page to capture different intent. You need to make sure that the “mental model” an AI has of your category includes you as a default option.
What carries over
- Quality content. Both SEO and AEO reward clear, well-structured, accurate content.
- Backlinks. Both care about authority. AI engines just weigh them differently — Wikipedia > press > raw count.
- Schema markup. JSON-LD is now arguably more important for AEO than for SEO.
- Technical health. Indexable, fast, semantic HTML — all still required.
What's new for AEO
- Comparison content. “X vs Y” pages get quoted verbatim by AI engines.
- FAQ blocks. Especially in question-form, with schema markup — Gemini in particular surfaces these.
- Brand presence outside your own domain. Reddit, niche newsletters, podcast mentions, GitHub stars — all signals.
- Citation chain. AI engines often quote the source they read; if you're mentioned in TechCrunch's roundup, you ride along.
What's gone
- Keyword stuffing. Already long gone for SEO; doubly irrelevant for AEO.
- Exact-match anchor text. AI models don't care.
- Thin pages targeting long-tail keywords. If anything, this hurts brand-level perception.
The practical playbook
Don't throw out your SEO. Do add:
- A visibility scan to know where you stand across the 4 major AI engines.
- A schema audit — make sure Organization, Product, FAQ, and Breadcrumb schema are all valid.
- A comparison content sprint — top 3 competitors, structured pages, FAQs.
- An off-domain push — pitch one tier-1 publication, get one Wikipedia mention, build one community presence.
Track all of it weekly. The fastest-moving brands re-scan once a week and ship one fix per week. Compound interest.