What is AEO? And why is it important?

For better or for worse, search has changed forever, and its metamorphosis shows no sign of slowing down. The question is, are you prepared to change with it?

As more and more things get automated, the lazier we get. I mean, why should we be burning the fingerprints off our thumbs from the friction of scrolling for hours on end just to find an answer to “Best Electrician near me”?

Why go through the ‘manual’ labour when I could simply ask ChatGPT, and it’ll do all the hard work for me?

Welcome to the era of Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO), where being found online means so much more than just being the top rank on Google, it means becoming the answer itself.

It should be AEO + SEO, not AEO vs SEO:

AEO is all about making your content so clear and credible that AI-powered search tools, like ChatGPT and Google’s SGE, can easily pull it straight from your website and serve it up as a direct answer to someone’s question.

So what makes this different from SEO?

Well, traditional SEO is all about climbing up the Google rankings – like a big game of Snakes and Ladders – with the aim being to get as close to the top spot on Google as possible. AEO, on the other hand, is about becoming the answer itself.

No scrolling through endless website links, no second guessing, just your content being the first thing people see (and trust).

But remember, SEO is still crucial for getting you seen online, the best way to think of it is: SEO gets you seen, AEO gets you trusted, as you are specifically chosen by an AI-powered search engine.

This is why it should be AEO + SEO, not AEO vs SEO. AEO should be seen as a powerful extension of your existing SEO efforts.

How AEO works and where to find it:

For your content to be picked by AI search tools, you need to craft it for answers, not just rankings. Think short, snappy paragraphs, answering specific questions, using bullet points, and breaking down complex topics in plain English.

Think of it like being back in secondary school P.E. lessons (sorry for the PTSD, but bear with me).

You’re standing in line for dodgeball teams, and the captains (in this case, the AI search engines) are picking players one by one. The strongest, quickest players get picked first. You’re standing there thinking “Please don’t let me be picked last… I’ve got to be picked before the smelly kid.”

It’s the same with AEO. If your content is clear, trustworthy, and easy to understand, you’ll be one of the first chosen to be a direct answer. If you’re messy, confusing (or even smelly!), you’ll get left on the sidelines.

So, where do the chosen few appear? As AEO grows, the options are endless. Here are a few:

• Featured in AI-generated overviews (Google SGE, Bing Copilot, etc.)
• Voice search answers on device assistants like Siri and Alexa
• Featured snippets at the top of Google’s search results

Why should I care about AEO though? Is it not just another internet fad?

AEO matters because people are changing their search habits, and the way they digest information is shifting — fast.

Users are relying on direct answers rather than scrolling through pages of search results (sorry, page 2 of Google is even more redundant than before).

In what’s known as ‘zero-click’ search, a study by SparkToro found that nearly 60% of Google searches in 2024 ended without a click — these figures correlate with the introduction of Google’s AI overview (among other things), where users are finding information they need directly on the results page.

But what about my website clicks? Will traffic go down?

Sure, people may not click through as much as they used to. But being the answer they see will win you trust — and with a growing public skepticism around online disinformation, trust is worth its weight in gold. 

Actually, I’ll take the gold, please — can’t pay my student loans off in trust…

In all seriousness, AEO isn’t about losing traffic.

It’s about being seen, being trusted, and adapting to an ever-changing search landscape.

Need a hand perfecting your site’s SEO (and AEO)?

At Repeat Digital, our SEO experts help businesses across the country stay visible — whether that’s climbing the search rankings or becoming the answer itself.

Fancy a chat? Fill in one of our Free Marketing Audits and find out how we can help your business today!

You can also have a read of Our Digital Marketing Predictions for 2025 — it’s full of insights to help you plan smarter.