AI has quickly woven into nearly every aspect of our culture and lives. Kicking off in the late 2010s, the AI boom shows no sign of abating and has forced businesses to evolve rapidly.
This is why it’s important to know about the place that SEO still has, how your approach to it should change with the emergence of AEO and what you can do to stay ahead of the game.
The Evolution of Search from SEO to AEO
Since search engines began, users’ behaviour has been very predictable. They put in the search engine short queries, and competing websites made sure that their content matched with popular keywords so that Google would match users to websites.
With the introduction of Google AI mode, voice search and other innovations, consumers’ search behaviour has changed. Searches by people have become more conversational and longer, capable of getting direct answers without having to visit websites.
The presence of AI in search will become the norm, so businesses have to adapt their search strategies to ensure they remain visible on search engine pages and bring potential users to their sites.
What Is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. It’s the process of using on-page, off-page and technical methods to get your website and pages ranked higher on SERPs (search engine result pages), to increase your organic traffic.
SEO techniques include:
- Including targeted keywords in content
- Making your website mobile-friendly
- Ensuring your website runs fast
- Having quality backlinks in content
- Including internal linking in content
- Having compelling and authoritative content that meets user intent
Whilst AI may appear to make SEO more irrelevant, it’s still important to ensure your business’s online visibility and brand credibility. Rather than ranking the best pages, AI now means that Google is looking for the best answers, and SEO can help position yourself as the one with those answers.
What Is AEO? Why Is It Gaining Traction?
AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimisation.
How people search for things has changed, and so have search engines. We’ve even got a new one to watch (we’ll be talking about Chat GPT Atlas soon!). Voice assistants and Google AI now mean that people are more likely to receive “direct answer” results when they search for something. This means they get the answer to their query in a concise paragraph or so, using information culled from the highest-ranking pages on the SERP.
Where once you might have to utilise paid Google ads to ensure you’re the first thing a user sees, now, if your content answers user questions, you will inform these AI search results.
AEO is about providing structured, concise and accurate information to answer user queries and get content featured, whereas SEO is about getting pages ranked high and covering a broader range of user intent.
AEO Vs SEO: The Key Differentiators
The main difference between SEO and AEO is the intentions.
Effective SEO aims to get your web pages to rank high in SERPs. AEO wants to be the chosen answer in AI-generated result formats, such as snippets and voice search responses.
| Area | SEO | AEO |
| Format | Longer-form content, articles, How-to guides and pillar pages | Lists, conversational summaries, tables and structured snippets |
| Optimisation Approach | Keyword research, backlinks, technical SEO, and on-page content | FAQs, structured data and schema markup, content that answers direct questions |
| Outcome | Click-through-rate, online traffic, higher SERP ranking, conversions | Brand mentions, citations, AI visibility, instant answer for users, authoritative trust |
| Target devices/users | People who are browsing more generally on traditional search engines, such as Google and Bing | Users asking specific questions, using AI chatbots and voice assistants |
How Google AI & Voice Search Are Driving AEO Right Now
AEO is on the rise because of how people are searching for things. The emergence of voice search and AI has meant that more people are using more than their fingers to input queries into search engines.
According to Google, around 20% of all mobile searches are done by voice alone. This, combined with the rise in people using their mobiles more and more to browse, has meant that people are asking their queries out loud. With voice assistant and AI improvement, users no longer have to shout “RESTAURANT NEAR ME LIVERPOOL” to get a relevant answer. Now, you can ask your phone, “I’m feeling like some Chinese, what’s a good place nearby?” And you’ll get a load of answers from your device.
To easily provide these answers, voice assistants rely on answer-focused optimisation so that the information they grab is clear and intent on answering questions. It also means that content has to match the natural language people are using. AI has gotten better at understanding human language, and how we communicate and will prioritise that content for its users, ignoring what seems fake and AI-generated.
It’s Not AEO Vs SEO: You Need Both
All this may sound as if SEO is becoming obsolete. That is not the case; businesses need both SEO and AEO to remain competitive.
They complement each other, both relying on high-quality content to be valuable for users and businesses. SEO and AEO are now more focused on improving user experience across the board. Making sure you rank high and are answering direct questions can help your brand reputation.
If you focus on one, you limit your potential visibility, becoming both a visible option in a broad query and the definitive answer for a specific user question.
AI and voice searching are going nowhere, so engaging in a combined SEO and AEO strategy will help future-proof your search strategy.
Practical Tips: Optimising Content for AEO
It may seem like you have to make a huge shift, strategy-wise, to become more AEO-friendly. There are achievable changes you can make that can help you optimise content for AEO, including:
- Add FAQs: If AEO is about providing useful answers. Include sections that address many questions so that AI can use your content to give users answers.
- Conversational content: Matching the natural language of the queries means that AI and voice assistants are more likely to use it for their direct answer results.
- Use schema markup and structured data: Structured data, such as schema markup, is a code vocabulary that can help AI more easily understand the context and purpose of your content. AI can more easily extract information from content.
- Focus on answers: AEO is about answering questions, so make sure your content provides clear and concise answers.
Case Examples of AEO in Action
We’ve talked a lot about AEO, but haven’t put what these AI results look like in context.
Featured Snippet
A featured snippet is the results box that appears at the top of the page. If you were a restaurant and wanted to be more visible, including structured FAQ sections about your menu and service that answer common questions would help it rank higher when users ask Google questions such as “who makes the best pasta in Liverpool?”
People Also Ask
This is a feature that allows you to see similar queries when you get a result that may help you get more information that you need.
Continuing with the restaurant example, including an about page and a dedicated FAQ page will help you cover a wider range of questions, anticipating follow-up questions that potential customers may have.
Voice Answers
This is the answer that will be given to users by the AI assistant when they ask a question.
The restaurant business can optimise for these answers by ensuring that they have natural language content that is concise and clear with information. This makes it easy for voice assistants to interpret and extract.
Build a Strategy that Works With Maxweb Solutions
SEO has been the cornerstone of digital marketing for a long time. Though AEO is on the rise, abandoning SEO will still leave you playing catch-up. You need to use both SEO and AEO strategies to shine on search engines.
Are you looking to improve your visibility in both search rankings and AI-driven answers? Contact Maxweb Solutions today to get help aligning your SEO and AEO strategies.
Posted on Friday, October 24th, 2025 in SEO.
