Optimizing web content to maximize brand reach has always been a big part of running a business online. However, as AI tools begin to take a larger role in consumer search habits, search engine results are no longer the only metric to consider when planning a web presence. In this article, we’ll walk you through the difference between search engine optimization (SEO) and answer engine optimization (AEO), and how you can use both to increase your brand awareness.
What Is SEO?
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the practice of designing web content to ensure it will rank highly on search engine result pages. This is done by focusing content on brand-relevant search keywords, ensuring brand web pages are seen as “trusted” results, and maintaining site health.
What Is AEO?
Answer engine optimization, or AEO, is the related practice of designing web content to make it more visible to AI models, with the goal of reaching users who search the web with AI tools. This is done by analyzing the prompts that users are likely to make concerning a brand, then publishing AI-optimized sources that meet these prompts, which are more likely to be cited or directly mentioned to the user.
SEO vs. AEO: Core Differences
SEO Starts With Keywords
SEO plans for short, fragmented search queries focused on specific keywords that are most relevant to a brand and their customers. SEO strategies identify these keywords, then focus on highlighting them in the brand’s web content, so that search engines can locate them.
AEO Starts With Prompts
AEO considers more fully-formed, conversational prompts, posed by a user to an AI model. AEO strategies anticipate what questions users might be asking about a brand, then structure content to encourage AI models to either mention or cite their brand in responses.
SEO Optimizes for Rankings and Organic Traffic
The primary focus of SEO is to be listed at the top of the results page for a given search. It increases site traffic by positioning the brand as the most accurate, most trusted match for the user’s entered keywords, ensuring more searchers see it above other results.
AEO Optimizes for AI Mentions, Citations, and Recommendations
AEO’s primary focus is to increase the number of times the brand is either mentioned in or cited for AI responses, as well as guiding the way the AI talks about the brand. This is done by anticipating what brand information an AI might look for, then ensuring the brand’s own sources for that information are most likely to be used when the AI constructs its response.
SEO Measures Rankings, Clicks, and Conversions
The primary metrics for successful SEO concern guiding users from the wider Internet onto a brand’s web presence. Search engine result rankings, clicks, and conversions all help measure how effectively a brand’s content is being served by search engines.
AEO Measures AI Visibility, Citation Percentage, and AI Tool Traffic
AEO metrics are centered around the rate at which AI models mention or cite a brand in responses to users, as well as how often users are reaching brand websites through AI tools. AEO often involves testing different prompts and models to ensure brand sources are being used by the AI, and that users at every stage of commercial intent are motivated to engage further.
How SEO and AEO Use Different Starting Points
SEO Begins With Keyword Research
When creating an SEO strategy, the first step is to understand the search keywords a brand wants to rank highly for. Brands often accompany keywords relevant to their industry with common modifiers like “best”, “near me”, “open now”, etc.
AEO Begins With Prompt Research
Similarly, AEO strategies begin with understanding the prompts or questions that a brand wants to be mentioned or cited in. When planning for AEO, brands should consider the specificity that an AI can achieve with its search and design prompts accordingly.
Query Fan-Outs: The Key Difference in AEO
What Query Fan-Outs Are
When a user prompts an AI tool to search for information, the model doesn’t only perform the search it was prompted for; it adds several related searches to support its main response. This is called a “query fan-out,” and planning for them is one of the most important parts of AEO strategy.
Why Fan-Out Queries Influence AI Citations
AI models pick sources for each query in a fan-out. Each time a brand can answer one of these queries with a trusted source, it increases their chance of being cited in the AI’s response, increasing visibility to the user.
How Fan-Out Research Connects SEO and AEO
AI information searches don’t necessarily replace the act of using a search engine; the AI model performs the search on behalf of the user, then reports its findings. This means that, to be selected by an AI during a search, brands should still maintain good SEO practices, ensuring their content ranks highly enough for the AI to locate for its response.
How to Build a Unified SEO and AEO Strategy
Check Current SEO and AI Visibility
Before planning a combined SEO/AEO strategy, determine how often your brand is ranking on search result pages and AI search responses. This will help identify where your strategy’s working, and where it needs focus.
Identify the Prompts You Want to Appear For
Determine the characteristics of your brand that users might be prompting for to focus your SEO/AEO content. Consider prompts asking about the pros and cons of a product, the leaders of an industry, or comparisons between specific options.
Map the Query Fan-Outs Behind Those Prompts
Once you know what prompts your strategy will target, determine what additional fan-outs you’ll need your content to cover. Third-party tools and some AI models allow you to peek into the logic of an LLM, allowing you to see the additional queries that your content strategy can answer.
Create or Improve Pages for Fan-Out Queries
After analyzing primary prompts and their fan-outs, introduce content that answers these questions clearly, specifically, and quickly. These answers can be integrated into existing pages or published as new material.
Build Links and Authority to Priority Pages
To ensure this content gets picked up by AI models, maintain its SEO quality by building backlinks and page traffic. This will boost search engine result rankings, making it more likely for the AI to both find and cite it.