5 min read
AEO (answer engine optimisation). GEO (generative engine optimisation). LLMO (large language model optimisation). Whatever you call it, what we’re talking is about making sure that when people ask questions in platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot or Gemini, you show up if the answers relates to your brand and/or the topics you want to be known for . For example, if you are PayPal and someone asks AI “What’s the best way to make an online payment”, you’d want to show up in the answer.
Add to this the fact that now even Google search embeds an AI-generated response right at the top of the results page and the situation is clear - if AI doesn’t discover, understand and trust your brand, then it isn’t going to cite you. Meaning your competitors are showing while you are more or less invisible.
Adoption of AI search just keeps growing
A recent study by Pew Research Centre found 49% of adults use AI, with 1-in-4 using AI on a daily basis. Another study found that over one-third of searches start with AI tools. But (and here comes the but - it’s a big one) 95% of ChatGPT users also use traditional Google search, according to Search Engine Land. So where does this leave us?
The path ahead is clear: optimise for AI, ignore SEO at your peril.
As Head of Marketing at Aspect and a long-time SEO nerd, it’s important for me to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to confidently assessing what can actually shift the needle on our clients’ brand visibility in this brave new world of AI-generated answers. No fluff, just tried and tested approaches to help companies show up in AI when it matters.
The 3 elements that actual make an impact on AEO
Let’s look at three things you can do to make sure in the eyes of AI, your brand is relevant and worth talking about…
1. Well-structured content wins every time
Essentially, this is writing each section of text on your website so it fully answers one question on its own. Making sure the text presented on your website is well-structured and separated into sensible, meaningful ‘chunks’ can ensure AI grasps what you’re talking about and can easily use sections of your text to inform their answers.
This ‘chunking’ of information is what’s known as passage-level content, and it means writing in one self-contained paragraph, usually under one heading, offering a nice complete summary or answer, in 2-4 sentences. The words on your website should be concise, clear and to-the-point. You also shouldn’t have to read an entire page or even an entire website to understand what that one chunk of text is trying to say. FAQ answers are the perfect example of this kind of structured content.
And while the debate rages on about whether schema markup actually makes a difference to AEO (and Google themselves have publicly said it doesn’t), a self-contained chunk of text that gives a direct, extractable answer is always a winner for AI optimisation.
2. Get people talking online
What people say about you matters. Review sites, industry roundups, digital PR, even Reddit threads… how everyone else is talking about your brand matters a lot to AI. If multiple sources are mentioning your brand alongside a specific topic then you are more likely to be cited in AI answers. So, generating conversation around your brand and making sure people have plenty of opportunities to talk about you is essential to be visible in the age of AI.
One of the ways you can stimulate online mentions is giving people something to talk about. Proprietary data or research and published reports gives others a reason to mention you, and a solid thought leadership content strategy can help you stand out if you’re offering unique perspectives on a topic.
Comparison or review sites are also frequently used as sources by AI. A study by SE ranking found review sites topped AI Overview citations for commercial searches and that Gartner Peer Insights, G2, Capterra, Software Advice and TrustRadius are the review sites AI trusts most regularly.
3. Maintain excellent SEO
With all of the excitement around increasing adoption of AI technology, it can be easy to overlook the fact that performing well in traditional organic search still predicts AI citation more than any other factor.
SEO is going nowhere. In fact, SEO is the foundation on which good AEO is built. The way that AI platforms create answers is predicated on existing Google search results - meaning a solid search performance is a significant advantage to brands wanting to be more visible in AI results. In simple terms, AI tools are already drawing on the same pool of well-ranked pages Google already trusts.
Unfortunately many companies are now executing AI-optimisation tactics at the expense of SEO, which conversely results in worse performance overall. The moral of the story? Make sure you know what you’re doing before you dive in to optimising for AI search. And if you need a helping hand, Aspect is here to help.
