What Is the Difference Between SEO and AEO?
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) has been around for over 20 years. AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) is newer, driven by the rise of AI-powered search tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and voice assistants.
Both help your business get found online. But they work differently, target different platforms, and require different strategies.
What Is SEO?
SEO is the practice of optimising your website to rank higher in traditional search engine results. When someone searches Google, Bing, or Yahoo, SEO determines whether your page appears on page one or page ten.
SEO involves:
- Keyword research: Finding what your customers actually search for
- On-page optimisation: Title tags, meta descriptions, headings, internal links
- Technical SEO: Site speed, mobile-friendliness, crawlability, schema markup
- Content: Creating pages and blog posts that match search intent
- Backlinks: Earning links from other websites to build authority
What Is AEO?
AEO is the practice of optimising your content to be cited, quoted, or recommended by AI-powered answer engines. Instead of ranking in a list of ten blue links, AEO aims to make your business the answer that AI tools give directly to users.
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- Structured data: Schema markup that helps AI understand your content
- Question-based content: Answering specific questions clearly and concisely
- Entity optimisation: Making sure AI systems know who you are and what you do
- Citation-worthy content: Creating content authoritative enough for AI to reference
- Multi-platform presence: Being visible across Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and voice assistants
SEO vs AEO: Key Differences
| Factor | SEO | AEO |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Rank in search results | Be the AI-generated answer |
| Platforms | Google, Bing | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Siri, Alexa |
| Content format | Long-form pages, blog posts | Concise answers, structured data, FAQs |
| Success metric | Rankings, organic traffic | Citations, mentions, AI referrals |
| Competition | 10 spots on page one | Often just 1-3 sources cited |
| Maturity | Established (20+ years) | Emerging (2-3 years) |
Why SEO Still Matters
Google still processes over 8.5 billion searches per day. Most people still click on search results. SEO drives consistent, measurable traffic that you can track and optimise. It is not going anywhere.
For any business that depends on being found online, SEO remains the foundation of organic visibility.
Why AEO Matters Now
AI search is growing fast. ChatGPT has over 200 million users. Google AI Overviews appear in an increasing percentage of searches. When someone asks an AI assistant “who is the best Google Ads agency in the UK?”, you want to be the answer.
The businesses that start optimising for AI visibility now will have a significant advantage over those that wait.
Do You Need Both?
Yes. SEO and AEO are not competing strategies. They are complementary. Good SEO creates the content foundation that AEO builds on. Structured data helps both search engines and AI tools understand your business. Quality content ranks well and gets cited by AI.
Think of SEO as the base layer and AEO as the amplification layer. You need both to be fully visible in 2025 and beyond.
How We Help
We offer both SEO and AEO as part of our AI marketing services. We audit your current visibility across traditional search and AI platforms, then build a strategy to make sure your business shows up wherever your customers are looking. Book a free strategy call to get started.
