AEO: the new giant in small business marketing

For nearly two decades, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) has been the Holy Grail of website development. But its supremacy is being challenged by a new digital marketing imperative: Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO). It’s due to changes in how we all search online – and understanding how to ace AEO could have major implications for your future business success.

What is AEO – and why does it matter?

Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) is a new way of structuring your digital content to make it discoverable in AI-driven tools like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and voice assistants such as Alexa or Siri. Rather than relying on traditional keyword-focused SEO, AEO focuses on directly answering user queries in a clear, structured way that AI platforms can understand and reuse.

For SME owners, this could be a game-changer. According to a report by Gartner (2023), by 2026, 25% of organic traffic will shift to AI chatbots and virtual agents, meaning your customers will increasingly be finding information through conversations, not Google search results.

What does that mean for your business? If you’re a beauty therapist in Harlow or a tech start up in Croydon, having a website that answers customer questions directly (rather than just ranks for keywords) could boost your visibility on platforms where more and more people are searching. Used right, this can deliver a number of benefits:

• Increased brand awareness by showing up across new platforms
• Improved client engagement by offering helpful, structured answers
• Customer loyalty and acquisition as users increasingly trust brands that give them fast, relevant answers

Significantly, Answer Engine Optimisation has the potential to vastly expand  the reach and exposure of your business as recent studies show just how quickly user behaviour is shifting:

• Over 400 million people use OpenAI products each week
• Bing’s mobile app downloads increased 4x after AI integration
• 45% of Millennials now use social media for search

What are the differences between AEO and SEO?

While Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) share the goal of improving your visibility online, they focus on very different platforms and user behaviours.

• AEO is designed to help your business appear in answer engines.
  • Platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity AI, and Microsoft Copilot. These tools rely on conversational language, so AEO content is typically structured around questions and answers. AEO works best when your content is optimised with structured data, FAQs, and clearly defined topics that AI tools can easily interpret and cite.
• SEO is designed for traditional search engines.
  • Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo all rely on keywords and link-building to rank your website higher in search results pages. Users typically search with phrases like “best accountants in Kent” or “office space near Southend,” and SEO strategies aim to match your content to these specific keywords.
• How they measure success is different
  • AEO success is measured by number of citations, mentions, and placements in AI responses, as well as visibility in tools like voice assistants.
  • SEO success is defined by domain authority, website traffic, impressions, and conversions, all more traditional metrics from search engines.
• From a technical perspective, both strategies benefit from solid site infrastructure.
  • However, AEO requires structured content, up-to-date FAQ sections, and potentially AI-optimised tools for metadata and content formatting. Many AEO features can be added with free plugins, but you may need some development support to implement schema markup or server-side rendering effectively.
  • While SEO can be achieved through how user friendly your site is: intuitive navigation and a clear site structure, internal linking, faster page loading times. These all improve user experience, increase engagement metrics and reduce bounce rate, indicating to the server that your website is of value.

It’s also vital to keep compliance in mind. Whether you’re optimising for AI tools or search engines, your website must follow GDPR and data protection laws, especially if you’re collecting any user information or embedding third-party tools.

AEO vs SEO: which should I focus on?

Right now, both strategies have value. Traditional SEO still brings in search engine traffic, especially via Google. But with AI assistants and chatbots increasingly shaping how people find information, AEO is rapidly becoming a key part of modern digital marketing.

Here’s how to decide:

• Choose SEO if your customers are still finding you through Google, and your content hasn’t been optimised yet
• Add AEO if you want to future-proof your business and reach younger, AI-savvy audiences

Potential downsides?

• SEO can be slow to show results and highly competitive
• AEO requires structured content and ongoing technical upkeep

To avoid missteps, make sure your content is written in a conversational tone, uses schema markup correctly, and directly addresses the questions your customers ask.

How can you measure AEO success?

Start by defining what success looks like for your business:

• Do you want to increase visibility in AI tools?
• Drive more qualified traffic to your website?
• Improve customer experience and engagement?

Metrics for AEO might include:

• How often your brand is cited in answer tools (e.g. ChatGPT mentions)
• Engagement with FAQ and structured content
• Growth in traffic from AI-related platforms
• Local listing views through Google Business Profile

Make sure your AEO strategy aligns with your brand’s voice: if you’re positioning your business as expert and helpful, your content should reflect that across all touchpoints.

How do you create a successful AEO strategy?

Like any digital marketing strategy, AEO is not ‘set and forget’. It needs regular review and refinement to stay effective.

Steps for success:

1. Start with questions: brainstorm what your customers typically ask
2. Build a knowledge hub: FAQs, how-tos, and location-specific content
3. Monitor results: check what’s working via Google Search Console and AI query monitoring tools
4. Review quarterly: update content to reflect new user questions and evolving AI behaviour

AEO is fast becoming a must-have for any SME that wants to stay visible in the age of AI-powered search.

If you’re looking for office space from a provider that wants to support your business success, get in touch.