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Digital marketing is a field that is constantly evolving, and the strategies that worked yesterday may not deliver the same results today. While search engine optimization (SEO) has been a pivotal part of modern digital marketing for years, even decades, a new brand of site content optimization has emerged in the past year: answer engine optimization (AEO).
With Large Language Models like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini becoming increasingly popular sources for user searches, AEO has become a critical marketing strategy for businesses wanting to stay on the cutting edge. However, embracing AEO shouldn’t mean neglecting SEO, as the majority of users still prefer traditional general information searches. The truth is, to stay competitive online, harnessing both AEO and SEO is now critical. Here’s a breakdown of why you need both strategies to make the most of your digital marketing efforts.
What Is SEO?
SEO is a digital marketing practice in which your website’s content and structure are continually optimized to help increase its visibility in organic search engine results. By optimizing various elements of your website — like keywords, meta tags, content quality, website speed, backlinks, and mobile usability — you enhance user experience and make your site a more valuable resource for users, in turn helping your site appear higher on search engine results pages (SERPs).
The main goal of SEO is to attract more organic traffic to your website, convert leads, and increase sales. For more than 20 years, SEO has been a cornerstone of digital marketing, cost-effectively driving traffic and boosting brand awareness for businesses of all sizes.
What Is AEO?
Whereas SEO focuses on increasing visibility on Google results pages, AEO focuses on being chosen as the source for direct answers by answer engines like Google’s Featured Snippets, voice assistants like Siri, ChatGPT, and other AI-driven tools.
The method for optimizing your site for answer engines is different than optimizing for traditional search, since these engines are trying to find one definitive answer for users’ specific questions. Optimizing for AEO involves structured data, clear FAQs, schemas, and concise, well-formatted answers to questions that answer engines can easily recognize and extract.
Differing Objectives of AEO vs. SEO
While both AEO and SEO are both designed to ultimately increase brand visibility, their core objectives differ. SEO’s goal is to increase website traffic and engagement rates, leading to more conversions. AEO, on the other hand, doesn’t focus on direct web traffic at all. Instead, it aims to make your brand a topical authority, broadening your influence and credibility within your target market, even if users never click on your website to find the answer to their initial question.
They Target Different Search Behaviors
The way users search online continues to change, with some preferring to ask Siri a question and receive a direct answer, while others prefer to browse through Google results to parse the information for themselves.
SEO traditionally targets typed queries where the user wants to browse several results and gather information before making a decision. These users are typically further down the sales funnel, getting ready to purchase a product or service and wanting to discern the best one for their needs.
AEO, however, is tailored for the new wave of natural language and voice searches. These users want a quick, direct answer that they don’t have to spend time searching through. For example, they may ask an answer engine, “What is the difference between natural and lab-grown diamonds?” to gain basic knowledge. This user has informational search intent. Once they’re in the consideration or decision phase and have a transactional search intent, they would likely search in Google, “best place to buy natural diamond rings near me.”
By leveraging both SEO and AEO, you ensure that your business is not only visible in traditional search results but also accessible to users searching in new, intent-driven ways.
Unique Content Creation Strategies
Since SEO and AEO have different objectives, they require different content creation strategies to most effectively achieve their goals. For traditional SEO, optimal content includes long-form blogs and in-depth landing pages that provide value and context to a reader whale encouraging further site engagement. Short and long-tail keywords are utilized to help the content perform well in organic rankings.
AEO, on the other hand, requires clear, concise, and extremely structured content. This includes FAQ sections, short and authoritative answer blocks, and step-by-step solutions. AEO content is designed to help answer engines easily parse your information and deliver it as a direct answer to user queries.
To succeed in modern digital marketing, businesses need to stay on the cutting edge of new technology and user trends. If you need help staying up-to-date and increasing your website’s visibility online, look no further than IDG Advertising, Arizona’s premier digital marketing company for small businesses. Our team of analysts and copywriters will work with you to create a bespoke SEO strategy with high-quality content that will boost your rankings and drive local traffic to your business online. To find out more about our SEO marketing services, including AEO, give us a call today at 714-221-4377 or contact us online.
