ALT KODO GUIDE /
Customers used to find a business by typing a few words into Google and scanning a list of links. Many still do. But more people now ask an AI assistant a full question, such as “who builds booking apps for small businesses near me?”, and read a single written answer. If your business isn’t part of that answer, you may never know you were in the running.
That shift is why you hear about AEO alongside SEO. Here is what each one means and what you can do about both.
What is SEO?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the work of helping your pages appear in search results such as Google and Bing. It covers technical foundations (can search engines crawl and index your pages?), content (do your pages answer what people search for?) and reputation (do other sites reference you?).
What is AEO?
Answer engine optimization (AEO) is the work of helping AI assistants and AI search features understand your business well enough to include it in their answers and cite it as a source. That includes ChatGPT search, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and Google’s AI features.
AEO is not a replacement for SEO. AI search tools rely heavily on the same things search engines do: pages they are allowed to read, clear text, accurate facts and signals that a source is trustworthy. Good SEO is the foundation; AEO makes sure that foundation is easy for an AI to quote.
What actually helps you show up in both
- Let the right crawlers in. Check that your robots.txt and firewall allow search crawlers such as Googlebot and Bingbot, and AI search crawlers such as OAI-SearchBot and Claude-SearchBot.
- Make your content readable without JavaScript. If your main text only appears after scripts run, some crawlers will see an empty page.
- Say clearly what you do, who you serve and where. Vague slogans are hard for an AI to repeat; plain statements like “we build mobile apps for restaurants in Ontario” are easy.
- Give each service its own page. One page per service, with its own title and description, gives search engines and AI tools a specific page to match to a specific question.
- Answer real questions. FAQs and guides that answer what customers ask before they buy are exactly the kind of text an answer engine can cite.
- Add structured data. Schema.org markup for your organization, services, articles and FAQs describes your business in a machine-readable way.
- Keep your details consistent. Your business name, website, contact details and description should match across your site, social profiles and directories.
What doesn’t help
Stuffing pages with keywords, publishing thin pages for every possible search phrase and buying links can all backfire. Be wary of anyone who guarantees first-page rankings or guaranteed AI recommendations. Nobody controls those results; you can only make your business the clearest, most credible answer available.
How to measure progress
Set up Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, submit your sitemap and watch which pages are indexed and which searches show them. In your analytics, look for referral traffic from AI tools such as chatgpt.com. Not every AI mention produces a click, so treat those numbers as a signal rather than the full picture.
The short version
SEO helps people find your pages. AEO helps AI tools understand and recommend your business. Both reward the same thing: a fast, accessible website that clearly answers the questions your customers ask. If you would like a second opinion on how your site measures up, ALT kodo offers SEO and AI search reviews and can fix what we find.