Question 1

Will AEO replace SEO?

Accepted Answer

No — not in any near-term timeframe, and probably not structurally either. Google still processes billions of queries per day that result in blue links, local results, and shopping results — none of which AI answers have replaced for commercial intent. What's changing is the share of informational and pre-decision queries that go to AI engines instead of traditional search. For those queries, being cited in an AI answer is increasingly as valuable as a page-one ranking. The practical answer for operators: invest in both, because the foundation — excellent content, topical authority, structured data — serves both channels simultaneously.

Question 2

Is GEO the same as AEO?

Accepted Answer

Closely related but not identical. AEO is specifically about optimising for answer engines — AI tools that respond to queries by synthesising an answer from multiple sources. GEO is the broader category: optimising for generative AI systems in general, which includes answer engines but also LLM pre-training data, AI summarisation tools, and systems that generate content using your web presence as a source. In practice, the tactics for AEO and GEO overlap heavily. The distinction matters more in theory than in day-to-day execution.

Question 3

How do I know if AI engines are citing my site?

Accepted Answer

Two methods: direct measurement and manual spot-checks. In GA4, look for sessions with source/medium containing perplexity.ai, chatgpt.com, gemini.google.com — these are direct referrals from AI engines that clicked through to your site. For citations in AI answers (where no click happens), manual spot-checks — asking AI tools your target questions and checking if you're cited — give you a directional signal. Brand monitoring tools like Brand24 or Mention track brand mentions across the web, which can surface AI-generated content that references you.

Question 4

Do I need different content for AI engines vs. traditional search?

Accepted Answer

Not different content — adapted structure. The substance should be the same: expert, accurate, original. What changes is the format: leading with a direct answer (not a preamble), using precise definitions, adding FAQ sections with question-and-answer pairs, and implementing schema markup. These adaptations make content more extractable by AI engines without making it worse for human readers or traditional search. In most cases, AEO-adapted content also performs better in traditional SEO because clarity and structure are universally rewarded.