The Effect of AI Search on the SEO Landscape
The popularisation of AI tools and generative chatbots into the mainstream have transformed so much of how we navigate information in our world. Lengthy research on complex topics, reading of content, and even the way we organise data in our lives have turned about-face, removing hours of menial labour and repetitive tasks from our day to day.
SEO has been no exception to the phenomenon – as a direct influence on how users seek resources online, it’s directly impacted the metrics that specialists have made standard for measuring the success of their SEO campaigns. In an effort to label the phenomenon, we’ve seen abbreviations be tossed around, as the industry tries to maintain control of a haphazardly evolving landscape and insert its services to this new frontier.
From SEO vs AEO vs GEO, we’ve seen the market try to find an appropriate term to pigeonhole this expertise; but all it’s done is confuse incoming users as to what to gravitate toward, when it comes to finding an AI SEO service that best addresses the AI need they’re after.
nimbl’s team of SEO experts in Melbourne look into breaking these terms down further, to better understand what new terms coming from the frontlines mean what – let’s explore.
What is Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO)?
As the name suggests, AEO tries to capitalise on the way Google’s AI overviews and featured snippets – as well as platforms like ChatGPT’s comprehensive answers – deliver instant, absolute answers to queries that are more informational in nature.
In this case, specialists explore this by considering how site factors, like your page element set up, quality of copy and topical authority in the space influence the snippable nature of your content, and its relative fit into the territory AI overviews are afforded at the top of the SERP’s.
Similar to the way we think about featured snippets, there are a few factors that are front–of-mind here, when it comes to Answer Engine Optimisation:
| Factor | Importance | Optimisation |
|---|---|---|
| Length and specificity | Engines focus more on content with a concise ‘snapshot’ nature | Keep fundamental points and messages in your content sectioned to concise, direct, snippable blocks. |
| Element hierarchies | Better distinguishes elements from one another for easier scannability | Clearly establish HTML tags for specific elements in your blocks of content. |
| Short form formatting | Direct, straightforward formatting of content allows for the value messaging of the content be communicated efficiently | House your content in easily digestible formats – dot points, tables, etc. |
What is Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)?
GEO, with this in mind, takes its place as an optimisation for AI discoverability at an even higher degree, directly playing into the capacity for these platforms to generate its own generated response to a given query.
The primary difference to AEO, in this case, finds that outputs are not generally snippets or snapshots of information, but rather inspired responses that draw on a host of training material in the LLM, with less real estate dedicated toward sources of information being drawn from.
Key factors here include:
| Factor | Importance | Optimisation |
|---|---|---|
| Richness and quality of detail | The specific NLP capacity of AI engines in evaluating rich, textured language | Ensuring that the content created is niche and detailed in coverage, as well as nuanced and natural in style. |
| Strong topical authority & clustering | The NLP capacities of the engine specifically highlights semantic relationships as fields of topical coverage | Curate collections of content centred around themes, topics and agendas that the brand wishes to be a leader in |
| Brand-wide consistency | As a byproduct of its nature as an LLM, AI models take broader brand presence into account, beyond simply pages with targeted keywords | Keep the signalling of your brand’s webpages consistent to the core of its target services and market – from social media to Name/Address/Phone placements. |
Differences in Strategy Between SEO vs AEO vs GEO
Strong E-E-A-T Signalling
As many have likely realised – although the face of search behaviour has seen strong changes over the course of the past 2-3 years, the fundamental criteria that have informed whether a site is considered high quality or not has largely remained the same. Taking a macro perspective, sites that have strong topical authority, well founded technical structure, and well-regarded online sentiment will always surface above sites that do not have these factors in mind – factors that have always been strong tenets in white hat, ethical SEO.
Having a strong SEO profile, in other words, should be considered a prerequisite to an online presence that aims to capture the attention of LLM’s – particularly considering that a fair majority of traffic continues to fall under the ‘traditional’ bracket of organic listings, with only 18% of all global traffic triggering AI overviews as of August 2025. Of course, its smaller market share isn’t the primary reason that marketers should look at SEO equally here – the AI boom is still growing after all, and will only continue to grow over the next decade. Rather, your E-E-A-T signalling out of the white-hate SEO you practice overlaps with many of the factors that AI platforms tend to eyeball.
- Naturalistic, quality language in your content that addresses topics that you wish to rank for, without stuffing links or keywords for the sake of gaming the engine.
- Clear, intuitive hierarchy of webpages in your website structure that communicates the relationship of pages with one another.
- Well-managed brand collaterals that communicate proactivity and consitency in messaging- Google My Business profile, social media and more.
AEO - Focusing on Precision in Content
Much like its sibling featured snippets, optimising for answer-engines means playing on the natural language tendencies of Google in a concise, straightforward way, ensuring your content is to-the-point and free from fluff.
- SEO copy that is short enough to fit ergonomically in the SERP’s afforded AI overview territory, while aptly answering the needs of a specific query, is key here. Think short form sentences, scannable dot points, etc. that directly address a longtail question / keyword that exists in the market.
- Clarity of the content from a technical standpoint is also necessary – appropriately tagging elements in your content with relevant HTML tags marks your copy with clear signposts of purpose, and distinguishes them from one another.
GEO - Brand-wide Consistency and Topical Authority
Generative platforms, like ChatGPT or Gemini, take entire digital footprints into account when evaluating your viability as a search result. Alongside the webpages on your site, in other words, it’s important to consider how your GMP posting, horizontals across Linkedin and other socials, repute in the broader web and more amalgamate to inform the brand’s relevance to particular subject matter.
- Topical authority and pillaring are significant, when highlighting brand relevance to the subject matter you’re trying to appear in responses for. Target themes, rather than keywords, and build upon them with effective pillaring by projecting an encyclopaedic coverage of subtopics and related content – effectively addressing all potential needs that could occur in a search’s peripheral.
- Influencing the prominence of your brand in a synthesised answer means having a stronger brand-wide relevance to a given topic than others. Wanting to appear for queries as a service provider in Melbourne, for example, should see content that specifically hones in on concerns in the Melbourne’s suburbs, Melbourne areas of service across websites and socials, local references from sources of UGC like Reddit, Yelp, etc.
Optimising For AI Search - Future Proofing Your Strategy
From weekly nuances in user behaviour to the ever-changing updates to how AI platforms function – the rapid evolution in search tools we use can be a huge cause for anxiety for any marketer, business owner or online netizen in general!
We just want to emphasise though – so long as you keep the core of your online signalling true to Google’s time tested best practices and guidelines, you’re already hitting the foundations of what engines can consider a reasonable, valuable website. From there, it’s simply emphasising certain principles in your strategy to suit the platforms you have an eye on, and tailoring their form to suit the nature of users native to it.
Performing well in traditional search, but wanting to appear in more AI overviews? Explore how you can condense your content pieces to be snippable, concise and value-centric. Appearing in AI overviews, but not in generative responses? Consider the history of your brand signalling across all webpages and brand assets, and think about how they relate to the themes of search you’re targeting.
Keen to get your brand AI-ready for the new frontier of search?
The team at nimbl are at the forefront of adapting SEO strategy to the rapidly shifting waters of AI search. Explore our AI SEO solutions for more today, alongside our other SEO services for a comprehensive, versatile digital presence that doesn’t miss on opportunities old or new.
