AEO vs SEO: What Founders Need To Know

The short version

SEO is the work of earning visibility in search results, mostly on Google. AEO is the work of earning mentions inside AI answers from tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity.

One aims for a link a person clicks. The other aims for a recommendation a model speaks out loud.

You do not pick one. Buyers use both search and AI, so you want to show up in both places.

How AEO and SEO differ

SEO mostly competes for position. You want your link to sit near the top of a results page so people click it, and keywords, links, and page speed all feed that goal.

AEO competes for trust inside an answer. There is no list of ten blue links, just a short reply that names a few options, and you want to be one of the names.

The unit of success differs too. In SEO it is a click, while in AEO it is a recommendation you never see in your analytics, because it happens inside a conversation.

Where they overlap

The good news is that most of the work helps both. Clear category language, honest pages, and a plain FAQ make you easier to rank and easier to quote.

Structured data is shared ground as well. The same FAQ schema that helps a search result show rich answers also hands an AI engine a clean pair to quote.

So you are not building two separate sites. You are building one clear site, then adding a few AEO specific pieces on top.

What to do first

Start with your homepage first line. State your category and your buyer in plain words, because that single sentence lifts both SEO and AEO.

Next add a plain FAQ with schema, then an llms.txt file so AI engines can read you without guessing. These are small jobs with large returns.

Then measure the AI side, since most founders already watch their search numbers but have no view of AI visibility. A scan shows the gaps that search tools miss.

The takeaway

SEO and AEO are partners, not rivals. One keeps you visible in search, the other keeps you visible inside AI answers.

Treat them as one effort with two goals. Write clear, honest pages, add the AEO extras, and you cover both.

For the full method, read the Answer Engine Optimization Playbook and learn what AI visibility is.