Key Takeaways
- Have you heard about the latest AI engine optimization for SEO known as AEO?
- Answer engine optimization or AEO, along with SEO, can redefine the future of SEO as we know it!
- Read our latest LinkedIn newsletter to witness the AEO and SEO magic that will shape up the future of SEO marketing for your brand!
The year 2024 is about to end on an AI high!
This AI boost is making the maximum impact in the digital marketing world, and the most impacted of them is SEO, or search engine optimization.
The future of SEO is uncertain the way it is right now, and its result fetching capability is dwindling fast!
AEO and SEO can bring back the glory days of SEO.
In this LinkedIn Newsletter, we will help you not only decode AEO or answer engine optimization but also chart the future of SEO!
If you are a business owner, an AI enthusiast, a digital marketer, or a tech expert, this newsletter will help in jotting down the future of SEO via AEO!
A few facts about SEO
- Around 68% of the online activities start on a search engine.
- Google tends to dominate 90.48% of the global search engine market.
- 75% of the users will never go beyond the first page of Google’s search result, or SERP.
- 71% of Google searches contain more than four words, i.e., a long-tail keyword!
- Around 33% of websites adhere completely to Google Core Web Vitals and thus cater the best possible UX or user experience as per Google.
So, you know how important it is to feature at the top of Google’s search result pages, but what if even that’s not doing the trick?
What are Answer Engines?
Answer engines are those AI-powered models developed to make human lives easier!
They do it by catering to the user queries in a conversational language (via ML & NLP) and fetching the answers from the internet.
Since users are not going to the search engines and clicking on the search results displayed because of answer engines, the traditional SEO is losing.
How many types of answer engines are there?
There are, namely, two types of answer engines, and they are as follows:
- Generative AI chatbot
AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and more help in catering easily understandable and short answers for the user queries.
- Voice Assistants
Voice assistants like Alexa, Siri, and more are helping users find answers to their voice queries using search engines, but without any clicks.
These two, combined with AI-powered search engines like Bing, Google, and more, have led to a tremendous increase in the zero-click searches, i.e., almost 60% of the total search volume!
What is AEO or Answer Engine Optimization?
Answer engine optimization or AEO, is the latest trend in SEO that will decide the future of SEO in 2025!
It ensures that the zero-click searches are also covered and garner visibility by keeping the content short, simple, and question-answer oriented.
How does AEO function?
AEO or answer engine optimization which is sometimes also called AI engine optimization primarily works on the content marketing aspect of SEO!
This is what AEO does,
- It utilizes conversational keywords.
- It ensures that the headings and sub-headings are in a question format.
- It helps in delivering answers to these questions using the conversational keywords in a human-like language.
- It keeps the word limit of these answers around 30-50 words.
With this customization, a brand’s content gets picked easily for zero-click searches as well.
Key components of AEO
Here are the key components of AEO:
- Direct Answers
AEO ensures that the web content is written in a direct question-and-answer format.
- Optimization for Voice Searches
By making sure that the word length of a paragraph (that will act as an answer) is kept between 30 to 50 words, AEO aligns your content for voice searches.
- Structured Data
Schema markup and structured metadata are vital to ensuring that your website’s content is optimized for answer engines, and with AEO it has been made possible.
- User Query’s Intent & Context
Only by understanding what the user wants to know, can a brand answer them aptly and via AEO it is easily possible!
By leveraging these key components, AI engine optimization or answer engine optimization is carried out, seamlessly.
Why is AEO important?
The traditional SEO, as we know it, is solely designed for click-through searches, i.e., the user clicks on one or some of the results in the search result pages or SERPs shared with them for their search query.
Using traditional SEO, websites leveraged the search engine algorithms to garner maximum online traffic by ranking at the top of the search queries.
The twist came with the AI infusion!
AI Overviews & Featured Snippets
It all started going sideways with the inculcation of AI in search engines, wherein they started showing the answer results to the search queries themselves by using the top 10 organic search results.
It is known as AI overviews on Google and caters answers in featured snippets.
Voice Assistants
Voice assistant devices will surpass the total human population on Earth by the end of 2024!
Voice devices cater to voice searches by crafting simple answers from the organic search results in a conversational language.
Generative AI Chatbots
Then came the latest version of AI models, which were chatbots and helped users get answers to their queries in written format using conversational language and organic search results.
But as you can see in all three AI-powered options, the users are not clicking on the search results, which is defeating the purpose of the traditional SEO!
That’s why AEO is important because it ensures that a particular website’s content is written in such a way that it gets featured on all AI-powered search answers.
AEO vs. SEO: The Future of SEO
It is high time we compare AEO and SEO to help you understand them better & then make decisions about the future of SEO marketing services for your brand!
AEO or answer engine optimization SEO or search engine optimization
| AEO or answer engine optimization | SEO or search engine optimization |
| AEO helps in catering to zero-click search results. | SEO helps in catering to the click-through search results. |
| It uses only conversational keywords. | It uses all sorts of keywords, be they long-tail, commercial, conversational, comparison, or more. |
| It works on prompts. | It works on queries. |
| Short-form content is written in clear and layman language. | Long-form content is written in brand voice. |
| Headings and subheadings are in question format. | There is no such restriction for headings and subheadings. |
| It brings out the relevance of the content. | It brings out the authority of the content. |
| It focuses on helpful content that also caters to the EEAT! | It focuses only on EEAT (experience, expertise, authority, and trust)! |
| It doesn’t rely on backlinks but can benefit from it. | It uses backlinking to build EEAT! |
| It focuses on organic conversions. | It focuses on organic traffic. |
Fig 1. A tabular comparison between AEO and SEO.
As you can see from above, AEO marketing and SEO marketing both target separate fractions of organic search engine marketing, and thus AEO and SEO are important for the success of marketing campaigns in future.
The Future of SEO: AEO and SEO, which to use and when?
It is crucial to know when to use AEO or SEO so that you do not have to experiment with that and can get desired results as soon as possible.
Here’s how to decide whether to use AEO or SEO:
- Target Audience
If you cater services and products that appease the older generation, then definitely you do not need AEO.
While, with every other target audience, you need to leverage AEO.
- Competitive Edge
If your competitors are leveraging SEO, then you must focus on AEO and vice versa!
This is done to give you access to a lesser-tapped market and thus ensure top-notch visibility as well as sales.
- ROI
SEO garners your brand’s broader optimization which will have long-term impacts but will also require more effort!
While AEO delivers quick visibility and does not guarantee long-term results but will require lesser efforts.
- Content Goals
Depending upon whether you wish to be a thought leader in your industry or you just wish to be visible, you choose SEO and AEO accordingly!
By focusing on these four parameters, you can easily judge and choose the right way forward for your SEO-powered content marketing strategies.
The Future of SEO: AEO and SEO Strategy
To guarantee a safe and profitable future of SEO, you need a combined marketing strategy that utilizes both AEO and SEO.
Here’s how you achieve it:
- Optimization for Featured Snippets
Your content should be written in long form, while each heading and subheading should be in a question-and-answer format with each answer within the word limit of 30-50 words.
- Natural & Conversational Content
The web content should not feel like it uses brand voice, as that is of a formal nature.
Rather, the AEO and SEO marketing strategy must have content in a layman as well as conversational language.
- Schema Markup
AEO and SEO both require schema markup so that the content can be easily assimilated by both the search engines and answer engines.
- Questions & Long-tail keywords
If you optimized your questions (headings) as per the long-tail keywords, then the web content will be aligned with both SEO (via long-tail keywords) and AEO (via question)!
- FAQs
FAQs are a vital section for both AEO and SEO because individual FAQ will help with AEO, and the combined FAQs will help in building EEAT for SEO.
This way you can easily maximize your digital marketing efforts with AEO and SEO to have a sustainable future of SEO.
The Future of SEO: Possible Challenges in AEO and SEO Adoption
Since AEO is a new player in the SEO market, there can be some challenges to its incorporation in the SEO strategy!
But by knowing them beforehand, you can easily resolve them before they become a major issue.
Lack of AEO Expertise
As conveyed earlier, AEO or answer engine optimization is a new player, and thus not all digital marketers and marketing agencies will have its expertise.
You can find yourselves an AEO expert at Wildnet Technologies which is an reputable AEO agency!
Double the Work
AEO and SEO will require the digital marketers and content writers to do double the work as they have to craft the content from two perspectives now.
It can be challenging at first, but its results will ensure that the extra work is worth it.
Experimentation Freedom
AEO will need experimentation along with some trials and errors!
This means that it will require some patience and freedom from the client’s end.
If your brand wants to make it big, then these simple considerations are essential to having a profitable future of SEO marketing services!
Conclusion: AEO and SEO combined are the Future of SEO services!
Brands need both click-through and zero-click search visibility to have a prime spot reserved for them in the organic search results.
Via AEO and SEO, they will be able to ensure visibility across all platforms, be they search engines, answer engines, voice assistants, or more.
This holistic coverage of the internet for the related keywords and queries will deliver not only leads but also EEAT to the brand in question.
And thus, the future of SEO is a combination of AEO and SEO, while the exact percentage of this merger varies as per the industry it is being used in!
Wildnet Technologies is a leading Digital Marketing firm in India that is helping its clients benefit from both AEO and SEO along with 360-degree digital marketing services.
If you would like to know more,
- Leveraging AI for Enhanced Digital Marketing Campaigns
- AI Marketing Analytics’ Role in 2024!
- Attribution in Marketing: The Ultimate Guide
Contact us now at info@wildnettechnologies.com and get ready for the future of SEO!
FAQs
FAQ 1: Which is better, AEO or SEO?
Ans: To be honest, none is better or worse!
As they target two different aspects of the online searches, i.e., SEO caters to the click-through searches, whereas AEO caters to the zero-click searches.
So, if both matter to your brand, then you will have to choose AEO and SEO.
FAQ 2: What will be the impact of using AEO and SEO on ROI?
Ans: ROI, or return on investment, is a way to measure whether the investment is worth it or not by comparing it with the profits made.
The impact of AEO and SEO on ROI will be hugely positive and profitable as the whole of the internet is covered by it.
FAQ 3: Is it easy to do AEO and SEO together?
Ans: Since it is a newer experience, it will be a bit challenging in the start, and that’s why you need a reliable and top-notch digital marketing company like Wildnet Technologies to help you sail through it.
FAQ 4: What are the Pros of using AEO and SEO together?
Ans: The benefits of utilizing AEO and SEO together are as follows:
- Brand visibility across all channels is boosted exponentially!
- Content has a balanced mix of question-answers and long-form write-ups.
- User experience (UX) and user engagement shoot through the roof.
In short, the brand that leverages AEO and SEO will rake in tremendous profits in less time.
FAQ 5: What if we only use AEO and not SEO?
Ans: If your brand only utilizes AEO, then it will only be visible on answer engines, featured snippets, and voice search results.
You will still be cashing in on roughly 60% of the online searches, but not all of it!
