06/09/2026
For the last twenty years, SEO has been the focus of online businesses. The better your SEO, the better your website performs, and the better it performs, the more traffic your website gets ๐
But is AI changing that? Should you shift from SEO or AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)?
No. The reason is simple: they are fundamentally the same thing. Chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, etc use the same search engines you do. ChatGPT uses Bing, Gemini uses Google and Claude uses Brave ๐ฆ
One difference is that while you might read two or three of the search results and come up with an answer on your own, these bots will read all ten or more links, compile the data, and return their findings.
A downside to this technology is that the people who create the content don't get any human visitors to their website. This means your CTAs, popups, newsletter sign-ups and advertisements won't be converting. This may change how websites are built in the future ๐ค
Another difference is that AEO prefers quick answers. Parsing and indexing data is a lot of work and long recipe blog posts that once tried to fulfill Google's recommendation of 800+ words per page by talking about a childhood memory, are not AI friendly. There's too much non relevant information. This would be a positive change for websites and make it easier for humans to use too.
Another way to easily give AI the information it needs is via schema, like FAQ or Service schema. These allow you to tell the AI software the most important information in the cleanest format ๐ค
Having an llms.txt file, which is similar to a sitemap.xml file, is also a great way to tell AI agents about the services referenced on a website.
The world of SEO and AEO is constantly changing and you aren't expected to keep up with it. At Zorp!, we handle the tech stuff and leave the business stuff to you ๐
Have questions about how AI sees your website? Or maybe now to prevent AI from reading your site? Send us a message! We offer free SEO audits to help you find the blind spots on your site. ๐
Image: Arlette Dobson and John Richard modeling a "space age bridal outfit", March 1962.