How is AEO different from SEO?

// The answer

Let me start this off by aging myself a little bit. If you remember the days of Netflix back in the early 2000s, where you used to get a DVD in the mail, watch it, put it back in that paper returnable envelope, and send it back, well, that's kind of how I look at search engine optimization. SEO has been around for quite a few years, and essentially what it is, is getting cited directly on Google. Search engine optimization targets the blue links on the search engine results page. Answer engine optimization targets the synthesized answer itself. AEO is built solely around the large language models like ChatGPT, Grok, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini, just to name a few. There are dozens upon dozens of large language models out there. And the ultimate objective is to have AI make you the first answer that comes up for the recommended service provider in the area. That's how answer engine and search engine optimization differ from each other. Answer engine optimization, in my opinion, is the way of the future. In fact, it's one of the strongest indicators of where our technology is going, and how you can become the number one go-to agent in your marketplace.