For years, getting found online has meant one thing - SEO.
Optimising your website for Google, choosing the right keywords, writing helpful content and building authority have all been part of the recipe for appearing in search results.
But search is changing.
More people are asking questions directly to AI tools like ChatGPT, Google's AI Overviews, Claude and Gemini instead of scrolling through pages of search results. Rather than giving users a list of websites to visit, these tools are increasingly providing the answer themselves.
That shift is creating a new challenge for businesses online.
It's no longer just about ranking well in Google. It's about making sure AI understands your business well enough to recommend it.
That's where AEO comes in.
What is AEO?
AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimisation.
Instead of optimising your website purely for search engines, AEO focuses on helping AI platforms understand your content so they can confidently use it when answering people's questions, and recommend you.
Think about how someone searches today.
A few years ago they might have typed:
"new house builder Christchurch"
Today they're just as likely to ask:
"Who builds the best lifestyle block houses in Christchurch?"
or
"What building companies provide the best eco-home build options in Canterbury?"
AI isn't simply matching keywords anymore. It's trying to understand intent, context and which businesses are demonstrating genuine expertise.
For example, if someone asks "Who builds the best lifestyle block houses in Christchurch?" AI isn't just looking for pages that mention house building or lifestyle blocks. It's looking for businesses whose websites consistently demonstrate that expertise through their services, case studies, testimonials and content.
If your website clearly answers those kinds of questions, you're far more likely to become part of the conversation and get mentioned or cited in AI results.
Does SEO still matter?
The short answer? Yes, SEO still matters and is still the foundation.
Fast websites, clear page structure, quality content, strong technical performance and a good user experience all help both Google and AI understand your website. So covering the basics will help with both.
How is AEO different from SEO?
The difference is that AEO builds on the foundations of SEO. It also relies on signals of authority, trust and expertise to determine whether your business is a credible source to reference. Instead of asking:
"How do I rank for this keyword?"
you're also asking:
"Would an AI engine confidently use this page to answer someone's question?"
It's a subtle shift in thinking, but an important one.
What makes a website AI-friendly?
Surprisingly, many of the things that help humans also help AI.
An AI-friendly website generally has:
- Clear headings that explain exactly what each section is about.
- Content that answers real customer questions.
- Well-structured pages that are easy to follow.
- Accurate business information that's consistent across your website and online profiles.
- Helpful articles that demonstrate experience rather than simply targeting keywords. Rather than writing an article called "SEO Tips", a stronger example might be "What We Learned Rebuilding 20 WordPress Websites Last Year" or "5 Website Mistakes We See Small Businesses Make Before Launch." Real experience is much harder for AI - and people - to ignore.
- Strong internal links that help connect related topics.
In other words, clarity wins.
Trying to outsmart the algorithm has never been a great strategy. But making your website genuinely useful is.
Why businesses should be paying attention to AEO now
AI search isn't something that's coming "one day" - it's already here.
Google is rolling out AI-generated search experiences. Millions of people use ChatGPT every week to research products, services and businesses. Microsoft's Copilot is built into Windows and Microsoft 365, while tools like Perplexity are changing how people research online.
If your website isn't providing clear, trustworthy information, AI has less information available to confidently reference your business.
That doesn't mean your competitors are winning yet either.
Many businesses are still only thinking about traditional SEO, which means there's an opportunity to get ahead by creating content that's designed for both search engines and AI assistants.
Over the past few months we've been testing businesses across different industries in ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI results. One thing we've noticed is that reputation in the real world doesn't always translate into visibility in AI search. We've seen well-established businesses with fantastic reviews barely get a mention, while competitors with clearer websites and stronger online authority appear more often.
How to prepare your website
You don't need to rebuild your website from scratch.
Instead, start by asking a few simple questions.
- Does every service page clearly explain what you do?
- Are you answering the questions your customers actually ask?
- Is your content written for people first?
- Can someone understand your expertise within a few minutes of landing on your site?
- Are your contact details, business information and services consistent everywhere online?
If the answer is "mostly", you're already on the right track.
If not, now is a good time to review your content before AI search becomes even more influential.
6 Practical Things You Can Do Today to Improve Your Website for AI Search
- Include testimonials and/case studies – these provide real-world validity to your expertise, and demonstrate first-hand experience.
- Add FAQs – whether it’s a dedicated FAQ page, or FAQ sections on key service pages. FAQs are structured perfectly for AI engines to digest; they consist of a question, followed by a clear answer.
- Look at including more complex Structured Data / Schema Markup – having this code in place on your pages will help AI (and search engines!) understand your page and content better.
- Establish brand trust, consistency and authority – prove your reputation and expertise so AI engines have a clear reason to trust you and what you have to say. Include qualifications, affiliations and other trust signals, as well as ensuring your business name and brand mentions are consistent and clear everywhere, not just on your website.
- Create content that answers one question really well - instead of writing one page trying to rank for ten different topics, create pages that answer a single question clearly and completely. AI prefers focused, authoritative content over vague pages trying to cover everything.
- Include a short “answer-first” summary at the top of high-value pages – AI engines prioritise highly scannable content that can straight away answer someone’s question.
Questions we're already hearing from clients
A good starting point is to ask an AI tool questions about your business or services and see whether your business is mentioned. If it isn't, review whether your website clearly explains what you do, demonstrates expertise, answers customer questions and includes strong trust signals.
Yes. AI tools use information from websites alongside other trusted sources to generate answers. While each platform works differently, having clear, well-structured and authoritative content increases the chances of your business being referenced.
No. In fact, smaller businesses can often benefit the most. A clear website that demonstrates expertise can outperform larger competitors whose content is outdated, confusing or lacks authority.
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) involves on-page and off-page website optimisations that aim to get your content found in search engines, and drive users to click on search engine results pages (SERPs). Important features are keywords, Meta data, backlinks etc. AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) focuses on optimising content so that AI can understand and utilise your content for direct mentions and recommendations in AI-generated answers, such as Google AI overviews and ChatGPT. AI isn't simply matching keywords - it's trying to understand intent, context and which businesses are demonstrating genuine expertise.
No. SEO is still the foundation. AEO builds on it.
Generally yes, unless you are blocking AI bots or web crawlers from scraping your website.
Probably not. Most businesses already have good content - it just needs to be clearer, better structured and more focused on answering customer questions.
Yes - but it needs enough clear, trustworthy information to understand what you do and why you're a credible option.
There are a number of quick things you can do today which will help, including using FAQs, having clear summaries on key pages, and answering key user questions. See our section above called “6 Practical Things You Can Do Today to Improve Your Website for AI Search”.
Final thoughts
SEO isn't disappearing, it's evolving.
Businesses that continue creating helpful, trustworthy content while making it easy for both people and AI to understand what they do will be in the strongest position over the next few years.
The goal hasn't really changed. Create a website that actually helps people.
The difference is that now, you'll also be helping the AI that's answering their questions.
We don't think businesses should panic and rebuild their websites because AI has arrived.
We do think this is the biggest shift in search behaviour since Google became the default way people found information online.
The businesses that invest in clear content, genuine expertise and trust over the next couple of years are likely to be the ones AI recommends most often.
That's a much better long-term strategy than chasing algorithms.