If there’s one thing the last year in marketing has shown us, it’s that search is constantly evolving. For a long time, SEO led the race. It has been reliable, measurable, and (to an extent) predictable. But search is changing. Search engines are no longer a collection of links; with the rise of AI overviews, large language models as search engines, and other innovations, the way we discover information has changed.
For businesses across South Yorkshire, it seemed like only yesterday that traditional SEO was enough. But today, there is much more to digital marketing in Sheffield. In this change comes answer engine optimisation, also known as AEO. Read on to learn about AEO and how it’s changing search.
Answer Engine Optimisation
AEO is a digital marketing strategy which aims to make your web content easily discoverable by AI search engines like ChatGPT. As the name implies, the process includes structuring website content to be directly cited, recommended, or summarised by AI search engines. This usually means creating content that clearly addresses user queries, often structured in a concise format.
In practice, AEO mostly relies on format. SEO depends on longer content, retaining users on a page, whereas AEO aims to create content that can be easily queried and claimed. This means putting out more assertions, facts, and other confidently claimed statements. AI is also more likely to sample from the first paragraph, so ensure this is strong, too.
To strengthen AEO, brands may:
- Receive positive mentions in articles, blogs, podcasts, and other reputable publications.
- Putting out their own unique, useful, AI-friendly content.
Whether it’s asking your Alexa for a niche recommendation or putting out an oddly specific question on the internet, answer engines are what will respond back. So, ask yourself, does your content clearly answer the question you’re trying to answer? If not, these search engines will look elsewhere.
Search Engine Optimisation
SEO is a digital marketing strategy that focuses on ranking your website higher on traditional search engines like Google. It focuses on keywords, backlinks, depth of content and structure of your site. Getting this right ensures that your page shows up on the first page of these search engines.
In practice, this differs from AEO in that it focuses on in-depth, longer-form content that keeps users engaged for longer.
To strengthen SEO, brands may:
- Improve on-page SEO, including keywords, headings, URLs, and more.
- Create high-quality content from an authoritative voice.
- Ensure content is optimised for mobile
How to succeed in both AEO and SEO
Just because AEO is rising in popularity, this doesn’t make SEO any less important. The general guidelines for producing high-quality work that ranks well in both SEO and AEO are as follows:
Start with a clear answer
The most important first step in writing content is to lead with value, with your opening paragraph directly answering users’ queries confidently. This improves your chances of ranking in search results
Structure for both machines and humans
Structuring for both machine and human reading will increase your chances of visibility online. Optimise by using descriptive, semantic H2 and H3 headings, answer-first opening paragraphs and consistent language. This also includes not using overly technical language.
Utilise E-E-A-T
Build experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. AI prioritises content that is backed by expertise.
Accessibility to AI crawlers
Just like Googlebot can crawl your site for SEO, AI bots crawl for AEO. So, if you have content hidden behind a password or in a PDF, AI bots may struggle to crawl for key information. Keep information in HTML text and consider policies for AI crawlers.
Scale your Visibility in Sheffield Today
Unsure of how to scale up visibility for your business in Sheffield or South Yorkshire? Let us help! Our experts at Daffodil Marketing can help you get seen by not only search engines, but AI search engines too.
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