What stays
One foundation.
A site Google cannot read, AI cannot read either. Fast pages, clean structure, and plain facts about your business carry both.
Still counts: your SEO workDo both. They share one foundation. SEO puts your business on Google's list of links. AEO puts your business inside the answer an AI assistant gives. When a buyer asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude or Gemini who to hire, there is no list to scroll. There is one answer, and a few names in it.
Check each row against what you see when you search for your own business.
| SEO | AEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Where you show up | A list of links on Google | Inside the answer from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini and Google's AI Overviews |
| Who chooses | The buyer scrolls and picks | The AI picks a few names before the buyer sees anything |
| What earns the spot | Keywords, links from other sites, a fast page | Clear facts about who you are, mentions on trusted sites, reviews, answers written to be quoted |
| How it is measured | Where your site ranks, clicks, traffic | How often AI mentions you, recommends you, and cites your pages |
| The foundation | A site search engines can read | The same site, plus AI crawlers allowed in |
| How it grows | Compounds over months | Compounds over months, and moves with every new answer |
A site Google cannot read, AI cannot read either. Fast pages, clean structure, and plain facts about your business carry both.
Still counts: your SEO workGoogle shows ten options. An AI assistant shows a handful, sometimes one. The question shifts from where your site ranks to whether you are in the answer at all.
New: be in the answerDoes AI know clearly who you are? Do people and trusted sites vouch for you? Is your page the one it quotes?
AI decides on: all threeAsk ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Gemini the question your buyer would ask, in your buyer's words. Note who they name. Do it again next month.
Start: where you are missingIf your buyers find you only through Google Maps or word of mouth, and never ask an AI assistant, strong SEO and steady reviews may carry you for now.
The shift is coming either way. The groundwork is the same, so starting early costs little.
Every open issue is a reason for AI to skip a page. Fewer issues means more pages AI can read, trust, and quote.
One client site went from 200 open issues to 111 in a single weekend, with 60 of its Google reviews placed on 20 pages where AI can read them. Proof from real customers is what makes AI comfortable recommending a business.
Socially Smashing's own AI readiness score rose from 72 to above 92 in two days. A higher score means AI crawlers get through, understand the page, and have a clear answer to quote.
Short, practical, and built to be used the same day.
One AEO fix each week, plus first access when the community opens.
Join the newsletterClose, and the work overlaps almost entirely. AEO, answer engine optimization, is about being the direct answer when someone asks an AI assistant a question. GEO, generative engine optimization, is about being cited inside the longer responses ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Gemini write. The same groundwork serves both.
Yes. AI assistants read the same web Google reads, and many of them lean on pages that already rank. A site that is slow, hard to crawl, or vague about what the business does fails for search engines and for AI alike. Strong SEO is the foundation AEO is built on.
Ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Gemini the question your buyer would ask, in your buyer's own words, and note which businesses they name. Repeat it next month with the same wording. That simple check is the start of measuring AI visibility, and it shows whether you are in the answer at all.
AI crawlers usually read your pages first. Citations follow, then visits from AI answers, then more people searching for your business by name. Plan in months rather than days, and watch the signals week by week so you can see which pages AI is reading and quoting.
Three things, together called the Trust Triangle. Authority: AI knows clearly who you are and what you do. Recommendability: customers and trusted sites vouch for you, through reviews and mentions. Citation: your page is the one AI quotes, because it answers the question plainly.