Is AEO replacing SEO?

No. AI tools such as Google's AI Overviews and ChatGPT search often build their answers from pages that search engines have already found. SEO is the foundation; AEO adds a few habits on top.

Should a small business start with SEO or AEO?

Start with SEO basics: a clear website, a complete Google Business Profile and reviews. Most of that work also helps with AEO. Then add AEO habits, such as checking that AI crawlers can read your site and testing what AI tools say about you.

Do I need separate content for AI search?

Usually not. Google says there are no special optimisations or markup needed for its AI features. Clear pages that answer real questions directly work for both search results and AI answers.

How do I measure AEO compared with SEO?

SEO has good free tools, such as Google Search Console. AEO measurement is less mature: today you mostly ask AI tools your customers' questions regularly and note whether you are mentioned, plus look for visits from AI sites in your analytics.

SEO vs. AEO: What Is the Difference?

SEO helps your website show up in Google’s and Bing’s search results. AEO (answer engine optimisation) helps your business get mentioned in answers written by AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews. They overlap a lot: AI tools often build their answers from pages search engines have found, so good SEO is the foundation for AEO. Most small businesses need both, but not twice the work: do the SEO basics well, then add a few AEO habits on top.

Below we compare the two side by side, show where they overlap, and suggest how to split your time.

What is SEO?

SEO (search engine optimisation) is the work of making your website easy for search engines to find, understand and trust, so it shows up when people search for what you offer. It covers technical health (speed, mobile, no broken pages), content (clear pages in the words customers use) and reputation (reviews, links and mentions from other sites). For local businesses, it also includes your Google Business Profile and showing up on Google Maps.

Our practical SEO guide for small businesses goes through the basics step by step.

What is AEO?

AEO is the work of making your business easy for AI tools to find, understand and mention when someone asks them a question. Instead of a list of links, the customer gets a written answer, often naming a few businesses and linking to a few sources. AEO is about being one of those names and sources, and about the AI describing you correctly.

You may also see it called GEO (generative engine optimisation) or AI search optimisation. For a fuller explanation, read what is AEO.

How do SEO and AEO differ?

	SEO	AEO
Goal	Show up high in search results and get the click	Be named, described correctly or cited in the AI’s answer
Where	Google, Bing (results pages and Maps)	ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode
Typical search	“accountant Bergen”	“Can you recommend an accountant in Bergen for a small online shop?”
What the customer sees	Ten links, a map, ads	A short written answer with a few names and sources
Who gets the visit	You, if they click	Sometimes you, sometimes the article or list that mentioned you
Key signals	Relevant pages, technical health, links, reviews	All of those, plus direct answers, consistent facts across the web and mentions on trusted sites
Crawler access	Googlebot, Bingbot	Also AI crawlers, such as OpenAI’s OAI-SearchBot
Measurement	Mature: Google Search Console, analytics	Early: manual testing, referral visits from AI sites
Time to effect	Weeks to months	Hard to predict; answers change from one try to the next

Where do SEO and AEO overlap?

More than many articles suggest. Google states that to appear as a link in AI Overviews or AI Mode, a page needs to be indexed and eligible to show in Google Search with a snippet, and that there are no additional requirements or special optimisations, and no special structured data, needed for its AI features.

So the work that helps both:

a website search engines can crawl and index
one clear page per service, opening with a direct answer
a complete, accurate Google Business Profile
genuine reviews, and replies to them
mentions and links from relevant, trusted sites
helpful answers to the questions customers ask

If you do these well, you have done most of your AEO as well.

What does AEO add on top of SEO?

A few things deserve extra attention when AI tools are part of the picture:

AI crawler access. A site can rank fine in Google and still be invisible to ChatGPT search if the hosting or robots.txt blocks OpenAI’s search crawler. OpenAI says sites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot will not appear in ChatGPT search answers.
Answer-first writing. AI tools quote short, clear statements. Put the direct answer in the first sentences of a page, then the detail.
Consistency across the web. AI tools compare sources before naming a business. Mismatched hours, addresses or prices across listings make you a riskier recommendation.
Mentions beyond your own site. AI answers often cite articles, review sites and “best of” lists. Being mentioned there matters, sometimes more than your own ranking.
Checking the answers. You need to ask the AI tools yourself, regularly, because there is no Search Console equivalent that reports every mention.

Do you need both?

For most small businesses, yes, but in a sensible order. Here is a rough guide to splitting your time:

Your situation	Suggested split	Why
New business, little online presence	Mostly SEO basics	Nothing to cite yet; build the foundation first
Local business with a Business Profile and some reviews	SEO, plus a monthly AEO check	Fix crawler access and consistency, then watch what AI tools say
Business whose customers research a lot before buying (B2B, health, finance, larger purchases)	Even split	These customers are more likely to ask AI tools long questions
Strong SEO already, but competitors appear in AI answers and you do not	More AEO	Look at which sources AI tools cite and work on being mentioned there

A combined SEO and AEO checklist

Which one brings more customers today?

For most small businesses, Google search and Google Maps still bring in more visitors than AI tools do. You can see this in your own analytics: compare visits from Google with visits from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai and similar sites. Across the wider web the gap is large: a 2026 study by SE Ranking of more than 100,000 websites found that AI tools sent about 0.3 % of all visits, while search engines sent about 43 %.

But visit counts do not tell the whole story. A customer who asks an AI tool for a recommendation may never click a link at all. They may read your name in the answer, then search for you directly or call you. That kind of customer shows up in your numbers as a direct visit or a branded search, not as AI traffic. So a small number of AI visits does not mean AI tools are not affecting who calls you. It is one more reason to ask new customers how they found you.

What about promises?

Be wary of anyone who guarantees a position in Google or a mention in ChatGPT. Google warns against guaranteed rankings in Do you need an SEO?, and AI answers are even less predictable. Honest SEO and AEO work makes you easier to find and trust. It does not hand anyone control over the results.

If you want concrete steps for AI search specifically, read how to get your business recommended by ChatGPT. For the local side, see local SEO: get found on Google Maps.

Where Pufflo fits

We built Pufflo for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), with SEO and AEO at the core of every plan: AI agents fix technical problems, keep your listings consistent, suggest content that answers customers’ questions, and check how Google and AI tools present your business, while you approve changes in plain language. Plans start at €49 a month excl. VAT, and if you start during the launch period you get 50 % off the first three months. See pricing to get started.