What Is AEO vs SEO?

AEO, or answer engine optimization, focuses specifically on getting content cited or quoted inside AI-generated answers from tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google's AI Overviews. Traditional SEO focuses on ranking a page as a clickable link in classic search results. The two overlap heavily but measure success differently.

In practice, the content that earns AEO citations tends to be the same content that ranks well under traditional SEO: clear, direct, well-researched, and structured to answer a specific question plainly. Rather than treating them as competing disciplines, most sites benefit from optimizing for both at once using the same underlying content strategy.

That dual optimization is exactly the approach behind SEO software made for client work, writing content built to perform in both.