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GEO + AEO = SEO Success for Small Businesses

It’s no secret that online search engines utilize AI to enhance their results; for marketers, there is another related area to consider: Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO).


Let’s see how these terms apply to SEO, and, more specifically, how the two work in tandem for the small business SEO campaigns.



SEO is evolving as more people utilize AI for their search queries.

What is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)?


Generative Engine Optimization, or GEO, is an SEO term that represents an approach or strategy focusing on optimizing content and website strategy for generative AI engines. A generative engine is any AI tool designed to provide or generate content that is “human-like”, whether those tools are ChatGPT, Google’s Bard, or any other proprietary generative AI search engine (not yet released). As with more familiar SEO processes, GEO is all about understanding how these tools will be able to “read” or make sense of your site, then writing and formatting content in such a way that is AI-friendly to any generative engine (generative AI search).


Generative AI is often used through voice search or embedded in other voice-driven, conversational AI tools. It’s essential to consider not only search-friendly content but also content structured and presented in a way that a machine can “digest.”


Generative engines tend to focus heavily on answering questions clearly, using a conversational tone. This means using long-tail keywords and addressing common questions, all while maintaining a conversational tone.


What is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)?


AEO is an SEO strategy that is all about how to optimize your content for search engines that want to deliver instant, direct answers to their customers. Think of featured snippets from Google, and you’ll get the idea. The best way to consider AEO is to think about it in terms of “answer boxes”.


Google and other search engines have moved to include direct answers to users’ questions. However, for that to happen, businesses must structure their content in a way that makes it easy for a search engine to extract it from a site and reposition it in an answer box.


The proliferation of chatbots and other voice search tools has changed the way people expect to get information. When people type or speak a question into a search engine, they are often looking for an immediate answer – not even a link, but an answer “generated” on the search page itself.


How GEO and AEO Work Together


SEO for AI and Voice Search

AI and conversational voice search go hand in hand, and optimization for one often means being optimized for the other. Generative AI engines and AEO both have a high focus on returning quick, direct answers to queries. As a small business, if you optimize your content for both types of SEO, you’ll be sure to cover yourself for all forms of voice search, conversational search, and AI results.


SEO for Generative Engines: When writing content for GEO, consider how it will work for voice search. Frame your content with commonly asked questions and answers using “voice”, or a conversational tone.


SEO for Answer Engines: Optimize the content on your website using clear and concise answers to common questions. Break up the content into small, easily digestible chunks, using bullets, lists, and other clear, visually appealing segments.


SEO for Generative Engines: Consider creating highly-structured, well-formatted content optimized for how a generative engine would want to “crawl” that content. Anticipate questions, and then answer them.


SEO for Answer Engines: Create FAQ pages, how-to pages, and other easily-scanned pages that will attract search engine notice. The better you format and make visible the answers to questions, the better your chances for an AEO “nod”.


Optimize AEO, GEO, and SEO for Local


Small business SEO needs to be hyper-localized, or at the very least, place-sensitive. GEO and AEO often come into play in local searches.


SEO for Generative Engines: Consider how you could answer common questions about your business, products, or services.


SEO for Answer Engines: Consider how and where you’re most likely to be asked local questions, and write for that audience.


Capture Long-Tail Keywords and Conversational Queries


Both SEO for generative engines and SEO for answer engines are highly linked with long-tail keywords, often because long-tail or “chained” keywords are more conversational in tone.


SEO for Generative Engines: Small businesses often focus on more transactional, focused keywords. With GEO, your content can answer customer questions that can drive long-tail keywords.


SEO for Answer Engines: AEO also tends to look for longer chains of keywords, often because they’re written as questions. An example of such a long-tail keyword or question might be, “how do I make gluten-free cookies,” or “best chocolate cake near me.”


Drive Rich Search Engine Results


SEO for generative engines and SEO for answer engines both have a high propensity for what are called “rich results.” Rich results occur when a search engine extracts content from a website and then displays it in a more prominent position on its results page.


SEO for Generative Engines: Make your content rich and full. Answer customers’ questions, address common queries, and provide them with links and other clickable attributes.


SEO for Answer Engines: Format your content in easily digestible content, like FAQs and product descriptions.



SEO for generative AI engines and SEO for Answer Boxes are very much two parts of the same content marketing “coin”. Small businesses seeking to attract new customers and expand their digital presence must consider both.


Both focus on customer queries. They both include easy-to-read content that is formatted in a way that makes it both machine-readable and understandable. With the continued proliferation of chatbots and virtual assistants, customers are increasingly expecting not just links to answers, but answers themselves. As the digital world becomes more conversational, an increasing amount of that conversation will occur not between people, but between humans and AI.


Sources


Article from SERP and SEO News (Published: April 19, 2023)



Article from Advanced Web Ranking (Published: April 26, 2023)



Article by Huma Nasir (Published: August 17, 2021)



Article from SEOBility (Published: August 19, 2020)



Article from NEWMARKET-SEO (Published: July 26, 2022)


 
 
 

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