SEO vs. AEO: What You’re Not Being Told About AI Search Results
By Grace Rizza, CEO, Identity Dental Marketing
There’s a lot of misinformation floating around right now regarding SEO and how AI platforms like ChatGPT, Grok, and even Google’s AI snippets produce their answers. Let’s clear something up right away: SEO absolutely influences AI-generated results, and anyone claiming otherwise is misinformed.
I’ve seen posters recently suggest that SEO has no bearing on ChatGPT results. That’s simply false. You can even ask ChatGPT how it generates answers, and it will confirm it uses publicly available data on the internet. This includes forum responses, and – importantly – SEO-optimized websites. AI pulls information from all these sources to generate recommendations, making SEO a major contributor to AI search visibility.
We’ve already been optimizing for what some are now calling “AEO” (Answer Engine Optimization) – but let’s be honest, this is not some entirely new form of optimization. It’s SEO with a different angle. The biggest difference is a heavier reliance on schema markup and strategic Q&A content, both of which we’ve been implementing for our clients for years. We’re not scrambling to catch up to a trend – we’re already there.
As Google and other platforms evolve to prioritize AI-driven results, we’re staying ahead of the curve. Our strategies already target Google’s AI-generated answer sections, and we’re preparing to roll out a new service package designed specifically for visibility on platforms like ChatGPT, Grok, and similar AI systems. If you’re already an Identity Dental Marketing client, you’re likely benefiting from these efforts without even realizing it.
Some people are reselling generic marketing tools and suggesting that AEO should replace SEO. That’s a risky and misguided recommendation. AEO is not a substitute for SEO – it’s a branch of it. One feeds the other. Abandoning SEO in favor of AEO is like dropping your website to focus solely on social media – you’re cutting out the foundation.
If you’d like us to test any new tools or platforms as part of your marketing strategy, we’re happy to look into it and give you real, experienced insight – not guesswork or repackaged software.
Let’s keep building your visibility the smart, sustainable way. Let us know if you’d like to explore this further.
