Websites now have a dual purpose. A significant portion of your content must be created specifically for AI agents—niche, granular, and structured for LLM consumption to improve AEO. The human-facing part must then evolve to offer deeper, more interactive experiences, as visitors will arrive with their basic research already completed by AI.

In an era dominated by AI chatbots, a website's relevance increases. These AI systems don't create information; they crawl the web to find it. Your site serves as the foundational data source, making a well-structured, up-to-date digital presence critical for discoverability and accurate representation by AI.

Businesses excelling at traditional SEO can still be invisible to AI-powered search engines. AI prioritizes structured data (schema) and directory signals differently than Google's algorithm. A separate strategy for "Answer Engine Optimization" (AEO) is now required.

Don't abandon SEO for GEO. LLMs rely on the same crawling and indexing systems as traditional search engines. To be cited by AI, you must first have strong SEO fundamentals like fast load times and structured data. GEO then builds on this by focusing on answering specific user questions.

Don't overcomplicate technical Answer Engine Optimization (AEO). The most impactful factors are the same as in SEO: strong internal links, proper schema markup, and ensuring LLMs can crawl your page. Hyped tactics like `LLMs.txt` are currently ineffective and not used by major search engines.

The first step to influencing AI is ensuring your website is technically sound for LLMs to crawl and index. This revives the importance of technical audits, log file analysis, and tools like Screaming Frog to identify and remove barriers preventing AI crawlers from accessing your content.

A holistic strategy for AI search optimization (AEO) requires three pillars: presence in key directories (off-page), traditional content optimization (on-page), and structured data via schema.org markup (technical) to ensure the AI can read and understand your services.

AI engines use Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), not simple keyword indexing. To be cited, your website must provide structured data (like schema.org) for machines to consume, shifting the focus from content creation to data provision.

For AI models to reference your brand, content must be structured in a machine-readable format like JSON. Traditional SEO is insufficient; marketers now need technical skills to ensure content is accessible and prioritized by AI, a fundamental change in growth strategy.