Stop chasing keyword rankings. The new goal is 'search visibility'—dominating AI answers, knowledge panels, and local packs. It's about owning your brand's share of answers wherever a prospect looks, not just securing a single blue link on a results page.

AI search is the new overpowered marketing channel, with traffic converting up to 17x higher than Google. To get featured, invest heavily in comprehensive "alternatives to [competitor]" and "[your product] vs [competitor]" pages, as these are the bottom-funnel queries AI models cite most often.

Unlike SEO, which favors established authority, Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is a level playing field. Early-stage companies can gain traction quickly by creating content for ultra-specific, long-tail questions where no answers currently exist, making them the default winner regardless of their size.

Traditional SEO requires significant time to build domain authority, making it a mid-stage game. AEO bypasses this; a startup can get mentioned in citations like Reddit or YouTube and immediately start appearing in LLM answers, allowing them to compete with incumbents from day one.

With 80-90% of AI-powered searches resulting in no clicks, traditional SEO is dying. The new key metric is "share of voice"—how often your brand is cited in AI-generated answers. This requires a fundamental strategy shift to Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), focusing on becoming an authoritative source for LLMs rather than just driving website traffic.

Especially for local businesses, the Google Business Profile is a vital content channel, not a static listing. Actively use it as a publishing platform by posting weekly updates, photos, and service details to feed Google's local 'answer engine' and dominate local search visibility.

Unlike traditional SEO where the top link wins, in LLMs, the answer is a summary of many sources. The brand mentioned most frequently across all citations is most likely to be recommended, even if it's not the top-ranked source. This changes the strategy from ranking to saturation.

While long-tail SEO has become less effective, it's a primary strategy in AEO. Users ask longer, more conversational questions (25 words on average vs. 6 for search). Companies can win by creating content that answers very specific, niche questions that have never been searched for before.

After a decade of struggling, SportsMole found its niche with highly detailed, analytical match previews. This specific content format consistently secured the #1 Google ranking for 'Team A vs Team B' searches, demonstrating the power of owning a high-intent search query.