How does your brand get found? Nowadays, when someone needs a product, they head to the web or their AI tool of choice to get recommendations. AEO and SEO directly impact your brand’s visibility and your chance of showing up in a Gemini AI overview or Google search.
What does AEO or SEO even mean?
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AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimization, which means optimizing your content so answer engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity mention your business.
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SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which means optimizing your content so search engines like Google and Bing surface your website on the top pages.
Why does AEO or SEO matter?
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AEO matters because it helps answer engines cite, mention, and surface your brand inside generated answers. Think of AEO as helping answer engines choose your content when they generate answers.
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SEO matters because it helps people and search engines find, understand, and trust your content in traditional search results. Think of SEO as helping people and search engines find your content.
How do I get started?
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Get started with AEO by setting up and analyzing your AEO. This will help you understand whether AI engines are surfacing your brand, how often you’re mentioned, and where your competitors are winning visibility.
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SEO efforts should start in the SEO tool; scan your website to view SEO recommendations in HubSpot. This will help you find SEO issues, fix the most important ones, and measure whether you’re getting found more in search over time.
SEO and AEO are a combined effort; the same strong content foundations can improve both discoverability in search results and inclusion in AI answers. Content that earns strong SEO rankings tends to be authoritative and well-structured; building a strong SEO strategy could help your AEO. Check out the tips below and learn more about Planning Content for Search and AI Visibility.
Tips for Success SEO + AEO
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Answer real questions directly: Use titles and headers that match what someone would actually ask, and give a direct, clear answer. Example: Good Title = How is our AI visibility changing over time? Vs. Bad Title = AI visibility changes
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Make content easy to scan: H2/H3 headings, short paragraphs, bullets, numbers, tables. A win-win because most people prefer easily scannable content like bullet points, which helps them find key facts fast without reading long blocks of text.
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Create content worth sharing and citing: AEO depends on reputation and authentic mentions across the web, while SEO gives you more on-page control. Content shared on 3rd party sources (Social Media, Industry Blogs, Community Forums) gets cited.
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Show authority, not generic AI slop: AEO rewards real expertise and original insight, while search engines prioritize helpful, trustworthy content. Add in human touches like your own experiences and expertise; AI can’t generate this, and it can help optimize your content.
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Measure the right thing: SEO tracks rankings and clicks; for AEO track whether your brand is being cited in AI-generated answers. The key is to watch the trend over time, not one number – Are rankings and clicks improving? Are citations and visibility improving over time?
Focus on creating genuinely helpful content, structure it for clarity, and track your visibility trends over time to keep your brand top-of-mind. Build a strategy that pairs SEO best practices with AEO-ready content, so your brand is discoverable wherever your audience looks for answers.
Do you want to learn AEO from a HubSpot Professor with a group of your peers? Register for our Small Group Coaching Session - Build with HubSpot: Beyond SEO, Winning the AI Search Era with AEO.
Please note: AEO is available as a standalone tool or with a Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise subscription.