How Marketers Can Win the Next Era of Search

When it comes to search, there’s a difference between being found and being featured, and in the next era of search, that difference is everything. 

For years, marketers have optimized for SEO. Now, as AI reshapes how people find and consume information, two new layers have joined the mix: AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization). Together, they define how your content shows up — whether it’s in a search results page, an AI-generated overview, or a chatbot’s response. 

And that’s where marketers can win — by adjusting their strategies and tactics to extend what already works in SEO into AEO and GEO. 

I’ve been diving deep into this topic, partly out of curiosity and partly to learn how we - accelant’s marketing team - can keep pace with the changes redefining modern marketing. It’s already reshaping how we think about visibility, authority, and staying relevant in an AI-driven search world.

What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of making your content easy for search engines to find, understand, and rank. It’s how brands make themselves discoverable by aligning what they publish with what people are searching for. 

At its core, SEO is about visibility and engagement, making your content easy to find and compelling enough to drive clicks to your site. The goal has always been to show up on page one. To do that, marketers optimize around keywords, metadata, backlinks, and user experience. 

And its worked. SEO built the frameworks for quality, relevance, and authority that every search methodology since has relied on. The fundamentals haven’t changed; what’s evolving now is how those signals are interpreted and surfaced. 

In other words, if you understand SEO, you already understand the building blocks of AEO and GEO.

What is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)?

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the process of creating content that directly answers user questions in ways search engines, AI assistants, and answer engines can easily surface. If SEO was about being ranked, AEO is about being quoted. 

It’s the natural evolution of SEO. Traditional SEO helps you show up on a list of results. AEO helps you show up as the response itself — the one engines quote back instantly. Instead of chasing keyword density, AEO asks: What’s the clearest, most authoritative way to answer this question? 

And that matters because search behavior is becoming more conversational. People ask, engines answer, people refine, engines adjust. It’s no longer a one-and-done keyword query — it’s an ongoing exchange. And the content that wins is the content that can keep up with that pattern.

What is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)?

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) — no to be confused with geographic or local search — is the practice of optimizing your content so it’s understood, cited, and accurately represented by generative AI systems like ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, and Perplexity. 

If SEO helped you get discovered and AEO helped you get surfaced as the answer, GEO helps you get integrated into the response itself. These systems don’t just pull links or snippets; they synthesize insights from multiple sources to generate new answers. Your goal isn’t just to be ranked or quoted, it’s to be included in what the AI creates. 

GEO builds on the same foundation as SEO and AEO: clarity, authority, and trust. But it adds a new layer of context. Generative engines need structured, accurate, and semantically rich content they can interpret confidently. The clearer your entities, relationships, and explanations, the more likely your brand is to be represented accurately in AI-generated summaries and conversations. 

For marketers, GEO isn’t about chasing algorithms. It’s about ensuring that when AI explains your space, your brand’s perspective is part of the story. 

SEO, AEO & GEO: How Are They Different?

SEO, AEO, and GEO aren’t separate disciplines. They’re stages in how both search and search behavior have transformed. Each one builds on the same foundation of clarity, authority, and relevance, but focuses on a different outcome. 

• SEO is about being found. It helps your content appear in search results and attract clicks. 
• AEO is about being sourced. It positions your content as the answer, helping your brand stay visible and influential early in the buyer journey. 
• GEO is about being included. It ensures your expertise is represented accurately in AI-generated responses. 

The fundamentals haven’t changed. Strong content, clear structure, and credible insights still win. What’s changing is how those signals are interpreted by algorithms and AI systems. 

So don’t think of AEO and GEO as reinventions. Think of them as refinements. If you understand SEO, you already have the skill set. Now it’s just about adjusting tactics to stay visible, quotable, and trusted as search keeps evolving.

How Marketers Can Optimize for AEO & GEO

Understanding what AEO and GEO are and why they matter is only half the story. The real question is how do you actually do it? For marketers, that means shifting from “how do I rank for this keyword?” to “how do I become the best possible answer to this question?”  

Here’s how to make that shift in practice.

1. Start With the Questions Your Audience is Asking

Use tools like AnswerThePublic, SEMrush, or even Google’s “People Also Ask” boxes to see the exact phrasing your buyers use. These queries often mirror how people talk to AI assistants.

That’s exactly how this blog started. Before writing, we used keyword and topic research to understand what marketers were asking about AEO, GEO, and SEO. Those insights shaped the structure, headlines, and examples you’re reading right now. 

Below are question maps from AnswerThePublic showing what people are asking related to the keywords “GEO” and “SEO.”

If you do the same for your own content, you’ll start creating pieces that don’t just show up in search, they naturally become the answers people (and engines) are looking for. 

⇒ GEO benefit: Clear question targeting makes it easier for AI systems to detect intent and pull accurate summaries.

2. Structure Content for Direct Answers

AEO rewards clarity. Every section should make it easy for both readers and engines to find the answer fast. That means leading with the takeaway first, then expanding with detail. 

Start each major section with a question-based header (like “What is AEO?” or “How Are They Different?”) and answer it immediately in the first 1-2 sentences. That’s exactly how this blog was written — each section starts with the answer, so AI systems and readers can understand the point before scrolling. 

Once you’ve led with the answer, add context, examples, or proof points underneath. You can also use Q&A formatting or structured elements like FAQs or How-Tos to make parsing easier. 

⇒ GEO benefit: Answer-first structure gives AI a clean excerpt to quote and reduces summarization errors.

3. Deliver Authority in Every Response

Search engines, and now AI assistants, prioritize trust. Authority is the credibility signal they use to decide whose answer to quote or include. 

In traditional SEO, authority is built through backlinks, mentions, and external validation — the more reputable sites that reference your content, the stronger your authority score becomes. The same idea applies to AEO and GEO. You’re still proving credibility, but now engines are also evaluating the context of those mentions and the clarity of your content. 

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

• Backlinking still matters. Publish content worth referencing and actively promote it to partners, thought leaders, or industry publications that can link back. 
• Be cited, not just found. When other trusted sources quote or reference your language directly, it increases the likelihood that AI engines will do the same. 
• Keep your entity signals consistent. Use the same names, titles, brand identifiers, and schema markup across content so engines recognize your expertise and connect mentions back to you. 
• Add proof inside your content. Reference your own data, case studies, or experiences that show firsthand expertise. 
• Show up off-site. Guest blogs, webinars, podcasts, and public posts on LinkedIn all build the trust network that AEO and GEO systems pull from.

Authority in AEO and GEO isn’t new. It’s the same foundation SEO has always relied on, just evaluated through more intelligent systems that can read for credibility instead of only links. 

⇒ GEO benefit: AI tools favor recognized, trustworthy entities when generating responses, increasing the odds your brand is represented correctly. 

4. Build Topic Depth, Not Just One-Off Posts

Search engines and AI systems don’t just reward individual pieces of content. They reward topic ecosystems — a collection of related content that demonstrates expertise and authority. 

One of the best ways to do this is by building content clusters around your core topics instead of publishing standalone blogs. Start with a pillar page that provides a high-level overview, then link supporting content that dives deeper into specific subtopics. 

For example, if your pillar is “The Next Era of Search,” your supporting pieces could include “What Is AEO,” “What Is GEO,” “How AI Is Changing SEO,” and “AEO vs. GEO.” Each piece links back to the pillar and to each other, signaling to both search and AI systems that your brand has true topic depth. 

If you’re a HubSpot user, this strategy is built right into the platform. The SEO tool lets you organize content into topic clusters, connect related posts to a pillar page, and track how those connections improve performance over time — a simple but powerful way to make your expertise easier for both search engines and AI systems to understand. 

⇒ GEO benefit: Interconnected content gives AI systems richer context to draw from, improving coverage and accuracy across related queries.

5. Strengthen off-site signals

If Step 3 is about building authority through what you say, this one is about reinforcing it through who says it about you.

Search engines and AI systems evaluate how your brand shows up across the internet to decide whether your content deserves to be trusted and cited. These off-site signals serve as external proof points that validate your authority. 

Here’s how to build them:

• Earn backlinks intentionally. Contribute guest posts or insights to trusted industry publications that naturally link back to your site. 
• Show up in conversations. Participate in podcasts, panels, or LinkedIn discussions where your expertise can be quoted or referenced. 
• Get mentioned by name. When your brand or team members are cited by reputable sources, it creates recognition patterns that AI and search systems use to associate expertise with your entity. 
• Leverage reviews and testimonials. Platforms like G2, Clutch, and the HubSpot Solutions Directory are credibility engines that feed external trust signals. 
• Repurpose and reshare. Each time your insights are reposted, embedded, or shared across channels, you reinforce that your ideas are being referenced by others.

You can’t control every off-site signal, but you can influence them by showing up consistently and creating content worth referencing. 

⇒ GEO benefit: External citations and mentions strengthen the confidence that AI systems have in including your perspective.

6. Monitor, Test, Refine

AEO and GEO aren’t set-and-forget strategies. The way search and AI engines surface answers evolves constantly, and your approach should evolve with it. 

Start by testing manually 

Search your target questions across different platforms — Google, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, or voice assistants. See if your content appears, how it’s summarized, and whether your brand is being cited or paraphrased accurately. 

Track your “answer wins” 

Featured snippets, “People Also Ask” boxes, AI Overviews, or chatbot citations are signs that your content is being trusted. Tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, or AnswerThePublic can help track shifts in keyword ownership and question visibility over time. 

Measure impact differently 

Someone might first encounter your brand through a chatbot or an AI-generated summary, then return later via branded search or social. The goal is to look for patterns. When a specific structure, phrase, or topic consistently earns citations, treat that as a signal. Refine what’s working, improve what isn’t, and keep testing. 

⇒ GEO benefit: Shows you where AI is already pulling you in, so you can double down on formats and phrasing that get included in generated answers.

 How to Apply AEO & GEO Across Platforms 

AEO and GEO don’t stop at content and thought leadership. The same principles apply across every channel where your audience searches, consumes, or engages. Every format is now searchable and potentially scannable by AI.

• Video content counts. Write titles and descriptions as clear questions and answers. Include transcripts and on-screen text so both humans and AI can understand your message. 
• Social posts matter. Lead with the takeaway, then add context. Posts that answer common questions perform well in feeds and help AI systems recognize your brand as a source of expertise. 
• Podcasts and audio help too. Publish transcripts, summarize key takeaways, and use time-stamped notes so engines can parse and reference your content. 
• Webinars and gated assets can work harder. Pull out highlights or FAQs and publish them in public, structured formats so AI systems can access and cite your ideas. 
• Off-site mentions still build trust. Contribute to guest articles, roundups, or collaborative reports, and encourage partners to link or quote your insights. 
• Technical SEO still matters. Keep your site fast, mobile-friendly, and well-structured. Use schema markup so engines and AI systems can interpret and cite your content accurately. 

The format changes, but the principle doesn’t: make your expertise easy to surface, cite, and trust.

What to Avoid

As search evolves, some old SEO habits can work against you in AEO and GEO. Here’s what to leave behind: 

Keyword stuffing. Writing for algorithms instead of people makes your content harder for AI to interpret. Focus on clarity and natural language instead of repeating phrases. 

Walls of text. Long, unstructured paragraphs make it harder for both readers and engines to find answers. Use headers, bullets, and short sections that clearly answer questions. 

Clickbait titles. Algorithms and AI assistants prioritize accuracy and authority, not curiosity gaps. Promise what your content delivers — and deliver it quickly. 

Thin content. Posts that lack depth or substance are less likely to be cited. Every page should demonstrate clear expertise, even if it’s short. 

Ignoring metadata and schema. Structured data helps engines understand your content. Skipping it makes your expertise harder to identify and cite. 

Neglecting freshness. AI systems pull from recent, credible sources. Update key pages and content clusters regularly to maintain visibility. 

The takeaway: write for clarity, structure for understanding, and update for relevance. If your content helps people find real answers, it will help AI do the same.

Key Takeaways and Next Steps

There’s no perfect playbook, and that’s the point. The fundamentals of quality content still apply, but the shift to AEO & GEO puts questions at the center of your strategy. The earlier you adapt, the greater your advantage. 

If you’re rethinking how search and AI fit into your strategy, let’s keep the conversation going. 

FAQs

Q: What does AEO and GEO mean for the content we already have? 

You don’t need to start over. Identify content that’s already performing in search and rework it with clearer answers, FAQs, and direct formatting. Small refinements can lift visibility fast. 

Q: How do I add AEO and GEO into my strategy without a big budget? 

Use tools like Google Search Console, SEMrush, or Ahrefs to identify which questions you’re already surfacing for. Then, use HubSpot to refine, structure, and optimize your content with features such as SEO recommendations, topic clusters, and pillar pages that organize related content. 

Q: Is SEO dead now that AEO and GEO exist? 

Not at all. SEO is still the foundation. AEO builds on it by shifting focus from rankings to being cited as the answer. Both work together. 

Q: What’s next for AEO and GEO as AI evolves? 

Answer engines will only get smarter at identifying trustworthy content. That means brands who build authority and clarity now will be positioned to win as AI-driven search leads the way.