If you have read any marketing news lately, you have probably seen the headlines. People are ditching Google. Everyone is asking ChatGPT what to buy. Traditional SEO is finished, and you should pour all your effort into something called Answer Engine Optimisation instead.
It makes for a dramatic story. It is also only half true.
AI search tools like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini and Perplexity really are changing how people research what to buy. But Google is still where most people find local businesses, and good SEO is still what turns that visibility into enquiries. AI search is not replacing the old way of being found. It is adding a new one on top.
How people are searching now
The old research journey was fairly predictable. Someone would search Google, open a handful of websites, compare their options, read a few reviews, then pick up the phone or place an order.
That journey increasingly starts with a question typed into an AI tool instead. Something like:
- “Who provides the best IT support for small businesses?”
- “What is the best website platform for a local business?”
- “Should I use Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace?”
Rather than a page of blue links, the AI gives a direct answer, usually pulled together from several different sources. The practical result is that people often visit fewer websites before they decide. If your business is not one of the sources the AI trusts, you are invisible at exactly the moment someone is making up their mind.
So what is AEO?
AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimisation. Where traditional SEO focuses on ranking your website highly in Google, AEO is about increasing the chance that AI tools reference your content when they answer someone’s question.
Here is the simplest way to think about it. SEO helps people find your website. AEO helps AI find and trust your content. One points a human at your door. The other makes sure the robot doing the recommending has read up on you first.
Is this just SEO with a shiny new name?
In a lot of ways, yes.
Most of what helps your website rank well in Google is exactly what helps an AI understand and quote your content. Clear, helpful writing. A website people actually trust. Solid technical foundations and fast pages. Structured data that spells out who you are and what you do. Consistent business details wherever you appear online. Real reviews and testimonials.
If you have already put proper work into your SEO, you are probably doing most of what AI visibility asks for. We covered the different flavours of this in our post on choosing the right type of SEO for your business, and the fundamentals there still apply.
What actually matters for AI search
The foundations are familiar, but a few things are worth extra attention.
Answer real questions clearly. AI systems favour content that answers a question directly and in plain English. Rather than stuffing a page with keywords, write about the things your customers actually ask before they buy. How much does managed IT support cost? What is Microsoft 365? Is WordPress still a sensible choice? What happens if my business gets hacked? Answering those well helps your Google ranking and your AI visibility at the same time.
Build authority beyond your own website. AI does not just read your site. It looks at your reviews, your social profiles, mentions across your industry, business directories, and whether your details line up everywhere. The more evidence there is that you are a trusted name in your field, the more likely you are to be recommended.
Use structured data. Schema markup is a bit of code that helps search engines and AI understand your business, your services and your location. It is unglamorous, but it is one of the reasons proper technical SEO still earns its keep.
What should you actually do about it?
For most small businesses, the honest answer is not SEO or AEO. It is both.
Keep investing in the SEO that already works. Google is still the biggest source of new customers for most businesses, so technical SEO, local SEO, your Google Business Profile and site performance all still matter. If yours needs attention, our SEO services are built for exactly this.
Then create genuinely helpful content. The businesses that win in AI search are the ones sharing real expertise. Think about the questions people ask before they hire you, and answer them properly.
Finally, build authority in your niche. If you run an IT firm, write consistently about cyber security, Microsoft 365, backups and remote working. We do that ourselves, in posts like why Microsoft 365 works best with proper IT support. If you are a tradesperson, write about the problems your customers keep running into. AI is far more likely to reference a site that clearly knows its subject inside out.
Why this matters for businesses in Hull and beyond
For local businesses in Hull and East Yorkshire, AI search is more opportunity than threat. Plenty of your competitors are still ignoring content marketing altogether. Pair strong local SEO with genuinely useful, expert content and you can show up across both Google and the new AI tools while others stand still. That gap is widest in professional services, IT and consultancy, where people tend to do a lot of research before they get in touch.
The bottom line
AI is changing where people find answers, but it is not killing SEO. The businesses that do well over the next few years will be the ones that create genuinely useful content, earn trust in their sector and keep a strong presence online.
Good SEO was always about being the most useful answer to a customer’s question. AEO just extends that same idea from search engines to AI assistants. The goal has not changed. The places people look for the answer have.
If you would like a hand making sure your business shows up wherever your customers are searching, get in touch for a friendly, honest chat. No jargon, no pressure, just practical next steps.
