What is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and How Do I Rank in AI Search?
I’m going to let you in on a little secret. The classic “10 blue links” on a Google search page? Their days are numbered.
You’ve already seen it. You search for “best way to clean gutters,” and a big, shaded box at the very top gives you the answer. You search for “what’s the first step in an NC divorce,” and it summarizes the process.
That’s Google’s AI, Gemini, creating an “AI Overview.”
For the user, this is amazing. It’s fast. It’s convenient. For you, the small business owner? It’s a five-alarm fire.
Why? Because it’s a “zero-click” search. The user gets their answer and never clicks through to your website.
My name is Linda Donnelly, and as the owner of Business Solutions Marketing Group, I’ve been helping small businesses and law firms navigate this industry for over a decade. I’ve seen it all—the rise of social media, the “mobile-first” panic, the explosion of online reviews. But this is different. This changes the entire game.
Your old SEO goal was to “rank #1.” The new goal is to be the source the AI quotes.
If you’re not the one feeding the AI its answer, you are, for all intents and purposes, invisible.
This new strategy isn’t “Search Engine Optimization” anymore. We’re in a new era. Welcome to “Answer Engine Optimization,” or AEO.
This is a huge, scary shift, but here’s the good news: the AI is “dumb.” It doesn’t know anything. It just reads and summarizes. And I’m going to show you exactly how to write the “study guide” that makes it see you as the expert.
What is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)? (And Why Isn’t It Just SEO?)
This is the most important distinction I can make.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) was a “directory” game. The goal was to match your keywords to a user’s query so Google would point them to your website. It was about ranking for a click.
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) is an “authority” game. The goal is to provide the best, most trustworthy answer to a user’s question so the AI cites you in its summary. It’s about being the answer.
Let me give you an analogy I love.
- Old SEO: Your goal was to get your book on the library’s front display shelf.
- New AEO: Your goal is to get the librarian to read your book, trust it, and quote it by name to every single person who comes in asking a question.
You’re not just fighting for a click anymore. You’re fighting to become the source of truth.
How Does the AI “Brain” Actually Find Your Information?
This is the “how it works” part. I’ll keep it simple. An LLM (Large Language Model) like Google’s Gemini gets its information from two places.
- The “Brain” (The Training Data): This is the massive, static “snapshot” of the internet, books, and articles that the AI “studied” to learn language and general knowledge. This part is “frozen” in time.
- The “Live Check” (The Real-Time Search): This is the part we can influence. When you ask a current, specific question (like “best family lawyer in Greensboro” or “what’s the weather”), the AI does something new.
- It performs a live Google search in a fraction of a second.
- It “reads” the top 5-10 pages.
- It synthesizes (summarizes and combines) the information from all those pages into one, new, conversational answer.
Our job is to make damn sure that when the AI does its “live check,” your website is in that top 10 and is the clearest, most trustworthy, and most citable source on the list.
Your 5-Step Plan to Win at AEO (How We “Train” the AI)
You can’t force the AI to mention you. But you can “train” it. You can give it all the “open-book” answers it’s looking for. This is the new “AI-First” strategy we build for all our clients at Business Solutions Marketing Group. It’s built on five pillars.
H2: Pillar 1: Become a “Topical Authority” (Not a “Keyword Stamper”)
This is the most important content shift. The AI doesn’t just scan for keywords anymore. It understands concepts. It doesn’t want to see one 500-word page on “Family Law.” It wants to see that you are a true expert on the entire topic.
- Old Way (The Failure): You’re a family lawyer, so you have one page on your site called “Family Law.” It lists 10 services. The AI sees this as “thin” and untrustworthy.
- New AEO Way (The “Content Cluster”):
- You create a “Pillar Page.” This is a 3,000-word ultimate guide called, “The Complete Guide to Family Law in North Carolina.”
- Then, you create 10 “Spoke” Pages. These are deep, 1,500-word articles on each service: “How to Calculate Child Support in NC,” “NC Alimony: What You Need to Know,” “The 5 Types of Child Custody in NC.”
- Here’s the magic: All those “spoke” pages link back to your main “pillar” page.
This structure sends a powerful signal to Google’s AI. It says, “We don’t just have one page on this. We have an entire library. We are a Topical Authority.”
How We Help: When you work with BSMG, we don’t just sell you “blogs.” We build your authority map. We identify your most profitable services and then build a content “moat” around them that proves to Google you’re the undisputed expert. This is the core of our Content Marketing service.
Pillar 2: Prove You’re a Real, Live Human Expert (E-E-A-T)
This is the big one, especially for my lawyer and professional-service clients. E-E-A-T is Google’s internal guideline for what makes a “quality” page. It stands for:
- Experience (This is the new one!)
- Expertise
- Authoritativeness
- Trust
Google’s AI is terrified of giving bad or “hallucinated” advice, especially for what it calls “Your Money or Your Life” (YMYL) topics. That means law, medicine, and finance. It is desperately looking for proof that you are a real, trustworthy, human expert.
AI-generated “fluff” content is dead. Content that proves your E-E-A-T is the new king.
Actionable Tips You Can Do Today:
- Beef Up Your “About” Page: Your “About” page is now one of the most important SEO pages on your site. It’s where the AI goes to see who you are. It needs your full bio, your years of experience, your degrees, your awards, and a picture of your face.
- Add Author Bios to Every Blog Post: Who wrote this? “Admin”? No. It needs to say, “By Linda Donnelly, a marketing expert with over 10 years of experience…” or “By Attorney John Smith, a board-certified family law specialist…”
- Write from Experience (The “E”): This is a direct shot at AI. AI can’t experience anything. You must start writing in the first person.
- Old Way: “It is important to do X…”
- New Way: “In my 15 years as a family lawyer, the #1 mistake I see clients make is…”
As Google itself states in its Search Quality Rater Guidelines, “Trust is the most important member of the E-E-A-T family… E-A-T are all important concepts that help us understand… how trustworthy the content is.”
How We Help: We can’t fake your expertise—you’re the expert! Our job is to extract that expertise from your head and package it in a way Google’s AI understands. We interview you. We write your bios. We craft blog posts that sound like you, telling your stories and your real-world experience.
Pillar 3: Spoon-Feed the AI with “Structured Content”
The AI is a machine. It’s incredibly smart, but it’s also lazy. It loves organized data. The easier you make it for the AI to “read” your content, the more likely it is to use it.
- Use FAQs: The AI is an “Answer Engine.” What’s the best way to feed an “Answer Engine”? With answers!
- Actionable Tip: Go to every single service page on your website and add a 5-10 question FAQ section at the bottom. Think of every question a customer has asked you.
- Use Clear Headings: Use H2s and H3s to break up your content (just like this post!).
- Use Bullet Points & Lists: (Like this one!) They are perfectly formatted for the AI to “scrape” and use in its own “quick answer” summaries.
How We Help: This Q&A format is now a standard part of our Content Marketing service. We are intentionally structuring your content to be “AI-friendly.”
Pillar 4: Use Schema Markup (The AI’s “Decoder Ring”)
This is the most “technical” pillar, but it’s the one that gives you the biggest, fastest advantage.
Right now, your website is written for humans. AI can read it, but it’s just guessing. Structured Data (or “Schema”) is a “secret decoder ring” you add to your website’s code. It’s invisible to humans, but it labels your content for robots.
It’s the difference between:
- Without Schema: “Business Solutions Marketing Group | 123 Main St | (555) 555-5555” (Just a string of text)
- With Schema: <LocalBusiness> <name>Business Solutions Marketing Group</name> <address>123 Main St</address> <telephone>(555) 555-5555</telephone>
You are literally spoon-feeding the AI the exact, correct information. This isn’t a “trick.” This is the official system co-sponsored by Google! They are telling us this is how they want to read your content. (Source: Schema.org).
How We Help: This is the “behind-the-scenes” magic. Our SEO services include this as a core component. We code in the FAQPage schema, the LocalBusiness schema, and (for lawyers) the LegalService schema. We are making your site perfectly legible to the new AI.
Pillar 5: Manage Your Entire Digital Footprint (GBP & Reviews)
This is the final, critical piece. The AI doesn’t just read your website. It’s building a “confidence score” for your business by cross-referencing everything it can find.
- Your Google Business Profile: This is the AI’s #1 fact sheet. It’s where it looks first for your hours, phone number, and services. It must be 100% complete and identical to your website.
- Your Citations (Yelp, etc.): The AI “fact-checks” you. If your GBP says you’re at “123 Main St” and Yelp says you’re at “456 Oak Ave,” the AI gets “confused.” It loses trust in you. And it will not cite a source it doesn’t trust.
- Your Reputation: This is the big one. The AI reads your reviews for “sentiment.” It’s looking for keywords. If 10 reviews say you are “professional” and “fast,” the AI will use those words. If 3 reviews say you are a “scam” or “rude,” the AI will use those words, too. A report from HubSpot notes that 82% of consumers are “concerned about fake reviews,” and AI is being trained to spot all sentiment.
How We Help: This is why we are a full-service group! Our Reputation Management and GBP Optimization services aren’t “add-ons.” They are central to the new AEO strategy. We make sure your entire digital world is clean, consistent, and positive, so the AI only finds good things to say about you.
Your Job is to Be the Expert. Our Job is to Prove it to Google.
This is a lot of work. I know. It’s technical, it’s time-consuming, and it’s a completely new way of thinking.
But as a small business owner, your job is not to become an AI prompt-engineer. Your job is to be the best damn lawyer/plumber/restaurateur in your city.
Our job is to be your expert guide. Our job is to take your real-world expertise and translate it into a language the AI can understand and trust. Our job is to build the “study guide” that makes the AI see you as the only answer.
The change to AI Overviews is here. It’s a huge shift, but it’s an even bigger opportunity for the small businesses who are willing to prove they’re the real deal.
The goal is no longer just “ranking.” The goal is becoming the source of truth.
Key Takeaways
- AEO is the New SEO: “Answer Engine Optimization” is the new goal. It’s not about “ranking #1” for a click; it’s about being the source Google’s AI cites in its answer.
- AI Hates “Thin Content”: The AI wants experts. You must prove you’re an expert by building “Topical Authority” with deep, interconnected “Pillar and Spoke” content.
- Prove You’re Human (E-E-A-T): Google’s AI is looking for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust. Your “About Us” page and first-person “experience” stories are now critical SEO tools.
- Spoon-Feed the AI: Use structured content like FAQs, bullet points, and lists on all your pages. This makes it easy for the AI to “scrape” your answers.
- Use the “Secret Code” (Schema): Technical Schema markup is no longer optional. It’s the most direct way to label your content (services, hours, location, FAQs) for the AI.
- Your Whole Footprint Matters: The AI “fact-checks” you. Your Google Business Profile (GBP) and Online Reviews must be perfectly managed, as the AI reads them for facts and “sentiment.”
Common Questions You Might Have
- Is “SEO” dead now?
- Absolutely not! It has just evolved. “Old SEO” (tricks and keywords) is dead. “New SEO” (authority, schema, and E-E-A-T) is more important than ever. It’s just a different, smarter way to work.
- What’s the real difference between AEO and SEO?
- Think of it this way: SEO gets a customer to your website. AEO gets your information to the customer. We now have to do both. We optimize for the “click” and for the “citation.”
- What’s the first thing I should do to optimize for AEO?
- The single most important (and easiest) thing you can do today is to go to your top 3 service pages and add a 5-10 question FAQ section at the bottom. Think of every question a customer has ever asked you and just answer it in plain English.
- Can I just use an AI to write all my content?
- No! That’s the fastest way to get ignored. Google’s AI can spot “AI fluff” from a mile away. It has no “Experience” (the new “E” in E-E-A-T). You should use AI for ideas and outlines, but the final content must be written or heavily edited by a real human expert (you or our team) to add real-world stories and authority.
- How long does it take to rank in AI Overviews?
This is an ongoing process. Simple changes (like implementing LocalBusiness Schema) can be recognized by Google in weeks. Building true “Topical Authority” with new content clusters is a 6-12 month strategy. The key is to start now. The businesses that build this “moat” of authority will be the only ones cited by AI for years to come.
GBP LInk – https://g.co/kgs/GR8yH4a
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/business-solutions-marketing-group-llc/?viewAsMember=true
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/business_solutions_mg/
Twitter – https://x.com/BSMGLLC
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/BusinessSolutionsMarketingGroup
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/bussolutions.bsky.social
TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@linda_donnelly
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4w357-txvxOaHff2hTfSSg
