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From SEO to AEO: How content is evolving in the AI age
Answer Engine Optimisation marks a new battleground for visibility, one that rewards structure, clarity, and trust over keyword stuffing.
AEO is not a fleeting trend. It is a rewiring of how content is discovered, judged, and shared in the age of generative AI. While SEO will not disappear overnight, the brands that survive the next shift will not just optimise for search. They will earn the answer.
(Representational image: Steven Lelham via Unsplash)
For over a decade, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) has shaped how brands build digital content: rankings, backlinks, keywords, rinse and repeat. But as platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity emerge as default discovery tools, a silent shift is underway. Enter Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) — a new playbook where content must not just rank, but resonate as the answer.
According to Sindhu Biswal, CEO and founder of BuzzLab, SEO still dominates content briefs. “It’s the comfort zone,” they say. “Ranking on Google, writing for keywords, chasing backlinks. But the smarter Indian brands? They’re already sniffing the winds of change.” Early adopters are experimenting with how their content appears on AI interfaces. These are platforms where traditional blue links do not exist, and AI models surface only what feels authoritative, context rich, and credible.
Beyond Blue Links
Where SEO was about visibility, AEO is about credibility. It prioritises structure, factual accuracy, and intuitive formats over bloated word counts and forced keywords. “We are not yet in full AEO mode,” says Biswal. “But the early adopters are tuning in. Once they see AI bots picking their content as the chosen answer, the rest will follow.”
This shift is being accelerated by Gen Z. “They don’t search the way their parents did,” Biswal adds. “They skip search bars, expect TLDRs, and engage with content that is visually broken down, conversational, and cleanly structured.” That behaviour is training AI models to reward the same formats. Think Reddit style explainers over long blogs. “If your content reads like a smart, bite sized explainer, you’re probably already winning in the Gen Z and AI overlap.”
The Technical Creative Tension
However, AEO is not just a formatting tweak. It demands structural rethinking. Schema markup, fact boxes, and clarity in formatting are often misunderstood by creative first teams. “There’s a perception that structured content is robotic, or kills storytelling,” Biswal explains. “But schema does not kill creativity. It powers discoverability. We are asking brands to organise like machines, not write like them.”
This is where marketers struggle most. Prashant Puri, CEO & Co-Founder, AdLift (acquired by Liqvd Asia), says, “We are asking them to look beyond just clicks and think about brand influence, even when it is not directly measurable.” Tools like AdLift’s Tesseract are helping clients visualise brand visibility across AI interfaces. “Once they see it, it clicks,” he adds. “If your brand consistently appears in AI answers, you are building trust even without a click.”
Puri calls AEO both a threat and an opportunity. “Yes, traditional click through rates are declining due to zero click answers. But it is also a new front for branded authority. Smart marketers will treat it as the next battleground.”
The India Factor: Language and Risk
But with promise comes complexity. Amit Rathi, Managing Director of Channel Factory India, warns that AEO also introduces brand safety risks. “AI generated answers are not always accurate. Brands risk being misquoted, pulled into outdated information, or stripped of nuance. All of this affects perception.” As in programmatic advertising, he says, new safeguards will be needed to monitor how AI platforms frame brand narratives.
India’s linguistic diversity adds another layer. “AI summaries that shift between English, Hindi, and regional languages can lose nuance,” Rathi notes. “And with growing scrutiny on misinformation, political content, and AI ethics, brands will need to take accountability for how they are surfaced, even when they do not control the output.”
AEO is not a fleeting trend. It is a rewiring of how content is discovered, judged, and shared in the age of generative AI. While SEO will not disappear overnight, the brands that survive the next shift will not just optimise for search. They will earn the answer.
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