Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of building pages and a site architecture that traditional search engines — Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo — surface to relevant queries.
The fundamentals haven't changed much in twenty years: clear page intent, signals of trustworthiness, internal linking structure, and content that answers what searchers actually want.
SEO vs AEO
SEO and AEO are not opposed. Most AI answer engines lean heavily on traditional search signals when deciding which sources to cite. A page that ranks well organically is statistically more likely to be cited by ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity for the same query.
The differences:
- SEO rewards keyword density, internal link equity, and page-level SERP performance.
- AEO rewards Q&A structure, factual density, and clean citation hygiene (links to primary sources).
Sites that win at AEO almost always have a strong SEO foundation. The reverse isn't quite as true — you can rank #1 without being cited if your page is heavy on persuasion and light on extractable facts.