AEO is a growing digital marketing strategy that focuses on optimizing content for AI-driven systems like voice assistants and chatbots, which provide direct answers to user queries.
This new marketing strategy builds trust and brand awareness, but more importantly, it generates strong traffic that boosts overall user engagement on your platform. Why?
Because traffic from answer engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity AI, or Gemini is more qualified than traffic from traditional SEO channels like Google or Bing. Users who arrive through AI-generated answers tend to spend more time on your website and actively engage with your brand by exploring your products or services.
Differentiation Between AEO and SEO
There are many differences, but the main distinction between AEO and SEO lies in the search engine algorithms and the logic behind content creation. AI-driven engines use semantic search, fundamentally changing the traditional SEO approach. As a result, content must be more user-oriented while still following or maintaining certain structural elements.
Let’s take a look at the table below to easily understand the key differences between AEO and SEO:
Aspect | SEO (Search Engine Optimization) | AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) |
Objective | SERP Visibility | Answer Visibility |
Scope | Brand visibility across SERP | Positioning your content as a single source of truth |
Content Targeting | Keywords + User Intent = Traffic | Structure + formating = AI response |
Approach | Keyword usage, link building, technical SEO | Structured, machine-readable, and interpretable content for AI systems. |
End Goal | Drives traffic by ranking high across various queries. | Build trust and authority by getting featured in AI responses, increasing brand awareness, and potentially driving traffic to your website. |
Future Orientation | Aligns with traditional search engine algorithms. | Prepares for the growing reliance on AI-driven answer engines. |
Table 1: Example of Differentiation Between AEO and SEO, Source: www.enaks.io
AEO vs SEO: Which one is more effective?
Both AEO and SEO are crucial, and the best approach is to focus 50% of your content strategy on AEO and the other 50% on SEO. While AEO builds trust during the discovery phase, when it comes to actually spending money, human nature tends to be skeptical.
Although more users are turning to Answer Engines (AE) to find information or discover new things, Google still holds the upper hand when it comes to trust. That's why ranking at the top of SERPs remains extremely important for users looking to make a transaction.
In other words, for informational intent, people tend to trust AI-generated answers, but for transactional intent, users often double-check information on Google.
Why are AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Perplexity AI important for website traffic in 2025?
Reach a Wider Audience: Access new user bases that depend on AI for information.
Enhance User Engagement: Offer personalized experiences that boost user satisfaction.
Gain a Competitive Edge: Stay ahead by adopting emerging technologies early.
Build more trust: Brands discovered in AI answers tend to build more trust than discover brands via google SERP.
This perfectly sums up all the benefits that answer engines can bring you—reaching a wider and more qualified audience through this new marketing channel, bringing in engaged users who are satisfied for a while because they got exactly what they wanted (but still want more), building trust while outpacing your competitors, and boosting credibility drastically in the informational phase by getting listed in answer engine responses.
AEO offers the best source of traffic in 2025, here’s why?
One of the best sources of traffic and outbound marketing effort in 2025 is AEO, because the engagement that this new marketing channel drives is insane. AI-driven visitors tend to spend more time on websites. A recent analysis of 7 million sessions found that users coming from AI chatbots averaged 10.4 minutes per session, compared to 8.1 minutes for Google search users—roughly a 28% longer dwell time.
In other words, traffic from ChatGPT and similar AI sources often engages more deeply with a site’s content. This suggests that AI recommendations deliver highly relevant results, encouraging users to explore content more thoroughly. One report even found that chatbot-referred users spend up to 35% more time on niche content pages than typical search visitors, indicating especially strong engagement for specialized topics.
Better engagement rate means lower bounce rate and intent-drive users
Because these visitors arrive via an AI-curated answer, they often come 'pre-qualified' with specific intent, leading to lower bounce rates and higher engagement. Marketers have observed that ChatGPT-referred traffic typically exhibits improved engagement metrics, such as longer time-on-page and fewer immediate exits, compared to traditional organic search traffic.
The reasoning is that users clicking an AI-generated answer link have already had their query’s context addressed by the AI and are intentionally seeking more details or action—making them less likely to bounce immediately. As one analyst put it, any outgoing link from an AI answer is essentially 'pre-approved' by the chatbot, meaning the user arrives on the site already primed with interest.
This intent-driven journey contrasts with traditional search, where users might skim multiple results or pogo-stick between sites, leading to higher bounce rates. Early data suggests that AI-driven visits are more 'sticky,' engaging with content rather than bouncing out.
What are the key ranking factors Answer engines use to pull content from websites?
Our tests reveal that ChatGPT considers several factors when generating responses to specific queries:
Detailed and Comprehensive Content
The more in-depth and informative your content, the more likely ChatGPT is to reference it. This applies to both general answers and brand visibility. A website with numerous well-detailed pages on a specific topic has a higher chance of being mentioned in ChatGPT’s responses.
Backlinks & Media Mentions
Strong branding increases the likelihood of being recommended. The more backlinks and media mentions a brand has, the more credible it appears in ChatGPT’s knowledge base.
Influence of Review Platforms
Review sites play a crucial role in ChatGPT’s recommendations. In B2C, there’s no clear preference for specific platforms, but in B2B, sources like Clutch and GoodFirms carry significant weight. Capterra and G2 are also key for software-related queries. However, ChatGPT often pulls from other sources, such as media mentions and in-depth articles, to ensure relevance.
ChatGPT Memory & Search History
A user’s search history heavily impacts responses. Once a company is mentioned in a user's ChatGPT history, there’s an 80% chance it will appear in future queries—even for broader topics. Once a brand is embedded in a user’s ChatGPT memory, it remains top of mind for the AI.
Brand Authority & Recognition
Established and well-known brands tend to surface more frequently in ChatGPT’s answers, reinforcing the importance of credibility and authority in AI-driven search.
How can I structure my website content to appear in AI-powered search results?
There are two ways to make your website content to appear in AI answers:
Create rich and genuine valuable content that serves your users, this is the fastest, and cheapest alternative available.
Combine PR and branding strategies to boost your authority, this is the most solid approach for the long run, but it might require a lot of your marketing budget to achieve this authority.
There are other small but extremely important technical factors too, like structured formatting, schema markup, and other technical aspects. However, the most important factor that can have the fastest and most direct impact is creating detailed and valuable content for users.
What type of content works the best to get featured in AI answers?
Content type doesn’t necessarily have a direct correlation with getting featured in AI-generated answers on platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity AI, or other AI engines. However, text-based content may get featured faster in some cases compared to videos or other formats. AI-powered answer engines can process text much more easily than video materials, and speed plays a crucial role in answer engine responses. So, if you want to start getting featured on answer engines, focus on creating text-based content—you’ll see results faster than with videos or other types of materials.
The most important factor is to provide clear and valuable content for your audience. Answer engines aim to deliver the best possible responses to every niche user query, so the highest-quality content always wins.
Conclusion
While AI is often over-discussed and generates unnecessary hype, Answer Engines are here to stay and have already transformed user search habits. Yet, the majority of businesses have not invested in this space, creating massive opportunities. This presents a new way to build trust and accelerate inbound strategies, and we strongly encourage our clients to act quickly in adopting this marketing channel before it’s too late.
By 2025, AEO will be one of the most powerful inbound marketing channels for generating qualified leads, driving traffic, and strengthening relationships between brands and consumers. However, while highly effective, results don’t come instantly, it requires time and patience. AEO is both the present and the future, but SEO remains a vital part of any marketing strategy. We recommend a balanced 50/50 approach to ensure sustainable, long-term revenue growth from these organic channels.
About enäks
We are a marketing intelligence company dedicated to data-backed market insights and strategic planning. By combining marketing intelligence with practical plans, we help businesses capitalize on market opportunities and stay ahead of competitors. Learn more about our services and how we can support your growth.
Note: This article provides general guidance on enhancing brand visibility in AI-powered search engines. For personalized advice, please consult our team at enäks.
Answer Engine Optimization FAQ
How can AEO improve user engagement and drive organic traffic?
AEO significantly boosts user engagement and organic traffic by driving highly intent-driven visitors to your site. AI-driven users tend to stay longer—spending about 28% more time per session than Google search users—leading to deeper content exploration and lower bounce rates. Since AI-curated answers 'pre-qualify' visitors, they arrive with a clear intent, making them more likely to engage with your content rather than quickly exiting. This results in higher-quality traffic, improved dwell time, and better conversion potential compared to traditional search.
What are some common mistakes to avoid when implementing AEO?
One of the biggest mistakes you can make is relying entirely on AI to write your content. This type of content will not appear on Answer Engines or Google. Another common mistake is treating AEO as SEO—while they share similarities, they are not the same.
What are the key benefits of using AEO over traditional SEO?
AEO enables you to reach a broader, more qualified audience by tapping into new user bases that rely on AI for information. It boosts user engagement by providing personalized experiences that satisfy their needs, while also driving higher-quality traffic. By adopting emerging technologies early, you stay ahead of competitors, and brands featured in AI answers tend to build more trust, outpacing those only discovered through traditional search.