QUESTION: What do you need to do to rank in AI results?

ANSWER: A lot of the tasks that help you rank in traditional SEO are still the best ways to rank in AI answers! This means getting on the map, getting reviews elsewhere online, being mentioned on other websites, and having a robust online presence will support your ranking AND AI citation goals!

Search is changing.

Answer Engines are on the rise…

As you know if you’ve followed me – I take a pretty anti-generative-artificial-intelligence stance. I think that the baseline of IP theft that underlies the development of these technologies from the beginning makes many of them “fruit of the poison tree” – and I won’t personally use them. There are also the environmental impacts to consider, which are vast.

But even with that being said – I can’t deny search patterns and habits are changing, as AI based search, or use of “Answer Engines”, is getting more common at an incredibly fast pace. It’s changing how often, for example, Google serves business profiles. Many searches that used to prompt Google to serve a business profile that best matches the search, are now having the AI results prioritised instead. And there’s no indication that this is going to slow down, as companies increasingly integrate AI search, and individuals increasingly start using it.

Answer Engines are taking over – so… how do you evolve too?

So where we used to think primarily about traditional SEO – the SEO tactics you might use to return in a traditional search on a search engine – now we have another hurdle to jump. AEO – otherwise known as “Answer Engine Optimisation”. You might see it referred to in different ways – like GEO, or “Generative Engine Optimisation”. Ultimately no matter what it’s called by different experts, it all refers to the same thing: how do you optimise your online presence so that it’ll be cited by AI in the results to answer engine queries?

Whether you’re in camp AI-all-the-way and are an early adopter, or whether you’re in a more skeptical camp like me, if you’re also a business owner, you can’t escape these changes, no matter how much you might like to. And even those of us who morally object to the wide reaching use of AI at the moment… well, we’ve gotta eat.

So what can you do? How do you optimise your presence to return in AI searches, with clickable citations? How do you stand out in a world where all the rules have changed overnight?

The four most important SEO tasks haven’t actually changed:

The first thing to do is not freak out, and not start frantically googling and buying every course that exists about Answer Engine Optimisation so that you can implement everything they say. Just like with SEO, AEO has some basic foundational tasks we can follow through with that will help you return in relevant searches, and honestly? They’re not actually that different from what you’re already doing for your traditional SEO. With a few small tweaks to strategy, your existing traditional SEO foundation can be made to work for AEO too!

Are they EXACTLY the same? No. Are they VASTLY different? Also… no. So step one? Don’t freak out. And then once you’ve got the freaking out under control, we move on to these four essential tasks!

1 – Get on the map

If your business has a service area or a physical location – get yourself on the map!! And when I say “the map,” I mean all of the maps. Apple maps, Google maps – any map you can get listed on, do it. Is it a faff? Yes, it definitely can be. Sometimes it means submitting photos or other proof that your physical location is well-marked, etc. But it’s worth it! So if you’re not already on there, look into the steps you’ll have to follow, and make it happen.

Just like for traditional SEO, being on the map is powerful for AEO, too!

2 – Get reviews

Reviews have always been super important, especially when it comes to Google search specifically. They’ve always loved serving business profiles for businesses with a high rating, and with a high number of reviews overall. But now, it’s not just about Google reviews – it’s about your reviews EVERYWHERE. Yelp, Facebook, Trustpilot, Etsy, Houzz, and other niche-specific sites – any platform where you can list yourself and collect reviews is fair game, because the answer engines themselves check these listings when they’re answering questions like “Who is the best interior designer near me?”

So just like you always have… provide a service or product experience that people will deem worthy of reviewing! But as a side note, make sure you do it in a way that isn’t against the terms of service of the platform you’re getting reviews on. Some of them prohibit things like offering a discount in exchange for a review!

3 – Get mentions, and/or backlinks!

Remember “backlinks”? I mean I say that as if they’re from ages ago – but time is moving so fast lately, it FEELS like ages ago! Anyway, backlinks are still very much a thing, and as many in my industry have been saying, powerful ones are harder to get than ever. But that doesn’t make them any less important, and in fact, it’s reasonable to say they’re more important than they ever have been. Because getting mentioned in other professionals’ blogs and websites? That’s a BIGGIE for returning in AI searches, and specifically being cited as well.

It helps to underscore the thing you’re an expert in, and shows that OTHER people trust your expertise in it too – and that’s huge for rising in the ranks! So just like you always have, keep looking for opportunities to get a backlink on other business’ online presences. If you have a local business, try keeping an eye out for opportunities to partner with businesses or organisations local to you! If you’re a newborn photographer, for example, does a local Doula have an active blog, and could you partner with them for a post? These kinds of engagements between small business owners are usually a win-win from a promotional standpoint too, so it can be more than one bird with one stone, too!

4 – Keep blogging!

And then of course… you’ve gotta keep blogging! Specifically, you’ve got to blog about questions your audience is asking Answer Engines in the first place, that are tied to your service area or the product you sell (or both). So taking this post as an example, I know that my clientele are asking questions about how to appear in search, and I know a lot of people in general are kind of flailing around in the dark looking for a solution that feels workable. So… I’m answering those questions in this post! And as you likely noticed, I stated it in black and white, right at the top of the post. Gave the question, and the summarised answer.

That’s one important tweak to make for your blog posts, that can make a huge difference in how AI digests your page content, and understands the point of the post itself, so that it knows when it’s relevant to share with a user who has input a relevant or matching query.

Don’t throw spaghetti at the wall with your blog posts – think about the questions your people are asking, and answer them. Directly. Tie it to a primary page on your site, and interlink with other posts of yours about adjacent or connected topics. Build your authority, and watch it pay off.

Authority building has never been more important – so keep at it!

It’s truly never been more important to show that you’re a real expert in the thing that you do, and however you feel about AI search – it’s not going away anytime soon. So show the machines your humanity. Show them what you’re good at. Show them what you DO. Highlight your expertise, connect with other professionals near you, get on the map – and keep getting reviews online.

Is it a quick fix for viral level return? No. But just like the tortoise and the hare, slow and steady wins the race. Focusing on consistent, long term tactics, will have a larger payoff over time than sporadic, inconsistent virality.

Search is changing massively, it’s true. But the ways you can return in those searches aren’t changing as massively – or at least they’re not yet. No one knows what the future holds, and if this changes over time, we’ll keep adapting. But for now… slow and steady. Slow and steady.