Becoming the Answer: The Rise of AEO

Remember scrolling through endless blue links to find answers? Those days are rapidly disappearing as answer engines transform how we access information. When you ask a question today—speaking to your phone or typing into a search box—you often get the answer immediately, without clicking anywhere.

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) represents the critical evolution of traditional SEO in this new landscape. SEO pioneer Don Phelps, with over twenty years in the field, calls AEO the "next critical layer in modern SEO." Unlike traditional SEO that aims to rank for keywords and earn clicks, AEO strategically positions your content to become the actual answer users receive—whether in featured snippets, voice responses, or AI-generated summaries. This fundamental shift aligns perfectly with changing user expectations for immediate, accurate information.

The blueprint for effective AEO comes down to three key elements: focusing on real user questions rather than keywords, writing in natural conversational language that matches how people actually speak, and structuring content to be easily digestible for AI systems. Schema markup—particularly FAQ, Q&A, and How-To schemas—becomes non-negotiable in this environment. As Phelps powerfully puts it, "Visibility isn't earned, it's structured." Organizations implementing these principles see dramatic improvements in engagement metrics and conversion rates. With 58% of consumers now using voice search to find local businesses, the question isn't whether to adopt AEO strategies—it's whether you can afford not to.

Ready to position your content as the definitive answer in your field? Start by examining how your audience actually asks questions, then restructure your information to meet them at their exact moment of need. The ultimate validation? When AI systems start quoting your content as the authoritative source. In this new era, becoming the answer—not just another option—is the path to digital relevance.

Thanks for tuning in to Local SEO Unlocked! If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with others who want to master Local SEO. Stay connected with us weekly for more insights on SEO! Until next time, keep optimizing and stay ahead in local search!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Remember, like just a few years back, you'd type
something into Google a questionmaybe and what you got was just
that long list of blue links,right, you'd click one, scroll
around, maybe click another,that whole process.
It's really starting to feellike old news, because today you
ask a question, maybe talkingto your phone or typing it in,
and, bam, often you get theanswer right there.
It just pops up at the top oran AI assistant just tells it to

(00:22):
you.
This change, how we getinformation is not just a small
tweak.
It feels like it changes, well,pretty much everything, and
that's exactly what we'redigging into today.
Answer engine optimization, aeo.
Our main guide here, whose workreally shapes this conversation
, is Don Phelps.
Now he's been in the trenchestesting and refining SEO stuff

(00:42):
for like two decades, reallyearned his stripes as a pioneer.
And for Don, aeo isn't somefleeting buzzword.
He's pretty clear, calls it thenext critical layer in modern
SEO.
For our mission.
Today we want to unpack what AEOactually is.
How is it really different fromthe traditional SEO?
Most of us know, and maybe mostimportantly, why.
Understanding the shift is justcrucial If you want to be found

(01:04):
, you know, understood online.
Today we want to show you howyou can become the answer, not
just another option down thepage.
Ok, let's get into it then.
What exactly is answer?
Engine optimization, and howdoes it play such a different
game than you know?
Classic SEO.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, it's, it's fascinating right away.
The core difference, I think,from traditional SEO, ao is all
about tweaking your content,optimizing it so it directly
answers a user's question, likestraight up.
Doing that really boosts yourchances significantly of showing
up in those answer boxes yousee, or the summaries, or even
being the voice answer.
It's a whole different mindset.

(01:39):
You're optimizing to answerSpecifically, not just trying to
rank for a keyword and hopingsomeone clicks.
The goal is to be that veryfirst thing, the direct response
a user gets.
Think about it right.
Traditional SEO it often castsa wide net, broad keyword
visibility, maybe aiming to be Idon't know, number four on the
list.
Aeo it's much narrower, muchsharper.
It's about grabbing those veryspecific spots, featured

(02:02):
snippets that people also ask,bits, voice search replies, and
it lines up perfectly with howpeople search.
Now focusing on the actualquestions, the clear intent,
what we sometimes call no or no,simple queries Basically,
someone just wants a piece ofinfo like what temperature does
water boil, Not necessarilytrying to buy something, right
then.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
That really is a powerful shift, going from
hoping for the click to actuallybeing the information, and I
know Don Fulce is really strongon this.
He basically says, if you'rejust chasing blue links, you're
playing yesterday's game.
For him, aeo means digging deepinto user intent, like really
granular levels, not just what'sthe key word anymore, it's more
like OK, what's the realquestion here and what's the

(02:42):
absolute fastest, cleanest wayto give them what they need?
Ok, this is where it getsreally interesting for me
personally.
Why this big shift from searchengines as we knew them to these
answer engines?
Why is it so critical right now?
What's pushing this?

Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yeah, connecting it to the bigger picture.
This isn't just tech evolvingon its own, you know.
It's really being driven likeoverwhelmingly by what people
want Faster, more accurate infoSimple as that.
The huge rise of voice searchand all this advanced AI stuff
those are definitely the mainengines behind it.
Users today, let's be honest,they don't have much patience

(03:16):
for clicking through linksanymore.
They just expect quick, clearanswers right away.
And this whole evolution haschanged how we search.
It's gone from typing stiffkeywords to just talking using
natural phrases.
Under the hood, these answerengines use really advanced AI,
natural language processing, nlp.
That lets them get the nuance,understand the intent behind
your words and give back superprecise answers.

(03:38):
It's a totally fundamentalbreak from the old keyword
matching days.
It makes getting info feel wellsmarter, more intuitive.

Speaker 1 (03:45):
So when we say answer engines, it's not just one
single thing, is it Sounds likethere are different flavors.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
Exactly right.
You can sort of break them downinto two main groups.
First you've got the generativeAI bots, things that give
really human-like answers, caneven chat back and forth,
getting pretty good forinteraction.
And then you have theAI-powered voice assistants.
You know your Google assistantAlexa.
They handle spoken questionsusing voice tech Great for
hands-free info.

(04:10):
But both types, fundamentallythey rely on that AI and NLP to
figure out what you want andgive you a good answer.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
Okay, so that paints the picture, but what does it
actually mean for you listeningright now?
If you want to adapt, make sureyour information cuts through.
Don Phelps, thankfully, haslaid out a pretty clear
blueprint here.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
Right, With all that context, the really key thing is
okay, how do you do AEO?
What are the actual concretesteps to make it work?

Speaker 1 (04:36):
Well, dawn really hammers home.
Starting with real questions,like actually listen to your
audience and, yeah, use thetools out there to find those
what-is-how-to type queries,because those aren't just
keywords, they're like littlewindows straight into what
people actually need to know.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
They're intent.
Yeah, and building right onthat point, it's so, so critical
to write like you talk,especially for voice search,
sounds basic but it gets misseda lot.
Don uses this great example.
He says nobody says bestaffordable outdoor lawn care
solution Austin, tx.
Out loud, right, they saywhat's the best lawn service
near me.
Much more natural.
So your content.

(05:12):
It really needs to match thatconversational style, that
sentence structure people usewhen they speak.
It makes a huge difference.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
That makes total sense.
And then there's the structurepart, structuring content so AI
can read it easily.
Clearly, from what I understandof Don's approach, it means
formatting differently, maybeusing bullet points, giving
short, direct answers right away, clear headings for sections.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
Basically, the easier you make it for an LLM, a large
language model, to pull out theinfo, the better your odds of
being picked.
Is the answer Exactly, and thatstructure point.
That's where structured databecomes absolutely essential.
Schema markup Don's teamliterally calls things like FAQ
schema, Q&A, how-to schemanon-negotiable.
And it's not about gaming thesystem.
It's about, as he puts it,feeding machines the most
digestible version of yourknowledge, just making it

(06:01):
crystal clear for them.
This clarity is what helps youpop up in Google's answer boxes,
get picked for voice search andshow up in those AI overviews
we're seeing more of.
You're basically teaching themachine.

Speaker 1 (06:11):
Right and the third piece of his blueprint, it
sounds like, is still about thefundamentals High quality
content, building authority,meaning you know well-researched
stuff, genuinely informative,that actually meets a specific
need your audience has, andusing keywords, naturally not
stucking them in.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
Absolutely Creating things like really thorough FAQ
pages, for example, coveringlots of related topics but
keeping the answers clear andconcise, and then, crucially,
applying that structured data tothose FAQs.
That's huge.
That strategy, combined withjust consistently building trust
and showing your expertise,that's what makes you look like
a thought leader.
Pages like About Us or GoodFAQs answer engines actually

(06:50):
seem to favor those because theysignal credibility, build user
trust.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
Okay, this all sounds like a solid strategy, but
maybe like quite a bit of worktoo.
So what's the real payoff?
What are the actual tangiblebenefits for you if you go down
this AEO path and reallyimplement it?

Speaker 2 (07:04):
Oh, the payoff is definitely there.
It's significant.
Aeo improves user engagementand drives organic traffic in
ways that, frankly, traditionalSEO often struggles with now.
Organic traffic in ways that,frankly, traditional SEO often
struggles with now.
Think about user engagement.
When you give someone theanswer immediately, concisely,
accurately, their satisfactiongoes way up and that translates

(07:24):
directly to better engagementmetrics.
People stay longer, look atmore pages and often you see
conversion rates improve to.
Bounce rates tend to go downbecause people find what they
need fast, they don't have toimmediately click back and try
somewhere else.
And for bringing in organictraffic, showing up in those
super visible answer boxes orfeatured snippets, that's prime
real estate.

(07:44):
It's incredibly powerful.
There's this stat, I think it'ssomething like 58% of consumers
use voice search to find localbusinesses.
That's huge.
So optimizing for voicedirectly boosts your local SEO,
helps you show up when someoneasks for, you know, a pizza
place near me or best plumber intown.
Even just a reallywell-structured FA2 page, as
Don's team has seen, canseriously increase your chances

(08:06):
of getting featured and pullingin more targeted traffic.

Speaker 1 (08:08):
And the impressive part is this isn't just theory
for Don and his people, right?
He mentions they're actuallytracking this stuff week by week
, tweaking schema, runninglittle experiments like seeing
how moving an FAQ sectionimpacts showing up in AI
overviews.
And he says the link, thecorrelation between doing AEO
work and getting visibility inAI overviews is strong, very

(08:30):
strong.
That's real data talking.
Don really boils it down too.
Cuts through the noise.
He says if you're not buildingfor how people ask, you're
invaluable when they actuallysearch.
Pretty blunt, he's not aboutvanity metrics.
For him, aeo has to deliverresults Better user engagement,
lower bounce and higherconversions.
That's the goal.
He even says AEO isn't just asmart move anymore, it's

(08:50):
basically survival in this newworld of generative search,
instant answers everywhere andthat line he uses it really
stuck with me.
Visibility isn't earned, it'sstructured.
That says a lot and maybe theultimate proof you're doing it
right in this new landscape.
His take is when AI overviewsstart quoting you Wow.
So just to wrap up our deepdive here answer engine
optimization, aeo it's really astrategic shift.

(09:11):
It's about aligning yourcontent, your information, with
how people actually look forstuff today Asking questions,
talking, naturally expectinganswers right away.
It really comes down to beingprecise, being clear and being
super structured in how youpresent knowledge.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
Yeah, the whole digital information scene.
It's just changing so fast,constantly evolving and really
staying ahead of the curve.
It means you have to keepadapting how you put your
information out there, beingproactive about it, not just
reacting.

Speaker 1 (09:39):
So maybe a final thought for you to chew on.
In a world where answers justseem to appear instantly, often
without you even clicking, howcould your questions, the way
you ask things, maybe redefinehow you seek knowledge and also
how others decide to share it?
Something to think about.