Optimizing for AI Search: 58% of Marketers Already Do
For twenty years, "getting found online" meant one thing: rank on Google. That is quietly changing. A majority of marketers, around 58%, now say they actively optimize for AI search, working to get cited by assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity rather than only chasing a spot in the blue links. It has a name, answer engine optimization (AEO), and it reflects a real shift in how your customers find you. When people ask an AI instead of scrolling a results page, the goal is no longer to be on page one. It is to be the answer.
Search is becoming an answer, not a list
The core change is simple but profound. A traditional search returns a list of links and lets you choose. An AI assistant increasingly returns a single, direct answer, and often names a few sources it drew from. That compresses the game. Instead of ten links competing for a click, there is one answer, and being part of it is everything. If an AI does not know your business exists, or does not trust it enough to mention it, you simply are not in the conversation at the exact moment a customer is deciding. AEO is about making sure you are.
SEO and AEO: related, not identical
This does not throw out everything you know about being found online, it extends it. The target shifts from ranking a page to being understood and cited by a machine that summarizes.
| Traditional SEO | Answer engine optimization |
|---|---|
| Rank a page in a list of links | Be the source an AI cites in its answer |
| Optimize mostly for the human clicker | Also be clear and quotable to a machine |
| Keywords and backlinks | Direct answers, consistency, credibility |
The good news: much of what makes you citable, clear answers and a trustworthy presence, also serves your human visitors. This connects directly to how AI search itself is evolving, which we covered in Google's AI search overhaul.
How to start without gaming anything
AEO is refreshingly honest work: you win by being genuinely the clearest, most credible answer. Start with the questions your customers actually ask, and answer them directly, in plain language, near the top of the relevant pages. Make your core business facts, what you do, where, for whom, how to reach you, accurate and consistent everywhere they appear, because inconsistency quietly erodes an AI's trust. Use clean structure and real answers to real questions. And keep earning credibility through reviews, mentions, and useful content. There is no trick; there is being the source worth citing.
The signal to watch
When most marketers are already optimizing for AI search, it has stopped being an experiment and become table stakes. The businesses that move early get to be the answer while competitors are still fighting over a results page fewer people bother to scroll. Start simple: ask a few AI assistants what they say about your kind of business in your area, and see whether you appear at all. Then make your site the clear, consistent, credible answer to your customers' real questions. As search keeps shifting from links to answers, being the one the AI names is quickly becoming the most valuable spot online.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "answer engine optimization" (AEO)?
AEO is the practice of making your business and content easy for AI assistants, like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google’s AI answers, to understand, trust, and cite when they respond to people’s questions. Traditional SEO aims to rank your page in a list of blue links. AEO aims for something different: to be the source an AI names or draws from when it gives someone a direct answer. As more people ask an AI instead of scrolling a results page, being the answer, not just a link on page one, is where visibility is moving.
Why does this matter now?
Because the behaviour has already shifted. A majority of marketers, reportedly around 58%, now actively optimize for AI search, which means your competitors likely are too. More importantly, your customers are increasingly asking an AI assistant "who’s the best X near me?" or "how do I solve Y?" and acting on the answer, often without clicking through to a traditional search results page. If the AI does not know your business exists or does not trust it enough to mention it, you are invisible in exactly the moment a buyer is deciding. AEO is how you stay visible as search changes shape.
How is AEO different from regular SEO?
They overlap, but the target differs. SEO optimizes to rank a page; AEO optimizes to be understood and cited by an AI. In practice that means clear, direct answers to real questions; well-structured content an AI can parse; strong, consistent information about your business across the web; and signals of credibility the AI can trust. Good SEO still helps (AI often draws on the same content), but AEO adds a focus on being quotable and trustworthy to a machine that is summarizing, not just listing. You are writing for the AI’s answer as much as for the human reader.
How does a small business start with AEO?
Start with the questions your customers actually ask, and answer them clearly and directly on your website, in plain language, near the top. Make sure your basic business facts (what you do, where, for whom, how to contact you) are accurate and consistent everywhere they appear online, because inconsistency erodes an AI’s trust. Use clear structure (headings, short paragraphs, real answers to real questions). And build genuine credibility, reviews, mentions, useful content, since AI assistants favour sources that look trustworthy. You do not need to game anything; you need to be the clear, credible answer.
What should a Canadian business do about this now?
Treat being found by AI as a real channel, not a novelty. Check what a few AI assistants currently say when asked about your type of business in your area, you may be surprised, and note whether you appear at all. Then make your website answer your customers’ top questions directly, tighten up consistent business information across the web, and keep earning credibility signals. As AI-driven search grows, the businesses that started optimizing for it early will own the answer while later movers are still optimizing for a results page fewer people look at.
Be the answer AI gives your customers
We help Canadian businesses get understood, trusted, and cited by AI assistants, so you stay visible as search shifts from links to answers.
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