What Is the Difference Between SEO and AEO?

SEO gets you in Google's blue links. AEO gets your business cited in the AI-generated answers that appear above them.

Most local businesses are competing hard for the links. Almost none are optimizing for the AI answers. That gap is the opportunity.

What Is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization is the practice of structuring your website so Google ranks it highly in traditional search results, the blue links users have clicked for 25 years.

SEO involves:

• Technical performance: fast load times, mobile-first design, clean code
• On-page content: keyword-rich copy, proper heading structure, internal linking
• Authority signals: backlinks from reputable sites, consistent business citations
• Local SEO: Google Business Profile, NAP consistency, location-specific pages

When someone searches "garage door repair St. Charles MO" and clicks a blue link, that's SEO delivering.

What Is AEO?

Answer Engine Optimization is the practice of structuring your website so AI tools (ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity) can extract and cite your business when generating answers to user questions. For the fuller picture, what Answer Engine Optimization is and why it matters walks through the underlying mechanics in more depth.

When someone asks ChatGPT "who are the best web design agencies in St. Louis?" and your business is named in the response, that's AEO delivering.

AEO involves:

• Schema markup: structured data that tells AI engines exactly what your business does, where it's located, and who it serves
• FAQ content: direct question-and-answer pairs that match how people query AI tools
• Entity clarity: clear, consistent references to your business name, founder, location, and services across your site and the web
• Authoritative citations: being listed and described consistently in directories, review platforms, and other sources AI engines crawl

The Key Difference

SEO targets algorithms that rank documents. AEO targets algorithms that generate answers.

A well-ranked SEO page gets shown when a user searches and chooses to click. An AEO-optimized page gets cited when an AI engine generates a response, whether the user clicks or not. Your business name, your expertise, your location gets mentioned directly in the answer.

This matters because AI-generated answers are increasingly the first thing users see. Google AI Overviews appear above the blue links. ChatGPT answers questions without directing users to Google at all.

Why Local Businesses Need Both

For a home services company in St. Charles County, a contractor in Kansas City, or a restaurant in Wentzville, SEO and AEO serve different parts of the customer journey:

SEO captures the user who searches "roof repair near me" and scrolls through results looking for a company to call.

AEO captures the user who asks their phone "who does roof repair in St. Charles County?" and gets a spoken answer naming your business.

Both users are ready to buy. Missing either channel means missing revenue.

How Untap Web Approaches Both

Every site we build at Untap Web is optimized for both from day one.

On the SEO side: Next.js architecture targeting 95+ Google Lighthouse scores, mobile-first design, local landing pages with real census data, and Google Business Profile integration.

On the AEO side: LocalBusiness and Service schema on every page, FAQ schema mapped to how real customers ask questions, entity-rich copy that names the founder, the city, the service area, and the specific problems we solve.

The result is a website that competes in traditional search and gets cited when AI tools answer questions about your industry in your market.

If you want to see what this looks like in practice, the Untap Web Showroom documents every client build with verified Lighthouse scores and full technical breakdowns. No stock screenshots, no vague claims.

Our AEO service covers every layer of this implementation, from schema audit to ongoing content optimization. The next step for your business starts there.