This article provides a quick-and-critical overview on what you need to know about AI SEO if you’re a business owner in 2026 who plans to grow with digital marketing.

Business owners and digital marketers have been chasing search engine optimization (SEO) and the constant tweaking of google algorithms for more than two decades. And just when you think you’ve got it dialed in, AEO comes into play. AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimization. It is also referred to AI SEO and you’ll hear LLMO and GEO thrown around as well. No matter the acronym you hear, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that SEO is still relevant and foundational. The bad news is that AI searching has caught on with exceptional speed, so building it into your marketing strategy is important.

The SEO Acronyms of Today Defined

• SEO -Search Engine Optimization focuses on ranking webpages higher in traditional search results and uses four basic tactics: on-page, off-page, technical and local SEO.
• AEO – Answer Engine Optimization is the latest evolution of SEO and requires slightly different tactics, using structured data and creating concise answers. AEO focuses on optimizing content to be chosen as a direct, instant answer by AI-powered search features, also known as answer engines.
• LLMO – Large Language Model Optimization is closely related, sharing the same ultimate goals as AEO and SEO but the focus is on optimizing content to be easily found, understood and trusted by the LLMs like Chat GPT, Claude and Gemini.
• GEO – Generative Engine Optimization is probably the most commonly used term for the entire practice of optimizing content to appear in the results generated by Generative AI systems.
• AI SEO – Artificial Intelligence SEO is the umbrella term for all optimization strategies in the age of AI
• SGE – Search Generative Experience is the initial name for Google’s integration of generative AI directly into its core search engine results. While Google has more recently started referring to the main AI feature as AI Overviews, SGE is still the term widely used in the SEO and digital marketing community to describe this transformative change.

The Staggering Statistics on AI Searching and Zero Click Searches from 2024 and 2025

According to Google, in an update from late July 2025, search features continue to perform well with AI Mode launched in several countries. AI Overviews now have over 2 billion monthly users across more than 200 counties and territories and 40 languages. Bain-Dynata Generative AI Consumer Survey from Dec 2024 shared that even 11 months ago, 60% of searches were ending without a user progressing to another destination site. SEM Rush cites a similar statistic – 58.5% of US searches ended without a click. In other words, the person searching gets their answer without navigating to your site.

How to Build a Strategy Around the Changing Search Behavior for 2026

Even if your website traffic is down and the person searching doesn’t land on your site, you can still get brand exposure, visibility, and can remain relevant to your audience by being mentioned in the AI Overview, the knowledge panel on the right side of the screen, appearing in a featured snippet or the ‘people also ask’ boxes, image and video carousels, and more. And sometimes, they will still visit your website to learn more. For that reason, content must now work in two contexts, as a source for AI engines and as a standalone resource for those users that visit your site.

Step 1: Keywords is still the Starting Point for Search Strategy

Hopefully that comes as more good news, since SEO’s initial steps also start here. For both SEO and AI SEO, you need to start with identifying your target keywords and terms. Here are four common questions we ask when gathering raw data needed for effective keyword selection:

• What do you want to be known for? Or, describe your unique value proposition as concisely as possible.
• Who are your top competitors and what are they known for?
• What are your clients most concerned about – their buzz words if you will. Another way to ask, when a customer discovers you, what frustration or pain point led them to search for a solution like yours?
• What are your top 3 most profitable services, and what are the top 3 services you want to grow most over the next 24 months?

Step 2: Optimize Existing Content by Structuring Data

Large Language models and search engines understand content that is structured. For most professional services firms, the top two areas to start include:

1. Building out Q&A content – Creating Frequently Asked Questions pages or content may help you appear in the ‘People Also Ask’ boxes and the AI Overviews.  To increase your chance of ranking in the answer boxes, the experts recommend that you lead with the answer (within the first 50+ words), you provide context and details in the following statement, and you use the exact question in your heading where possible. Also, structure your answers with bullets or numbered lists.
2. Building out LocalBusiness Content – Another common area of structured content that makes sense, especially for businesses who are geo-targeting, is to use LocalBusiness schema, which helps populate knowledge panels and local pack results. This can highlight key details such as your business name, address, phone number, operating hours, and other attributes that help search engines better understand and surface your business.
3. Building out HowTo content – This type of structured data is helpful whenever you need to walk a user through a process.  How To schemas may increase your chance of appearing in featured snippets and AI-generated lists, guides or tutorials.
   • A few key tips include:
     1. Keep your steps clear and actionable, one instruction per step
     2. Keep the titles concise
     3. Use images or videos to showcase steps
     4. Add fields like tools, time, cost where possible so you have extra context

Step 3: Measure and Adjust Your SEO and AI SEO Tactics

If I had to name one consistent lesson in my science and marketing background, it is the value of analysis and experimentation. There is no perfect recipe for success when it comes to driving search results, and often takes some trial and error to get the outcomes you want. So start with some basics, and layer in and adjust along the way. As was mentioned earlier, website traffic used to be the key performance indicator (KPI) we all monitored. It is still important, but here are a few foundational Google Analytics and complementary metrics that will help you uncover brand engagement, sentiment and visibility that are recommended for 2026 and beyond:

• Referral Traffic from AI Sources: Some AI platforms send traffic as referrals. This is true of ChatGPT and Perplexity, just to name a few. Tracking these allows you to measure direct benefit from non-Google AI. You can set this up in GA4 using the Traffic Acquisition Report. Filter for ‘Session Source’ matching a regular expression (regex) list of AI domains. Note: Google AI Overviews (AIO) / SGE -The AI summary box in Google Search- is currently categorized as standard Organic Search Traffic (Google / organic), making it hard to isolate. For now, you need to use Google Search Console (GSC) to look for behavior signals like impressions, Click-Through Rates (CTR) and queries.
• Engagement Rate: This GA4 metric replaces the traditional “Bounce Rate” and is a primary indicator of whether a visitor found your content helpful. A higher rate suggests the user found your page relevant after landing on it.
• Average Engagement Time: The average time a user spends with your page in the foreground. A higher time on pages optimized for AI answers suggests your in-depth content is satisfying the user’s query, leading to an increase in qualified traffic.
• Conversions (Key Events): Organic conversions (lead forms, newsletter sign-ups) are the ultimate measure. If your organic traffic volume drops but your Conversion Rate remains steady or increases, the traffic you are getting is more qualified (higher value per visitor). That’s worth celebrating!

In sum, in 2026 we will be focusing more on our visibility and less on traffic to measure the results of digital marketing. And instead of just thinking about your content as a direct resource for visitors to your website, we will be also building content to be source material for AI engines.

If you want more details on these steps and other suggestions, as well as information on additional metrics to pay attention to when measuring your success in the zero-click search efforts, visit Semrush Blog titled Zero Click Searches.