Answering the Answer Engines: The Future of Search

You enjoy podcasts. We know because you're listening to one. Hi, I'm Jason Falls, the executive producer of the Marketing Podcast Network. We love podcasts too, so much so that in addition to providing you with a great episode you're listening to, we also help businesses, brands, and even individuals produce their podcasts.

MPN Studios offers podcast consulting and production services to help you get you or your business its very own podcast. We've helped dozens of smart people, advertising agencies, and brands develop podcasts. All you do is record your content or interview. We take that and deliver a professionally produced audio or video episode complete with show notes, transcriptions, and even promotional clips to use on social media.

And our monthly subscription prices are hard to beat. If you or your company are jonesing to have your own podcast to establish thought leadership, drive business leads, or just have fun talking about your business or topic of choice, we'd love to help. Learn more at marketingpodcasts.net slash studio.

That's marketingpodcasts.net slash studio. From the producers of Baby Reindeer comes Alice and Steve exclusively on Disney+. I wish I was in love.

You're my best friend. Anybody would be lucky to have you. Meet Alice and Steve. We've known each other for over 30 years.

When Alice's daughter starts to date Steve. Mum, I want to keep seeing him. Things start to unravel. Your mum just tried to shoot me.

What? Steve! Alice and Steve, a Hulu original series exclusively on Disney+. 18 plus subscription required.

T's and C's apply. The search engine landscape has changed again. We're no longer just chasing keywords and climbing rankings. We're navigating a world where AI is answering questions before users even click.

Welcome to the era of answer engine optimization, where trust, clarity, and credibility determine visibility. So what does this shift mean for marketers, business owners, and brands trying to stay relevant in a world of zero-click searches and AI-generated answers? Let's leave the echo chamber to break down what we learn and what we need to do next. Hello and welcome to the Rethink Marketing Podcast, where we relentlessly revisit and reframe the rules of ROI.

I'm Paul Froge, joined by Mr. Marketing himself. And for today's episode, the retrospective roundup on the art and ascent of AEO, Colin Jeffries. Colin, how are you today?

Hey, Paul, I'm doing well. I hope you can say the same. What is it today that we're rethinking? Yeah, so today what we're going to do is recap our conversations over the last two episodes with Bree Hadnott from our agency, our AEO and SEO expert who helped us really unpack how platforms like Google's AI overviews and ChatGPT, perplexity, and so forth, are rewriting the rules.

So what's rising to the top isn't just content, it's the right content structured for speed, helpfulness, and authority. So interested in recapping this, I know that those that have listened over the last couple episodes had heard a lot, but really wanted to dig into some key highlights here. Absolutely. So Paul, before we dive in too deep, let's redefine what AEO means.

So SEO being search engine optimization, obviously AEO meaning answer engine optimization. So we've heard a lot of people throw around terms like AIO, artificial intelligence optimization. AEO is a little bit more all encompassing where it's not just speaking to the platforms that you mentioned earlier, like ChatGPT or Gemini or what have you. But it's also optimizing around Google's AI overviews and those types of things rather than traditional keyword rankings that we think of from a search engine optimization perspective.

So I wanted to just lay the groundwork in case somebody's joining us today and they missed the last two episodes, which I'd recommend going back and listening to. But Paul, at a high level, what are some of the trends or the shifts in user behavior that you've noticed that are leading you to rethinking SEO as it pertains to answer engine optimization? Absolutely, Colin. You know, interesting enough, I know a lot of different people of a lot of different communities and different marketing positions and even clients of ours listen to this podcast.

So I know we're redefining and understanding what AEO is. So for those that are really entrenched in this, I also don't want this to be the novice approach to this, but wanted to continue to educate those that don't completely understand this, that are interested in learning more. So in recapping, about 58.5% of Google searches are zero click.

So users are really getting answers without visiting websites. We just had a client reporting meeting today where we were educating and understanding that because the metrics on the website went down a decent amount percentage-wise. And really educating that that not a bad thing because the AI overview is where they showing up for all of our AEO efforts and looking at the opportunities for them to show up within Gemini and chat GPT and really put a concentrated effort into that So just because the metrics are going down, I know we're going to talk a little bit about this, you know, even in the next episode a little bit, too.

But looking at having website traffic go down doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing. Absolutely. And I think one of my big takeaways from the conversations the last couple of weeks, and even spilling over too into a conversation we had maybe four or five weeks ago, Paul, or I should say an episode that dropped maybe four or five weeks ago about website traffic decreasing, which you just described, is we have to think about answer engine optimization beyond just the pages of our website.

And historically, SEO was all about, is your website ranking? Is a page on your website ranking? It was very myopic, very focused on assets that we own. And with AEO, I'm thinking about, okay, how can I go get content of mine on Reddit, on Forbes, on these other platforms?

And I intentionally say Reddit and Forbes because they're sort of opposite ends of the spectrum. One being a user-generated platform in Reddit and the other one being an expert multinational publishing platform where the rigors of actually publishing content on Forbes are pretty high. How can I go and actually create content on a variety of platforms that will then roll up to answer engine optimization? it's not just about who's hitting a landing page.

It's more about who's finding my content, whatever platform it's on. Totally makes sense, Colin. And, you know, thinking about the trends and shifts in behavior, besides that, you know, Google searches are zero click. You know, platforms like ChatGPT are receiving 4.

5 billion visits per month. We talked a little bit about that with Bree, showing really that explosive growth in AI-based queries. That's right, Paul. Well, and when folks are hitting ChatGPT, they're asking for advice that they would be asking a friend or they're asking for project work that they would previously have been asking an intern or they're asking for notes and summaries and things of that nature.

The way that we're using ChatGPT, and I'll throw Gemini in there and some other platforms as well, it's all about prompts. And so when we think about how people were using Google in the past, it was sort of a question and answer. YouTube rose as the world's second largest search engine where people were looking for specific types of content, typically shorter form content, to answer questions like, how do I X? How do I increase my max bench press?

How do I replace a faucet? How do I fill in the blank? In Google, they were asking these simpler, easier to answer questions. Now with ChatGPT, we're seeing much more complexity around what is being asked and the answers that are being presented.

And so when we're thinking about AEO, it's not, again, classic SEO example was I want to rank for Chinese restaurants near me. And so we're building out all these pages that are going to rank for local search and we're trying to game the system. We've got our Google business profile that's updated and we're posting content there. And, you know, we're making sure that we're showing up appropriately on the various directories, you know, Urban Spoon and Yelp and TripAdvisor and all these other places that are listing restaurants.

But today, when we're thinking about it, it's answer engine optimization. And yes, we still need to be visible on rating and review sites because when somebody is looking for, I'm spending three days in Atlanta and I really like Chinese food, where should I eat? ChatGPT is putting together an itinerary for them that's including our restaurant because of the reviews that they found on Yelp, on Google Business Profiles, maybe on TripAdvisor and some other platforms. But it goes way beyond just showing up because someone's hungry and they're Googling Chinese food near me.

And when we're thinking about the massive difference in those two tactics, how we go to market digitally is going to change. And it is changing. Well, that's amazing. You look at it and how many years of Google search did it take to get to this place that we're really full force into it so quickly.

We went from feeding Google as Chinese places near me to, you know, almost like talking to a toddler to now having complex conversations with the AI opportunities that are out there. That's right. A lot of people are using ChatGPT as an executive admin. My wife and I took a trip to Fort Lauderdale Paul And one of the ways that I did research on things we should do is I just said I in Fort Lauderdale for two days I don have a car Here are the things that I like Here are the things that I like to avoid Can you put together a schedule of the top things I should see the top places to eat the best beaches to visit all this stuff?

And boom, it spits it out. And I didn't have to do more than a couple of minutes of research and write a really strong prompt. And that's the kind of power that we're seeing with AEO that we weren't seeing with SEO. From SEO, I could have Googled best things to do in Fort Lauderdale or best restaurants to eat at or what have you, but it's incumbent on me to be doing a lot of research versus leveraging AI to do the research for me.

It's much different. And that kind of harkens back to what I was saying earlier, which is from an SEO perspective, I wanted my Google business profile or my website or a particular page on my website to rank really well. And now when I'm thinking of AEO, I just want my content to be rolled up from an AI perspective and served to the person who's doing the query entry. And I don't care where it's coming from, but the more platforms that it's on, the higher the likelihood that it's actually pulled in.

I don't want it just to be on my website. I want it to be a cross platform. So that way, when ChatGPT or Gemini or fill in the blank is scraping the annals of the internet, it's pulling in lots of content that is actually echoing things that saying, if you want a plumber, here's a well-ranked one with a strong website who has people that are published on these different platforms. That's who you want.

You want to eat at a particular type of restaurant. Here's one that has good reviews across platforms that provides online reservations that's open at the time that you're interested in being there. Boom. And it's looking at these things across a whole matrix of factors, not just who has the most backlinks or who's doing keyword stuffing or what have you.

You made a good point there, Colin. One thing I caught there is on the website, you talk about strong websites. So that is something that is controllable for businesses and marketing professionals to be able to continue to update that. Yes, website traffic is going down, but the AI opportunities that are pulling from your website are still very relevant.

Absolutely, Paul. And when I'm talking about multiple platforms, I'm certainly not suggesting that we follow the trend of, I'm going to say it was the early 2000s, maybe 2010 or 2015, when lots of small businesses decided I'm not paying for a URL and website hosting. I'm only going to have a Facebook page. And if you want information, you go to the Facebook page.

I'm not suggesting that we get rid of websites at all. In fact, I'm thinking of AEO So today, this may evolve over the course of time as EEO itself evolves, but the website is sort of the core. That's where we're going and we're creating expert content and we're hosting videos and we're sharing client testimonials and white papers and all sorts of stuff. That's our hub.

But we're also going out to, in the case of a home improvement company, we're also going out to Angie's, which used to be Angie's List. And we're also going out to the BBB. And our founders also speaking and getting conferences and keynotes that are being posted on YouTube. And we're also part of fill in the blank.

And we're doing all of these different things that are collectively making us very attractive to these artificial intelligence, these answer engines that are rolling things up and responding to queries that are being punched in. in a way that was different when we thought historically about the website as the core. And then the ancillary functions were all backlinks. Well, now I'm thinking of the ancillary functions as places where I'm distributing expert content, where I have answer engine optimization taking place.

So that way, it's not just my website hosting the content, but it's hosted across platforms and it's being rolled up in this answer engine. Yeah, it totally makes sense. And let's skip ahead for just a minute to the tactical AEO tips that we heard from Bree. Let's talk about the lead with the answer, not the hook.

What are your thoughts there? I do want to be clear really quick, Paul, that AEO is not replacing SEO. It's really building on a healthy SEO function. So when we think of traditional SEO, backlinks, page structure, what users are actually doing when they hit your site, site speed, et cetera, those are still very foundational.

AEO is shifting to the answer first mentality that you just talked about. And I see beginning with the answer in mind as building trust. And so what we're doing is we're taking search engine optimization and people can use ChatGPT and Gemini and other things to really expand SEO and to be a force multiplier for their SEO efforts. But when we're thinking about AEO, it has to be done across platforms and across the board.

And so starting with the answer first I think really helps us understand what are people looking for What do they want What information might be beneficial What information is very crowded and already being answered by all of my competitors in the industry What can I add to that that would be helpful cetera It goes back to one of the core fundamentals of marketing which is know your audience Yeah, totally makes sense. You make a good point there and Bree brought it up as that helpfulness, prioritizing that, building that credibility.

Bree also talked about those first two to three sentences should directly answer the user's query. So opportunities there where it's all building on that foundation to get to the point of the AI search, being able to pull your business up and be able to rank and being able to be there for those users that are searching. Exactly, Paul. And I think being there is really important because one of the things that I've noticed about AI, and I'm not alone in this at all, is that it's shortening buying cycles.

So it used to be that, let's say you're taking your wife out to a nice dinner. You might have spent historically 30, maybe more minutes, let's say 30 to 60 minutes researching restaurants. what's in your budget, what's she going to enjoy, what has nearby parking, what's close to whatever activities that you're doing before or afterwards or what have you. You do this kind of analysis with your human brain to arrive at one or two options, your consideration set, as we marketers like to call it.

Now, you don't have to think about any of that. You're relying on your sort of externalizing it or outsourcing those questions to Gemini or ChatGPT or whatever, where you're able to now say, hey, here's the situation. We have this event at this time in this location, find a restaurant for me with free parking that's close to this thing that doesn't have seafood, that doesn't have this, and that offers outdoor seating or whatever. Boom, and then it finds it.

So instead of you spending 30 minutes previously thinking about the whole matrix of factors that go into your decision, And now that buying process went from 45 minutes down to three minutes. And then you're able to spend time looking at the menu and deciding what you actually want to buy. And the same thing is true with anything that we're looking at buying cycle wise, where even in B2B software sales, it used to be, okay, I'm going to go look at Trustpilot in G2. I'm going to go ask questions on Reddit.

I'm going to go do all of this research to figure out what CRM I should implement for my small business. Now that two months or six weeks of research gets cut down to 20 minutes where I'm entering a couple of different prompts into an answer engine. I'm getting the exact responses that I need and it's doing all the legwork. It's scraping Reddit.

It's scraping Trustpilot and G2 and Forbes and all of these other platforms to pull out information that's beneficial for me to make that decision as quickly as possible. And so that's something else that we need to talk about too. We're increasing trust and we're shortening our buying cycle and every business wants to do that. So Colin, great, great recap of our interviews with Bree over the last couple episodes.

Looking at recapping the recap, if you will, SEO and AEO are very complementary. And like you had mentioned before, SEO and AEO really need to be working in unison, the SEO foundation and then the AEO on top of it. So AEO is really not, we're not suggesting that it's replacing SEO, it really builds on that. Looking at traditional SEO, the site speed, indexing, page structure, et cetera, is still foundational.

AEO adds an answer first, true, first layer on top of existing SEO best practices, but a really good conversation. It's just, it's accelerating at a pace that we just need to keep up with. Absolutely, Paul. Great recap.

Everyone, thank you so much for joining us today on the Rethink Marketing Podcast. Until next time, keep rethinking those common assumptions. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. If people want to connect with us, where should they go, Paul?

RethinkMarketingPodcast.com, Colin. What can listeners do to help us in return for the sage marketing wisdom and our pithy humor? They can help us by leaving a review on their favorite platform or sharing this episode with a fellow marketer to help them cut through the clutter.

Well, until next time, keep rethinking those common assumptions. You may know you're listening to this show along the Marketing Podcast Network, but did you know there are other great shows on MPN to help your business? Heather Eck hosts an amazing show called Your Radiant Spirit. Heather, tell listeners about the show.

What if the colors you're drawn to, the creative urges you ignore, and the quiet intuitive hits you brush off are actually trying to tell you something? Your Radiant Spirit is the podcast that helps you listen and live with greater clarity and purpose. And where can people subscribe? You can find and subscribe at hethereck.

com slash yourradiantspirit on marketingpodcast.net or search for it wherever you get your podcasts. You heard her. Go subscribe.

Thank you.