The way buyers search for answers has changed significantly over the past two years. Traditional search engines still matter, but they are no longer the only place buyers go when they want answers to commercial questions.
AI-powered tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews are increasingly used in the early stages of the buyer journey. Buyers ask natural language questions and expect structured, useful answers.
The companies that appear in those answers are not necessarily the ones with the highest domain authority. They are the ones whose content is clearest, most structured and most directly useful in response to the questions buyers actually ask.
This is what AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) is about. It is not a replacement for SEO. It is an extension of it, built for the current reality of how discovery works.
Practically, this means structuring your website content to directly answer buyer questions. It means using consistent terminology. It means having clear problem-solution structures on every page. And it means building FAQ content that treats buyer questions as first-class content, not afterthoughts.
The window to establish presence in the AI search era is open. The companies that act now will be the ones that appear by default when their buyers ask the questions that matter most.