The rise of Answer Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization, better known as SEO, has been around since the 1990s.

More than two decades later, we still talk about optimizing for the likes of Google and Bing as ‘SEO’. The tactics may have evolved, the landscape may have changed, but the overarching principles remain the same – right?

According to Chee Lo, Head of SEO at Trustpilot, and Jason Barnard, SEO consultant at Kalicube.pro, search engine optimization is no longer the only game in town.

In a recent webinar, the two experts explained how the rise of voice search is transforming search engines into “answer engines”, which require a different strategy and set of ingredients for success. This strategy has come to be known as AEO, or “answer engine optimization”.

So how does AEO differ from the time-tested discipline of SEO? Why is it important? And how can SEOs go about optimizing for answer engines?

What is answer engine optimization?

Many of us in the industry have noted and commented on the shift by search engines, particularly Google, towards providing one, definitive answer to searches. Innovations like featured snippets and Knowledge Graph have contributed to Google’s aim of providing the answer to a search query without requiring a user to click through to another website.

Voice search accentuates this shift, with the vast majority of voice searches receiving a single answer read out by a digital assistant. On mobile, some voice searches will display a results page if there isn’t a definitive answer to be found, but for smart home hub devices like the Amazon Echo and Google Home which rarely have screens, this isn’t an option.

Therefore, the search engine needs to be able to provide a single answer, or none at all.

Some of the techniques required to optimize for answer engines overlap with search optimization techniques, but there are differences in the underlying mentality.

Jason Barnard emphasized that the key to answer engine optimization is in specifics: letting Google (or another answer engine) understand what it is that you’re offering.

“It’s very important to bear in mind that if Google is to give a specific answer, it needs very specific, detailed information in order to present it.tart Writing!