SEO & AEO.
Getting found on Google, and increasingly, getting recommended when someone asks ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity instead.
Search is changing, not disappearing.
SEO gets you found on a search engine's results page. AEO, answer engine optimisation, gets you found and correctly described inside an AI-generated answer, on tools like ChatGPT, Google's AI Overviews, Gemini, and Perplexity.
The two aren't in competition. Technical SEO, clear content, and structured data are the foundation both are built on. AEO adds a layer on top: making sure your name, your expertise, and your work are consistent and clear enough for an AI system to confidently recommend you, not just index you.
Technical foundations, content strategy, and entity clarity.
Technical SEO covers page structure, site speed, internal linking, titles and meta descriptions, and structured data, the schema that tells search engines and AI systems what a page actually is. Content strategy means building pages and articles around the specific questions your customers are actually asking, rather than generic keyword targets. AEO adds a third layer: making sure your business, your services, and your expertise are described consistently everywhere they appear, so an AI system can confidently connect the dots.
Strategy and oversight, not just theory.
At Sentrex, I managed an external content and SEO agency for six years, deciding what content actually mattered to the business, reviewing and approving what they produced, rather than writing every article myself. That's a strategic and governance role, and it's exactly where AEO lives: deciding what a business should be known for, then making sure that story is told consistently everywhere it appears.
The IceDry case study shows the content-architecture side directly: seven location pages and six industry pages, each built around a specific search intent, feeding domain authority back to the parent business.
What people usually ask.
Is AEO replacing SEO?
No. AEO builds on the same technical SEO and content foundations; it adds consistency and structured data aimed specifically at AI systems on top of them.
How do you measure AEO progress, since there's no ranking position?
By testing directly: running the same realistic questions through tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity over time, and tracking whether, and how accurately, a business gets mentioned.
Can you also produce the content itself, or just the strategy?
Both are available depending on the project. The core strength is deciding what should be said and where it should appear, built from six years managing an external content and SEO agency.
How long does AEO take to show results?
There's no fixed ranking system to game, so timelines vary. Work typically starts with technical and consistency fixes, then is tracked over months as AI tools' answers are retested.