What Is AI SEO? A Guide for Brands Who Want to Stay Visible

What is AI SEO?

AI SEO, sometimes referred to as GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation), AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) or even Agentic Engine Optimisation, is the strategic process of optimising your brand’s content, technical infrastructure, and authority signals so that AI systems can accurately understand, cite, and elevate your presence across AI-powered search results.

AI SEO goes beyond blue links. It’s about:

• Being the source AI tools trust and reference. AI systems don’t just crawl, they curate. They choose credible, structured, and relevant sources to summarise and recommend. For example, a SaaS brand that publishes detailed comparison pages and product documentation may be cited in Perplexity or ChatGPT when users ask “What’s the best project management tool for agencies?”
• Structuring your information for machine comprehension. Schema, semantic HTML, and natural formatting help AI tools understand your content’s context. A Melbourne-based physiotherapist might apply local business schema and FAQs to rank in AI Overviews for “physio near me open weekends.”
• Answering the questions people actually ask AI models. This includes natural language, long-tail queries like “What’s the best long-lasting vanilla perfume in Australia?” Ecommerce stores that build out detailed product explainers and comparison guides are increasingly referenced by AI tools.
• Embedding trust, clarity, and depth into your content and site infrastructure. Think author credibility, reviews, citations, and topic expertise. Local services, ecommerce brands, and B2B companies can all win citations by providing genuinely helpful, transparent, and well-structured content.

Where AI SEO Shows Up

AI SEO doesn’t just help you rank, it helps you get cited where modern users are searching. Here’s where your efforts can pay off:

• Google AI Overviews: These AI-generated summaries now appear above traditional search results. They pull from multiple sources to deliver quick, aggregated answers. If your content is cited here, you’re effectively the new Position Zero.
• ChatGPT (with browsing): With browsing enabled, ChatGPT pulls from authoritative sources to answer questions and recommend products or services. Well-structured content with schema and strong topical authority is more likely to be linked or cited.
• Perplexity.ai: Perplexity answers complex questions by summarising multiple sources and linking to them. It often surfaces niche blogs, expert content, and pages with structured, helpful answers.
• Microsoft Copilot / Bing AI: These tools are integrated into the Microsoft ecosystem — appearing in search, Office products, and more. They cite high-quality web content to enhance user queries, especially for decision-making or research.

The big shift? AI isn’t just fetching data. It’s summarising, curating, and choosing winners. And those winners are the brands with smart, structured, trustworthy content that’s built to be found, understood, and shared by machines.

Why AI SEO Matters Now (Not Later)

We’re past the prediction phase. AI search is already live and influencing buyer journeys in a way that’s reshaping how users interact with content, brands, and information.

1. Google Is Leading the Charge

With AI Overviews now live in several global markets, Google has fundamentally changed the search experience. Instead of directing users to a list of blue links, the platform now offers:

• Summarised answers from multiple sources. These answers are generated in real-time and offer users a concise overview that eliminates the need to scroll for information.
• Clickable citations embedded within the overview. These links point to trusted sources that the AI considers credible and useful.
• Reduced need for traditional link-hunting behaviour. Instead of opening multiple tabs to compare, users now rely on AI’s summary to make quick decisions.

This means even if your site ranks #2 or #3, if you’re not cited in the AI Overview, your visibility is diminishing. Being seen is no longer about rank…it’s about reference.

2. Consumer Behaviour Has Shifted

Searchers no longer think in keywords. They think in questions, and they expect instant, intelligent responses.

• Natural language queries dominate. People now search how they speak: “Which natural deodorant lasts all day?” or “Best date spots in Fitzroy with parking.”
• AI tools are becoming the first stop. Tools like ChatGPT, Bing AI, and Perplexity are increasingly replacing Google for early research and product discovery.
• Users want fast, confident answers. Instead of reading five blog posts, users want a single AI-generated summary with confidence and clarity.

This shift means brands must write and structure their content in ways that align with how people ask…and how AI interprets.

3. Zero-Click Searches Are Exploding

More and more, searchers find what they need without ever clicking a result.

• Google AI Overviews deliver the answer upfront. In many cases, this satisfies the query entirely, leaving no need to visit a website.
• Featured Snippets and People Also Ask boxes steal the scroll. These formats dominate the top of the SERP and pre-empt user intent.
• Chatbots like ChatGPT resolve full queries natively. For users asking “How do I create a content strategy for AI search?”, the AI simply provides the answer and often citing a source if one exists.

If your content isn’t being surfaced in these formats, your organic traffic is likely flatlining. Even if you still rank well. Visibility now means being the source, not just being in the index.

We’re past the prediction phase, AI search is already live and influencing buyer journeys.

Traditional SEO vs AI SEO

Bottom line:
AI SEO doesn’t replace traditional SEO, it expands the field of play. If you’re not optimising for both, you’re playing with one hand tied behind your back.

Think of traditional SEO as your foundation; it’s still essential for ranking in organic results, especially for transactional and high-volume queries. But AI SEO gives you access to the emerging layer of search where real-time answers are delivered by generative systems. Together, they work in harmony: traditional SEO builds domain strength and discoverability, while AI SEO ensures your brand is cited and trusted in the new search ecosystem.

The most successful digital strategies today treat AI SEO not as an alternative, but as an accelerator for everything else that works.

The IVO Framework: A Smarter Strategy for AI SEO

At Phoenix Wolf, we developed Intelligent Visibility Optimisation (IVO) because the traditional SEO playbook wasn’t built for how search works now.

IVO is a forward-facing framework that merges:

• SEO fundamentals
• AI search optimisation
• Brand-building and E-E-A-T
• Cross-channel alignment

This integrated approach ensures your brand shows up consistently and credibly across:

• Google Search
• AI-generated answers (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot)
• Voice assistants
• Discovery platforms

IVO Pillar 1: Technical SEO

Your site needs to be fast, accessible, and legible to AI—because AI-powered systems make split-second decisions about what content to cite, surface, or ignore.

• Page speed matters more than ever. Not just for user experience, but for machine prioritisation. AI systems often prioritise faster-loading pages to include in summaries. If your site lags, especially on mobile, you’re likely to be skipped over in favour of leaner competitors. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or WebPageTest to identify bottlenecks.
• Schema markup is your new foundation. Schema is how you teach machines what your page is about. Implementing rich schema like FAQPage, Product, Review, and Article helps AI interpret, segment, and cite your content accurately. It turns unstructured content into machine-readable insights.
• Logical site structure supports crawlability and comprehension. Flat site architecture (where most pages are within 3 clicks of the homepage), internal linking between related topics, and an XML sitemap help AI bots navigate and understand your site. The better the structure, the higher the likelihood your content is properly indexed and referenced.
• Core Web Vitals still count. These performance signals, such as Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), aren’t just for Google rankings. They indicate overall content stability and usability, which are trust factors for AI citation. Sites that meet Core Web Vitals tend to offer more reliable, scannable content for AI systems to use.
• Accessibility is key. AI systems prefer sites that offer clean code, logical heading hierarchy (H1, H2, H3), alt text for images, and mobile responsiveness. These elements ensure that your content is easy to read and summarise, even for AI bots scanning thousands of pages per minute.

In short: technical SEO isn’t just about rankings anymore. It’s about making your content understandable, trustworthy, and fast enough to be included in AI-generated results.

IVO Pillar 2: Content Engineering

This is content designed for performance, by both humans and machines.

• Answer-first formatting wins. Place your core response at the top of the section, then expand with detail, nuance, or supporting data. This mirrors how AI summarises content for users.
• Use H2s, lists, and callout boxes. These structural elements make your content easier for AI to segment, summarise, and prioritise in responses.
• Match the tone of AI queries. Write in the same conversational, helpful tone that users adopt when they speak to tools like ChatGPT or Google Assistant.
• Build topic clusters. Grouping related content boosts topical authority, making it more likely AI systems will view your brand as the go-to expert on a subject.

Example: Before & After
A client in the beauty ecommerce space originally had a single-page blog listing “Top 5 Fragrances.” It was a wall of text with minimal structure. After applying content engineering:

• We broke each fragrance into a dedicated, structured page with scent profile schema
• Added FAQs like “How long does it last?” and “What season is it best for?”
• Linked those pages together using a parent guide: “Best Perfumes by Occasion”
• Included review highlights and creator notes for trust

Result: That brand was later cited in a Perplexity.ai response for “best vanilla-scented perfumes under $100 in Australia.”

Content engineering isn’t just about writing well; it’s about designing content to perform in a machine-dominant discovery landscape.

IVO Pillar 3: Brand Authority & E-E-A-T

AI tools trust brands that demonstrate consistent credibility and depth. It’s not just about keywords, it’s about proving you’re a reliable source worth citing.

• Showcase real expertise. Create author profiles with bios, credentials, and experience relevant to the topic. If you’re a professional services brand, link these bios to a dedicated About or Services page that reinforces your authority.
• Secure third-party validation. Backlinks, digital PR, awards, and verified reviews act as independent trust signals. Tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity increasingly cite brands that are mentioned beyond their own websites… not just optimised, but recognised.
• Maintain a fresh content ecosystem. Regularly update existing content and republish pages with new data or examples. AI systems favour sources that reflect current thinking, especially for industries like tech, ecommerce, and health.
• Embed transparency across your site. Clear refund policies, visible pricing, FAQs, and genuine testimonials don’t just improve conversions, they signal trustworthiness to AI models trained to assess reliability. These elements help your site show up in “best of” queries and product/service comparisons.
• Establish digital authorship across the web. Encourage your team to contribute guest articles or comment on industry publications under their real names. This builds entity recognition, one of the more advanced signals that influence AI citation and summarisation.

IVO Pillar 4: Channel Synergy

Visibility isn’t siloed, and neither is AI. To consistently show up in AI-driven search results, your SEO, paid media, content, and social channels must work in sync.

• Blend paid and organic learnings. Your top-performing paid keywords reveal high-intent search behaviour, perfect for informing your AI SEO strategy. Don’t just rely on old keyword tools. Real-time ad data helps surface what customers are actually searching, so you can create content that gets cited by tools like ChatGPT, Google, and Perplexity.
• Turn one piece of content into many. AI looks for consistency and repetition across credible channels. Repurpose long-form blog content into short-form video, carousel posts, UGC reels, or infographic explainers. This multiplies your relevance and reinforces your brand entity across platforms AI tools crawl.
• Don’t overlook your Google Business Profile. Especially for service-based or location-specific businesses, local signals still matter. An optimised profile (with accurate services, categories, reviews, and updates) increases your chances of appearing in AI-generated “best [service] near me” or “trusted local providers” summaries.
• Use platform authority to your advantage. Publishing on high-authority domains (like LinkedIn, YouTube, or Substack) can influence how your brand is interpreted by AI. Even short insights or thought-leadership pieces can reinforce topical authority across your ecosystem.
• Keep messaging aligned across every touchpoint. From the keywords in your Google Ads to the tone of your social captions, semantic consistency strengthens your brand signal. AI models don’t just analyse what you say, but how consistently you say it across the web.

How to Optimise for AI SEO

Optimising for AI SEO isn’t just about applying a checklist; it’s about developing a deeper, machine-aligned strategy that spans your entire digital presence. If you’re serious about ranking in AI-generated search results, our SEO Services can help. We combine technical SEO, advanced schema markup, and intelligent content strategies, specifically tailored to boost your visibility across AI-powered platforms.

Below we break down practical ways to build AI visibility step-by-step, complete with examples and tactics you can apply immediately.

1. Write for Humans, Structure for Machines

Think of your content as a conversation with both your customer and an AI system. The clearer your structure and tone, the easier it is for both to understand, and promote your content.

• Use conversational tone and clear structure. AI prefers content that mirrors natural human dialogue. Speak the way people search. Instead of “fragrance options,” say “What are the best fragrances for summer?”
• Short paragraphs and clear H2s help AI summarise your content. Every 2–3 sentences should break naturally. Add relevant H2s (like “Best for Summer” or “Long-Lasting Scents”) so AI can segment your insights.
• Include schema to describe your content’s purpose. Use FAQPage, Product, Review, and Article schema. For example, a skincare brand might mark up product usage guides with HowTo schema for better AI surfacing.
• Example: Poor vs. AI-Optimised Layout
  • Poor: A 1,000-word blog with no subheadings or intro summary.
  • Optimised: A blog with a 2-line summary at the top, broken into H2s like “Benefits,” “Use Cases,” “Best for Winter,” and an FAQ at the bottom.

When in doubt, ask: Would an AI be able to pull a clean answer from this?

Real Example: A natural skincare brand restructured its long-form article on “Best Moisturisers for Summer” using AI SEO best practices. They added a two-line intro summary, broke the content into sections like “Best for Oily Skin” and “Dermatologist-Approved,” and applied HowTo and Product schema to individual reviews. Within a month, they noticed increased impressions via Search Console’s AI Overview metrics and were cited in Perplexity responses for “lightweight moisturisers for hot climates.” It’s proof that content designed for AI doesn’t just look better… it performs better.

2. Target Long-Tail and Natural Language Queries

AI tools thrive on context. The more specific and helpful your content, the more likely you’ll be cited.

• Think like a question, not a keyword. Use phrasing your audience would actually type or say. E.g., “best cruelty-free perfume under $100” instead of just “perfume Australia.”
• Group queries by intent. Segment content by informational (e.g., “What is AI SEO?”), commercial (e.g., “Best AI SEO tools”), and transactional (e.g., “Hire an AI SEO agency”).
• Use AI tools to source real questions. Try SearchAtlas, AlsoAsked, ChatGPT, or even internal search bar data. Turn top queries into structured blog content, glossary entries, or FAQ hubs.
• Example Workflow:
  • Voice query: “How do I choose a good email platform for my small business?”
  • → Refined keyword: “best email marketing platforms for small business”
  • → Content idea: “The Top 5 Email Platforms for Small Business Owners (Updated for 2025)”

3. Reinforce Authority Across the Site

AI models heavily weight trust signals when choosing who to cite.

• Create high-quality author pages. Include bios with credentials, years of experience, links to social profiles, and any media coverage.
• Link internally to build topic relevance. A blog on “How to Rank in Google AI Overviews” should link to your main AI SEO service page, glossary definitions, and any supporting guides.
• Secure mentions from other sites. Guest posts, expert interviews, and partnerships help you build backlink authority, still a key factor in both SEO and AI visibility.
• Add content freshness signals. Update key pieces quarterly and use “Last Updated” tags. AI systems tend to deprioritise outdated content.

4. Get Cited in the Right Places

AI tools reference trustworthy sources. Your goal: become one.

• Submit thought leadership to publications. Platforms like Medium, SmartCompany, and marketing blogs can serve as secondary citations that AI may trust.
• Participate in expert roundups and podcasts. These boost credibility and help build digital presence. Bonus: they’re great for backlinks and quotes.
• Use HARO and Featured. Respond to journalist queries with expert commentary. When cited, link back to your own content hub.
• Maintain brand consistency across platforms. Ensure your business name, description, service categories, and tone match on LinkedIn, your website, Google Business Profile, and press mentions.

5. Track AI SEO Performance

You can’t improve what you don’t measure. But AI SEO metrics require a fresh toolkit.

• Use AI Visibility trackers. Platforms like BrightEdge and SERanking show where your content appears in AI Overviews, chatbot responses, and answer boxes.
• Monitor brand mentions in ChatGPT and Perplexity. Use GPT-powered search with custom instructions to test queries like “best X in Australia” and check if your brand surfaces.
• Review SGE impressions in Search Console. While still in beta, Google’s AI Overview impressions are beginning to roll into Search Console’s performance data.
• Create a baseline dashboard. Use Google Looker Studio or DataBox to combine:
  • Organic traffic from AI-friendly content
  • Pages with structured schema
  • Queries with AI citation potential

Who AI SEO Helps the Most

Ecommerce Brands

An Australian fragrance brand selling designer-inspired perfumes used AI SEO strategies to increase citations across Perplexity and Google’s AI Overview. By integrating product schema, writing detailed comparison guides (e.g., “Maison Francis Kurkdjian alternatives”), and answering customer-led queries through FAQs, the brand gained visibility for long-tail searches like “affordable dupes for high-end perfumes.”

Practical AI SEO tactics for ecommerce:

• Optimise product pages with schema and FAQs.
• Create comparison content to help AI answer questions like “Which is better: X or Y?”
• Leverage customer reviews and UGC for verifiable trust signals.

Service-Based Businesses

A Melbourne-based physiotherapy clinic began appearing in localised AI summaries after optimising their service pages with structured data, real reviews, and helpful content such as “how to know if you need sports rehab.” By using Google Business Profile data in tandem with strong on-site schema and voice-search-ready headings, they captured zero-click visibility and increased direct bookings.

Practical AI SEO tactics for service-based businesses:

• Target location-based questions using natural phrasing.
• Build authority with detailed service explanations and local schema.
• Encourage and embed authentic client reviews.

Niche Experts and Coaches

An executive coach specialising in burnout recovery began publishing structured content around queries like “how to tell if you’re burnt out” and “workplace stress vs fatigue.” Their inclusion in Perplexity and ChatGPT citations came from in-depth content paired with a clearly defined author bio, media mentions, and structured how-to articles that demonstrated credibility and experience.

Practical AI SEO tactics for niche experts:

• Own your expertise with in-depth, original content.
• Build out knowledge hubs around common client questions.
• Add author bios and proof of experience to boost E-E-A-T.

B2B & SaaS Brands

A SaaS company offering task management software created structured, comparison-driven content such as “Asana vs Trello: Which is Better for Remote Teams?” Combined with customer success stories, original data insights, and implementation guides marked up with HowTo schema, they were cited in Perplexity and mentioned in ChatGPT conversations when users searched for “best tools for managing remote teams.”

Practical AI SEO tactics for B2B & SaaS:

• Create data-backed resources and comparison guides.
• Publish whitepapers and decision-stage tools like ROI calculators.
• Implement schema to clarify the purpose and structure of your content.

SEO Has Changed, Has Your Strategy?

AI-driven discovery has arrived. Brands are no longer just competing for rankings… they’re competing for relevance in a landscape where machines choose the sources. The introduction of tools like Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity has shifted the balance of power in search, and traditional SEO alone won’t cut it anymore.

Key takeaways:

• AI SEO is essential for gaining visibility in zero-click and AI-generated environments.
• Structured content, schema, and topical authority now influence both AI and traditional search results.
• Phoenix Wolf’s IVO framework offers a future-ready approach that aligns content, authority, and technical optimisation.
• Brands that integrate AI SEO with their broader digital strategy will own visibility across all formats—human and machine alike.

Looking forward, user behaviour will continue to evolve. People will ask more complex, conversational questions. They’ll seek trusted voices faster and expect instant, summarised recommendations. As this behaviour accelerates, the brands that invest in Intelligent Visibility now will be the ones dominating tomorrow’s AI-curated search landscape.

If your brand’s goal is to be found, cited, and trusted across the platforms shaping how people discover… you’re ready for AI SEO.