Search is changing fast. Your customers are no longer just typing queries into Google and clicking a list of blue links. They are asking AI tools questions, reading AI-generated overviews at the top of search results and relying on assistants to summarise the web for them. That shift is why businesses increasingly hear two terms side by side: traditional SEO and AI Optimisation, often shortened to AIO.
For a modern business, it is no longer enough to focus only on ranking in search engines. You also need to think about how visible you are inside AI-generated answers. Treating SEO and AIO as a combined discipline – and getting expert help to make them work together – is becoming essential.
What SEO still does for your business
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the set of tactics that helps your website appear in search engine results pages when someone looks for products, services or answers related to your business. It covers:
- Technical foundations such as page speed, mobile friendliness and crawlability
- On-page optimisation like headings, meta tags, internal links and keyword use
- Content that answers search intent clearly and in depth
- Authority signals such as backlinks and brand mentions
Done well, SEO makes you easier to find in Google, Bing and other search engines, driving targeted visitors who are actively looking for what you offer. It remains one of the most reliable ways to generate long-term, compounding traffic and leads.
Even as AI evolves, search engines still rely heavily on these signals. If your site is slow, thin on content or poorly structured, both human users and search algorithms will struggle with it.
What AI Optimisation (AIO) adds
AI Optimisation is about something subtly different: making your content the preferred answer when someone asks an AI system a question. That might be inside:
- AI overviews at the top of search results
- Generative engines and answer boxes
- Chat-based tools such as ChatGPT-style assistants
- Voice assistants and AI-powered search interfaces
Rather than chasing a specific position on a results page, AIO aims to ensure your content is:
- Easy for AI models to understand and summarise
- Rich enough in facts, context and entities to be cited as a trusted source
- Structured in a way that makes key information extractable
That can mean focusing more on clearly answering questions, using descriptive headings, marking up content with schema, providing up-to-date factual detail and building strong topical authority that AI systems recognise when choosing what to quote.
In other words, SEO gets you seen by human searchers; AIO helps you show up in the answers their AI tools return.
Key differences between SEO and AIO
Although there is overlap, there are important differences in emphasis between SEO and AI Optimisation:
- Who you are optimising for
- SEO focuses on search engines and how they rank pages for users.
- AIO focuses on AI models and how they select, compress and blend information into a single response.
- Where your brand appears
- SEO aims for visibility in the list of links, rich snippets and map packs.
- AIO aims for inclusion inside the generated text itself, ideally with a link or brand mention.
- What matters most
- SEO leans heavily on crawlability, link equity and traditional ranking factors.
- AIO leans more on clarity, structured data, factual depth and being widely referenced across the web.
- How results are measured
- SEO success is often tracked via rankings, organic traffic and click-through rates.
- AIO success includes visibility in AI answers, referrals from AI platforms and brand exposure even when a user never visits your site directly.
Because of this, businesses that look only at classic ranking reports may miss how much or how little they feature in AI-shaped journeys.
Why you cannot just pick one
It can be tempting to think “SEO is old; AIO is the future” or the other way round. In reality, they depend on each other.
Most AI systems are trained on, or retrieve from, the open web. If your site is poorly optimised for search, slow to load or lacking in authority, AI tools are less likely to see it as a reliable source worth citing. Strong SEO gives you the technical and content foundations that AIO then builds on.
At the same time, user behaviour is shifting. People may see an AI-generated overview before they see any organic results. If your brand never appears in those summaries, your SEO work is only doing half the job. Focusing on AIO ensures that when search and AI blend, your visibility comes along for the ride.
The most resilient strategy is to treat SEO and AIO as two sides of the same coin: one optimises for how people have searched up to now, the other for how they are starting to search next.
Why this is hard to DIY
Keeping up with “normal” SEO is already challenging. Algorithms change, competitors update their sites and new formats appear all the time. Layer AI Optimisation on top and the picture becomes even more complex.
Common problems when businesses try to muddle through alone include:
- Overreacting to every trend and losing long-term direction
- Producing generic, AI-written content that looks fine but adds no real value
- Ignoring technical issues that quietly undermine both SEO and AIO
- Focusing on vanity metrics instead of real leads and sales
It is very easy to waste time and budget chasing the wrong things – or to do nothing at all because it feels too complicated.
How a marketing expert can help with SEO and AIO together
This is where working with a specialist agency such as Digital Yak becomes powerful. As a creative digital design and marketing agency with long experience in search optimisation and content, they are used to translating fast-moving digital changes into practical actions for clients.
A good marketing expert will help you:
- Build a joined-up strategy
They will look at your audience, sector, competitors and existing analytics, then design a plan that covers both classic SEO and AI Optimisation. That means knowing which topics you must own, which questions you should answer and where AI tools are already influencing how customers find you. - Fix the technical foundations
Before chasing AI visibility, you need a healthy website. An expert can audit speed, structure, mobile experience, indexation and schema so that both search engines and AI systems can understand and trust your content. - Create content that works for humans and machines
Quality content still sits at the heart of both SEO and AIO. Agencies can plan and produce articles, guides, FAQs and landing pages that:- Answer real user questions in depth
- Use natural language rather than keyword stuffing
- Are structured with headings, lists and data that AI can easily extract
- Strengthen your authority footprint
SEO and AIO both benefit when your brand is mentioned and linked to across relevant sites. A marketing expert can help with digital PR, outreach and content partnerships that build this wider presence. - Measure what matters
Instead of just counting rankings, a good partner will track organic traffic, conversions, engagement and emerging signals from AI-driven platforms. That feedback loop makes it possible to adapt quickly as search and AI evolve.
Making SEO and AIO part of your long-term growth
Treating SEO and AI Optimisation as a one-off project misses the point. Both are ongoing disciplines that should sit at the centre of your wider digital marketing.
By partnering with an experienced agency, you avoid guesswork and short-term thinking. You gain a team that understands design, content, data and technology – and can turn that understanding into better visibility, stronger brand presence and more of the right visitors, whether they start their journey in a search box or an AI chat window.
SEO built the foundations of online discovery. AIO is shaping what comes next. Work on both, and your business is far better placed to be found, trusted and chosen in whatever digital landscape comes next.