SEO
AEO
Primary goal
Rank on Google
Get cited by AI platforms
Key signals
Keywords, backlinks, page authority
Direct answers, E-E-A-T, schema markup
Content structure
Keyword density, metadata, alt text
Question-answer format, lead with answer, FAQ schema
Success metric
Ranking position, click-through rate
Citation rate, AI referral quality
Primary platform
Google
ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Grok
Audience intent
Keyword-based queries, browsing
Natural language questions, decision-ready research
Avg. conversion rate
2.8%
14.2%