SEO and AEO aren’t opposites they overlap. But resource is limited, and you may need to prioritise. When should you lean into AEO, and when is traditional SEO enough? This article gives practical guidance on when to prioritise each and how to balance both.
When to Lean Into AEO
Prioritise AEO when your audience is likely to use AI for discovery or research. That includes: B2B and high-consideration purchases where buyers ask AI for shortlists or “how to choose”; local and “near me” queries that AI answers with recommendations; and informational or how-to content where AI Overviews and chatbots are common. If you’re in a niche where early adopters are already getting meaningful AI referrals or citations, invest in AEO now. Also prioritise AEO when you’re already strong in traditional rankings but want to capture “answer layer” visibility (e.g. getting into AI Overviews or chatbot citations).
When Traditional SEO Comes First
If your site has serious technical or foundational SEO issues (crawlability, indexing, core content gaps), fix those first. AEO assumes your content can be found and read; if it can’t, no amount of answer formatting will help. For highly transactional or brand-heavy queries where users still click the first result, traditional SEO may deliver more immediate ROI. For very narrow or low-volume niches where AI adoption is still low, SEO may be enough for now but keep an eye on how quickly AI search grows in your market.
Balancing Both
In practice, most sites should do both. The same content can be optimised for rankings and for citations: direct answer at the top, good structure, schema, E-E-A-T. So “balance” often means one content strategy with both SEO and AEO in mind, and shifting emphasis (e.g. more FAQ and how-to content, more entity clarity) as AI referral and citation data grows. Track both organic traffic and AI referrals/citations so you know where the opportunity is.
Summary
Prioritise AEO when your audience uses AI for research or discovery and when you want to capture answer-layer visibility. Prioritise traditional SEO when foundations are weak or when clicks still come mainly from the SERP. For most sites, do both with one content strategy and adjust emphasis based on data.
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