Keep doing proper SEO

Tin says: “Don't get lost in AEO or GEO, and keep doing proper SEO.”

Answer Engine Optimization focuses on answering common questions and long tail queries that can appear in AI, so isn't that good for SEO?

“It's good for SEO, but what I'm aiming at is that, currently, nothing exists that proves that optimizing solely for generative AI is different from real, proper SEO. What I'm trying to say is, just keep doing SEO as you have been doing so far, and you will be featured in ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and everything else.

As far as I've seen, there's nothing different that you have to do in order to rank better in generative AI right now.

On top of that, AI isn't having as big an impact as many people say. There has been a lot of news about it recently. OpenAI, for instance, has said that they will no longer focus on trying to be a search engine because that's not why they exist.

ChatGPT and other generative AI will never try to be search engines. They will likely pull their results from places like Google. Outside of that, generative AI is still hallucinating quite a bit, and it's not as reliable as real search engines.”

Since Google has launched AI Mode, are people not going to be getting AI results in traditional search engines as well?

“We will see. In Croatia, where I'm from, we still do not have AI Mode. We're probably going to get it by the end of the year, but we'll see where Google goes from there. I can't say anything more for now.

In countries like the US and the UK, AI Mode is becoming a common way to conduct a search, but I don’t see any difference in the way that you have to optimize to appear in the AI version of Google as opposed to the more traditional version.

As I said, doing SEO the way that you did it a year ago, or two years ago, will produce the same results in 2026.”

If OpenAI has no intention of providing a search engine, what is AI's primary function?

“AI's primary function is to elevate the human experience.

For instance, AI can solve so many complicated tests so much quicker than we can. It's designed as a tool to help us elevate our experience and become better, faster, more productive, etc. Its primary function is not to be a search engine.

Of course, it may be providing the functionality of a search engine, while not using the interface of a traditional search engine. As you're chatting to it, it comes up with data and carries out searches or decides on web pages to analyse in the background, and then it comes up with an answer.

Maybe it's a different type of search engine, but you can’t actively do anything different to be ranked better in those results. It's a different kind of search, and maybe in the future we will have to do something differently, but so far, I haven't seen anything you could do.”

What are the key elements of basic SEO that will give you a good chance of getting featured within an AI search engine?

“What my colleagues in my agency and I have started to do is that we have focussed more on product, for e-commerce and webshops. If you go into detail about your products, there's a much higher chance that you'll be featured in AI results.

Go in-depth with your categories and your products, and that's something you should really start doing.

It's not doing a different job. It's the same job as it always was, but doing it more thoroughly. Go into depth by providing much more detail about the product and describing every part of the product. Search is getting conversational, so people will ask really specific questions about certain types of products, and you need to provide AI with that information.

For traditional search, you could maybe get away with not providing as many details about the product, but for AI generation and the era of conversational search, you really will have to do the legwork and put in much more information in order to rank better.”

Should you use AI in the production of content for these key product pages?

“Personally, I really dislike using AI to generate content. If content is written by a human, it has a different feel to it, and it’s a feel that I like much better.

AI is great – it can do so much more, so much quicker – but you shouldn't overuse it. Be genuine. Be real. Don't do everything with AI, and do some things by yourself. People will definitely feel it, and they will definitely like it better.”

What AI agents should you optimize for, and how do you go about doing that?

“As I said, you cannot optimize just for AI agents without doing the real SEO that we have been doing up until this point. You could do everything you have been doing so far, and maybe do something a little extra with your categories and your product details.

As far as I've seen, backlinks, domain rating, and domain authority are getting even more relevant. Maybe focus on those parts of SEO as well.”

Are unlinked citations getting more relevant as well?

“That’s something that hasn't been as relevant so far, but I believe that OpenAI's CEO discovered that unmentioned citations are getting much more relevant for ranking better.

Mentions in AI search engines could potentially be fueling positive rankings in traditional search engines, because traditional search engines will be aware of some of the content that AI search engines put out. However, getting those citations is still doing proper SEO, as you have already been doing it.

Maybe AI agents tend to favour unlinked citations more than Google does, but it's just a tactic that will promote ranking better in AI agents.”

With users consuming content in AI search results, causing less click-through and less traffic, has that changed the way that you measure success?

“Yes, because impressions have risen and clicks have gone down. That's what we are experiencing at the moment.

There could be another way of measuring SEO success, but so far, I really don't have an opinion on what that should be. Is it better to get more impressions, or is it just about getting clicks? Maybe getting impressions is more important than getting clicks nowadays.

I'm in the same boat as Rand Fishkin, who said that getting an impression is the new getting clicks. Maybe those impressions you get from AI agents and from Google are worth much more in developing a good, stable brand.”

What do clients think of this, and do they still want to carry on doing SEO if you’re measuring impressions over visits?

“They don't like it, of course.

It's really interesting times. They generally don't like it because they are losing clicks. However, with the way that search is going, it's becoming diversified. There's traditional search, there are so many AI agents, and there are so many more playing fields where SEO can be played.

The rules are still the same, but there are so many more playing fields, and we should really think about how we measure SEO success nowadays. It's going to be very different.”

Tin, what's the key takeaway from the tip you shared today?

“Keep doing proper SEO. Go into detail with your product pages and your category pages.

SEO is definitely not dead. It's changing. It has changed so much in the last couple of years, and there's so much diversity nowadays, and so many more playing fields where SEO can be played.

Just keep doing what you have been doing so far, and you'll be good. You'll rank well in traditional search – in Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. – and you'll rank better in ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, or whatever you use.”

Tin Đudajek is Co-Founder of Canonical SEO Agency. Find out more over at Canonical.hr.