This insight from a recent Webflow webinar had me nodding so hard my neck hurt.
The goal of good SEO should have always been to create content that delivered utility, trust and straightforward answers for your most valuable customers. In the age of AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) or LLMO (Large-Language Model Optimization) or whatever comes next, customer satisfaction should still be our goal, and I'd hope that won't change any time soon.
But we should be clear-eyed about what HAS changed.
For many years, Google's algorithm ran on authority scoring--who is trusted online and who isn't. If authoritative voices on a subject cosigned your content (through backlinks, posts, co-branded content, etc), you could become an authority as well.
But both Google and LLMs have changed the way they measure authority, valuing personal experience above institutional expertise. The reason for that is simple:
S/o Single Grain
It used to be, if you were an SEO manager selling chips, a link from Coca-Cola saying "try Brand X chips with a Coke" would be the greatest day of your life.
And if you are trying to rank in organic results, it still might be. According to an April Backlinko study examining 11.8 million Google searches, researchers discovered that the #1 result in Google has an average of 3.8x more backlinks than positions #2-#10. A similar study from Monster Insights concluded that higher-quality backlinks (based on site authority scores) correlated to higher organic search rankings.
But when it comes to LLMs and even Google's AI Overviews, the story is much different.
Reddit leads all LLM citations (including Google's Gemini) with 40.1% frequency, followed by Wikipedia at 26.3%.
For their part, Google Search has clearly indicated where they stand--and it's a big shift from where they've been for decades.
In November 2023, Google announced that searches would value experience as much as expertise, giving an immediate lift to user-generated content. Reddit saw a 1,328% leap in visibility, along with an organic traffic increase of 253.3%. UGC competitor Quora increased by 133.4%.
For more info on Google's algorithm shift valuing experience, visit my breakdown here.
In February 2024, Google paid Reddit $60 million for access to its API and content to train its AI systems, signaling a major shift toward valuing user discussions. They've since adjusted to cut spammy conversations, but clearly, they have chosen a direction.
Sanity Check: Combined, all AI tools (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot, Gemini) represent less than 2% of the total search market.
But with 77% of Americans now using ChatGPT as a search engine, and 24% saying they now turn to it before Google, the writing is on the wall.
Remember: with AI as search engine, brands see 90-95% fewer content visits.
So if you're dragging your feet on creating an AEO strategy to meet this moment, let this be your written invitation.
Connect with JSC today and let's prepare your content for the next phase in findability.