AI SEO, AEO, GEO, LLMO, OH MY
Navigating the sea change of AI Search Engine Optimization (AI SEO)
Where Have the Accountants Gone?
A potential customer picks up their phone and asks ChatGPT: “What’s the best accountant in Denver for small businesses?” Three names appear in the response. Your business, Denver Tax & Co., isn’t one of them.
This scenario plays out thousands of times daily across every industry imaginable. While you’ve been perfecting your Google rankings, a parallel universe of business discovery has emerged—and most businesses are completely invisible to it.
Welcome to the conversation economy. The way people find businesses is fundamentally changing, and AI assistants aren’t just answering questions anymore—they’re making recommendations. The question isn’t whether this shift affects your business. It’s whether you’ll be part of the conversation or left out entirely.
There are currently many acronyms currently vying for the title of this new entrant into the marketing arena, and you may have heard a few of them already: AI SEO (AI search engine optimization), AEO (Answer Engine optimization), GEO (generative engine optimization) LLMO (large language model optimization), and, my personal favorite, LMAO (large model ai optimization).
Alright I made that last one up. But you almost bought it because that’s just the sea we’re swimming in.
From Ten Blue Links to Friendly Advice
For two decades, the formula was simple. Someone typed keywords into Google, scanned a list of ten blue links, clicked through to several websites, and eventually made a decision. The game was about ranking—getting your link as high as possible on that results page.
That world hasn’t disappeared. But a new one has emerged alongside it.
Today, a growing number of people skip the list entirely. Instead of typing keywords, they ask questions. Instead of clicking through multiple websites, they receive a synthesized answer—often with specific recommendations baked right in. They might never visit a website at all.
The difference is a bit like going to the bookstore and asking the librarian which shelf to check versus texting your well-read friend for a recommendation. The librarian hands you a list of options. Your friend tells you what they think you should read based on what they know about you, your goals, and your preferences.
AI is becoming that well-read friend for millions of people. And if your business isn’t part of what it “knows,” you’re not getting recommended.
The Winds, They are a-Changin’
Talk data to me for a minute.
According to Search Engine Land, zero-click searches now account for roughly 27% of all Google searches—and that number climbs even higher when Google’s AI Overviews appear. SEOworks reports that by mid-2025, AI Overviews (that summary you get at the top of the Google page most of the time now) were showing up in nearly half of all searches. Projections suggest they could appear in over 80% of informational queries soon.
The game has shifted. It’s no longer just about getting the click. It’s about getting your brand into the responses AI provides when customers ask about topics relevant to your business.
Is this a real shift or just hype? The data points in one direction. Adobe’s analysis of over 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail sites found that traffic from generative AI sources grew 4,700% year-over-year by July 2025. That’s not a typo—nearly 50x growth in a single year.
Pew Research Center reports in June 2025 that 34% of U.S. adults have used ChatGPT—roughly double the share from 2023—and among adults under 30, that figure jumps to 58%.
This isn’t early-adopter territory anymore. It’s approaching mainstream.
The consumer behavior shift is equally striking. Adobe found that 38% of U.S. consumers have used generative AI for online shopping, with 52% planning to do so this year. And perhaps most importantly, this traffic converts. Webflow reports that their ChatGPT traffic converts at six times the rate of Google traffic. AI-referred visitors aren’t just browsing—they’re buying.
Now, a critical caveat: AI referral traffic still represents a small fraction of total web traffic for most businesses—often less than 1%. But that small slice is growing explosively, and the visitors it delivers are disproportionately valuable.
The question isn’t whether AI search matters today. It’s whether you’ll be visible once it reaches full mainstream adoption.
Should You Care? A Compass of Consideration
Not every business faces the same level of exposure to this shift. Think of it like waves approaching a shoreline—some businesses are already learning to surf, others are digging in to brace for impact, and some are just barely starting to notice the tide change.
Two main factors drive how much this affects you right now, for you to use as a compass of sorts:
Demographics: How much of your customer base is actually using AI tools? Younger consumers, higher-income brackets, and certain demographics show significantly higher usage rates. If your customers skew under 40 or earn over $100k, they’re more likely already asking AI for recommendations.
Research intensity: Does your business involve long purchasing cycles or complex decision-making? The more research a purchase requires, the more likely AI is already part of that journey.
Learning to surf
Travel and hospitality businesses are already feeling the impact—AI-driven traffic to travel websites has surged dramatically. Professional services face significant exposure too, particularly financial advisors, consultants, and legal professionals. One stat that stopped me in my tracks: 94% of B2B buyers now use AI tools during their buying journey. If you’re in these categories, the wave has arrived.
Bracing for impact
Real estate, insurance, automotive research, and e-commerce show strong AI referral patterns. You can see it coming. Early movers in these categories will capture major value before the wave fully hits.
Rising tides
Senior care, childcare, wedding planning, and home services may seem like surprising candidates. But these involve exactly the kind of complex, high-stakes decisions where AI’s ability to synthesize information provides enormous value. The research intensity is high, even if the demographics haven’t fully caught up yet. The tide is rising. It’s just a matter of when.
Window of Opportunity
Here’s what makes the current moment so interesting: most businesses have essentially zero AI visibility. Competition for AI citations is virtually nonexistent in many categories.
While thousands of businesses fight tooth and nail for top Google rankings, the parallel competition for AI recommendations remains wide open. The businesses that establish themselves now will likely maintain significant advantages as AI search scales.
This mirrors the early days of search engine optimization. In 1999, businesses that recognized SEO’s importance gained advantages that lasted years. The same dynamic is playing out today with AI visibility—but the window is compressed. Things move faster now.
AI Visibility Audit: Your Monday Morning Exercise
Here’s a simple exercise for you on a Monday morning: Open ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google’s AI Overview and ask the questions your potential customers are asking. If someone asked about your industry right now—your specific category of service, in your location—would your business be mentioned? Would the information be accurate? Would the characterization be favorable?
Even more simply: if you just asked
“What is [your business name here]?”
Would you even show up?
The conversation about your industry is happening right now, with or without you. The question isn’t whether to join the conversation. It’s how quickly you can get there.
This post was collaboratively brainstormed, researched, and drafted alongside AI (Claude Opus is our go-to lately for this sort of thing), then revised and edited heavily by real humans.
Conversint is a consulting firm helping SMBs and everyday humans unlock real value from AI and other modern tech. To learn more about our services and schedule a free initial consultation, visit our website at Conversint.ai.
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