Search has completely changed.
People don’t just type “digital marketing agency Pune” anymore.
They ask:
“Which is the best digital marketing agency for small businesses in Pune?”
“How much should I pay for Meta ads management every month?”
“Can I run Meta ads without a Facebook page?”
And instead of scrolling through 10 links, they expect one clear answer—from Google’s AI overview, featured snippet, or voice assistant.
This is where Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) comes in.
If SEO helped you get visible, AEO helps you get chosen as the answer.
For brands, agencies, coaches, and real estate businesses, this is no longer optional. In 2025 and beyond, AEO is becoming a core part of how you show up online.
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the process of optimizing your content so that:
Google, AI search, and voice assistants can easily understand it, and
confidently select it as the best answer to a user’s question.
Traditional SEO asks:
“How can I rank on page 1 for this keyword?”
AEO asks:
“How can I become the answer when someone asks this question?”
AEO focuses on:
Featured snippets (the “position zero” box at the top)
“People Also Ask” questions
AI overviews / AI-generated summaries
Voice assistants (Google Assistant, Siri, Alexa)
FAQ and how-to results
In simple terms:
SEO brings you into the race. AEO puts you on the podium.
Three big shifts are pushing AEO to the front:
Users now type and speak in full questions:
“Is Greater Noida West good for investment in 2025?”
“What’s a realistic Meta ads budget for a small business?”
If your content doesn’t answer these questions clearly, you’ll be ignored—even if you “rank”.
Google and other platforms increasingly show:
AI summaries
Instant answers
Rich snippets and FAQs
Users get information without always clicking through to websites. Your brand still needs to appear inside those answers if you want visibility and authority.
AI systems and answer engines look for:
Credible domains
Clear expertise and experience
Strong brand trust signals
If your brand looks vague, faceless, or low quality, your chance to be chosen as the answer drops quickly.
AEO is how you adapt to this new reality instead of fighting it.
AEO doesn’t replace SEO. It sits on top of it.
You still need:
A technically healthy website
Fast loading, mobile responsiveness
SEO basics like title tags, headings, internal links, and backlinks
But you also need to change how you think about content.
Rank for keywords
Optimise pages for “best digital marketing agency Pune”
Track positions and clicks
Map real questions your audience asks
Create content that answers those questions clearly
Structure answers so Google and AI can extract them easily
You can think of it like this:
SEO = visibility in search results
AEO = visibility inside the answer
You need both.
Answer engines are trying to do three things:
Understand the question
What does the user really want?
Is it informational (“how to”), commercial (“best”), or transactional (“buy”)?
Find the best possible answer
Which site explains this clearly?
Who looks like an expert on this topic?
Format the answer nicely
Short paragraph
Bullet list
Step-by-step guide
FAQ block
So, to “help” answer engines, your content should be:
Clear
Structured
Helpful
Trustworthy
If a human and a machine read your content, both should understand it easily.
Here’s a practical, non-technical framework you can use. This is the kind of approach we use at Kodo Kompany for AEO-focused content.
Don’t start with tools. Start with your audience.
Read your WhatsApp chats, emails, DMs
Ask your sales and support teams:
“What questions do people ask before they say yes or no?”
Check:
Google’s “People Also Ask” section
YouTube video comments
Quora / Reddit / niche forums
Example for a digital marketing agency:
“How do I know if a marketing agency is actually good?”
“How much should I spend on Meta ads as a small business?”
“Can I get leads from Instagram if I don’t have many followers?”
These are perfect AEO topics.
Don’t write 50 random blogs. Group related questions.
Example: For a real estate consultancy in Greater Noida:
Theme 1: Investment Basics
“Is Greater Noida West good for investment?”
“Is it better to buy now or wait?”
Theme 2: Property Types
“2 BHK vs 3 BHK, which is better for families?”
“Commercial vs residential investment—what’s safer?”
Theme 3: Legal & Safety
“What is RERA and why is it important?”
“How to verify a builder before investing?”
Each theme gets:
One pillar page (big guide)
Several supporting articles (smaller, focused answers)
This helps search engines see you as a topic authority.
AEO loves clear, direct answers.
For each blog or page:
Start with a direct answer
2–4 lines that answer the main question.
Then explain in more detail
Give context, pros/cons, steps, examples.
Use question-style headings (H2/H3)
“What is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)?”
“How is AEO different from SEO?”
“Do small businesses need AEO?”
Use lists and steps
“3 steps to…”
“4 things to check before…”
End with a short FAQ section
3–5 questions with answers in 1–2 lines.
This structure is easy for:
Humans to read
Algorithms to extract and display as answers
Voice search is naturally more conversational:
Typed: “digital marketing agency Pune”
Spoken: “Which digital marketing agency in Pune is good for small businesses?”
To optimize for this:
Write like you talk—simple, natural language
Include question-based headings
Avoid jargon where possible
Keep key answers short (40–60 words)
Example of an AEO-friendly answer:
Question: Can I run Meta ads without a Facebook page?
Answer: You can run some types of Meta ads using only an ad account, but having a Facebook page gives you more options, better trust, and stronger results. For most businesses, it’s best to connect a proper page before scaling campaigns.
Short, clear, and easy to quote.
Answer engines prefer brands that look:
Real
Experienced
Trustworthy
This is where E-E-A-T comes in:
Experience – Have you actually done what you’re talking about?
Expertise – Are you qualified to talk about it?
Authority – Do other sites mention or link to you?
Trust – Are you transparent, reachable, and honest?
Practical things you can do:
Add detailed About and Team pages
Use real names and roles on blog authors
Showcase case studies, testimonials, and client logos
Keep NAP (Name, Address, Phone) consistent across web and directories
Use HTTPS, clear contact details, and privacy pages
For Kodo Kompany, this means:
Showing proof of work with real clients (coaches, real estate, SaaS, travel)
Signing content with real strategists, not “Admin”
Being consistent across website, LinkedIn, and other profiles
You don’t need to reinvent everything. Focus on a few formats that naturally align with AEO.
Collect the most common questions
Answer each one in 2–4 lines
Add FAQ schema (via plugins or developer support)
Great for featured FAQs and voice results.
“How to launch your first Meta lead generation campaign”
“How to choose a commercial property for your startup”
Break them into clear steps to increase your odds of being used as a step-by-step rich result.
“Meta ads vs Google ads for small businesses”
“2 BHK vs 3 BHK – which is better for families in Noida?”
Use tables or bullet lists. These are AEO gold.
Start with the pain point
Show the underlying reasons
Offer a structured solution
This makes it easy for AI systems to understand context + resolution.
AEO is still new, and tools are catching up, but you can track progress with:
Featured Snippets Won
Manually search your key questions and see if your page is shown in the snippet.
Presence in “People Also Ask”
Are you appearing for related questions?
Branded Search Growth
More people searching “your brand + service” shows that your answers are building trust.
Lead Feedback
Ask new leads: “How did you find us?”
Look for mentions like “I saw your answer on Google / search / AI.”
Over time, these signals show whether your AEO efforts are helping you own more of the conversation in your niche.
Here’s a simple checklist you can implement over the next few weeks:
List 30–50 real questions your audience asks
Group them into 5–8 themes (pricing, process, risk, benefits, comparisons, how-tos)
Create at least one pillar page and 3–5 supporting articles per theme
Use answer-first structure:
Short answer → detail → sub-questions → FAQ
Make your language more conversational and clear
Add FAQ sections and (if possible) FAQ schema
Strengthen About, Team, Testimonials, and Contact pages
Track:
Featured snippets
People Also Ask appearances
Branded search and leads mentioning search or AI
You don’t need a massive budget or a big team to start AEO. You just need clarity, structure, and consistency.
Most brands in 2025 still focus only on:
Rankings
Clicks
Generic blog posts
Very few are intentionally designing their content to be:
The best possible answer
Easy for AI and search engines to understand
Clear, structured, and backed by real experience
That’s your opportunity.
If you start treating every key page on your website as a potential answer for your ideal customer, you’ll naturally move towards AEO:
Better questions
Better answers
Better visibility
And if you’d like help turning your website into a 24×7 answer engine that works with AI search (not against it), that’s exactly the kind of work we love doing at Kodo Kompany – Your Marketing Heartbeat.
April 23, 2024