What is AI SEO and how is it different from traditional SEO?

AI SEO is the practice of optimizing your content, website, and digital presence to earn visibility in AI-powered search systems — including ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, Claude, and other large language model (LLM) interfaces.

Traditional SEO focused primarily on ranking in a list of blue links by targeting keywords and building backlinks. AI SEO goes further by optimizing for contextual understanding, entity recognition, and citation worthiness. AI systems do not just match keywords — they evaluate whether your content is authoritative, well-structured, and trustworthy enough to cite as a source in their responses.

The core principles of good SEO — quality content, technical excellence, and genuine authority — still matter. But the tactics and signals that drive visibility are evolving rapidly, and professionals who adapt early gain a significant competitive advantage.