
The Truth about SEO/AEO/GEO/AIO and More
*This episode of Ponderings from the Perch is brought to you by The Logit Group. If you've got a market research project coming up and you want expert help, get a quote today.* Traffic used to prove a website's value, until it started proving something else entirely. Welcome to the fresh hell of SEO/AEO/GEO/AIO and plenty of other acronyms! On this episode of Ponderings from the Perch, the Little Bird Marketing podcast, host and CEO Priscilla McKinney talks with website expert Andy Crestodina, co-founder and CMO of Orbit Media, for a reckoning with what actually earns a brand a place inside an AI recommendation. Together they face the challenge head-on and deliver real insight about what companies need to know now and what they should be prepared to change in order to be discovered and cited on the internet. There was a disturbance in the force. The metrics moved first, and nobody noticed. Featured snippets started answering the question before anyone reached a website. Video results quietly became a one-platform carousel. Generative engine optimization (GEO) and answer engine optimization (AEO) crept in under different names long before anyone agreed on what to call them. Sidebar: Priscilla is a HUGE fan of Andy’s LinkedIn newsletter and highly, highly recommends that you subscribe! You’re welcome. Interestingly enough, they point out that tThe real research most companies need is already sitting untouched, in a folder of recorded sales calls. Maybe that is not where you were expecting the fix to your SEO/AEO problem, but think about it. Every real objection, every phrase a prospect uses without being coached into it, already exists on a hard drive somewhere, closer to the truth than anything guessed at in a persona meeting. Most of it will never be opened. Instead, this is a goldmine for understanding what content should be created for your website to be found or cited! "If you're trying to get AI to recommend you, you write stuff that has nothing to do with keywords at all," Crestodina explains. "You write stuff that's like buyer questions, real buyer questions." Again, you’re welcome. Some brands are already being recommended. Others are being quietly skipped, by a system built more on AI search optimization (AIO) than on any keyword they've ever ranked for, and most marketing teams have never sat down and questioned it. This conversation gets you started on the right footing to solving this serious challenge. It will also help you sleep better at night. Music written and performed by Leighton Cordell. Sponsors: Marketers, raise your hand if you're tired of AI buzzwords with zero practical takeaways. Yeah, we thought so. That's exactly why Insights Marketing Day exists. Mark your calendar for September 18th in Chicago, where you'll learn straight from marketing heavy-hitters like Andy Crestodina, Paul Kirch, Marc Hans, Kristi Zuhlke, Heidi Dickert, and yours truly, Priscilla McKinney. And right now, before summer wraps up, you can save two hundred dollars on your ticket with our Early Bird special. Just use promo code EARLYBIRD (all one word) at checkout. But hurry, this deal won't last.










