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SEO is no longer the whole game. A growing number of users don’t search anymore.
They ask ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, or Google AI Overviews directly.
The question is no longer:
“How do I rank first?”
The question is:
“Will AI trust my website enough to use it as a source?”
Webflow recently launched AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) and AI visibility analytics because the shift is already happening. Marketing teams can now track how often their brand appears in AI-generated answers, which topics they're being cited for, and how AI-driven traffic converts on-site.
The goal of a modern website is not only ranking. The goal is becoming a trusted source of information for AI systems.
Here’s how to achieve that:
✓ Create content that directly answers real client questions
✓ Structure pages with clear headings and logical information hierarchy
✓ Use schema markup so AI can understand content context
✓ Build topical depth instead of publishing isolated articles
✓ Keep content factual, specific, and easy to quote
✓ Create reusable CMS structures that scale knowledge consistently
✓ Maintain strong technical health, crawlability, and performance
✓ Strengthen authority through case studies, expertise, and original insights
Many AEO fundamentals overlap with good SEO. The difference is that SEO optimizes for rankings. AEO optimizes for being the answer.
The websites that win over the next few years won't just be visually impressive. They'll be structured well enough for both humans and AI to understand them.
True if you make AEO seperate then SEO. Actually its a part of the SEO to provide information to get benefit from AI as we do work for social media traffic. Those website which provides information only like blogging directly need to change strategies toward it rest of website...
This is make sense, agree with you
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I started a Substack three weeks ago.
Almost didn't. Sat on the idea for months. Kept telling myself who am I to write about AI when the field changes every week and nobody actually has it figured out.
I finally started because nobody else seemed to be writing about it the way KC small business owners actually need it written. Without the hype. Without pretending we know more than we do.
Three articles in.
The first was why I quit selling SEO. I burned out on it watching too many small shops get told to buy backlinks they did not need.
The second was about why AI keeps recommending the big national names over the small KC shops doing better work. That one took weeks to research and it still left me with more questions than answers.
The third was personal. About how I missed the internet in the late 90s even though I had all the skills. And about not making the same mistake twice.
Tomorrow's piece is the one I almost could not bring myself to write because it admits the thing most people in this space will not.
It is called "There is no such thing as an AI expert right now (and I include myself)."
I get called one. I am not. Nobody is yet. Anyone telling you different is either selling something or has not been paying attention.
I write this newsletter because I keep finding things in this work every single day that nobody else is talking about. Real drift on real KC websites. AI signals that do not match what owners think their site says. The kind of stuff that costs small businesses customers they did not even know they had a chance at.
If you have been wondering whether the AI hype is real, whether you should care as a small business owner, whether the people pitching you AI services actually know what they are doing, tomorrow's piece is for you.
Or just message me and ask. I will answer.
Link in the comments.
I can't find the link - could you add it again :)
🚀 Just launched my entry for the Config Makeathon!
Introducing Shopify AI Commerce Builder — turning Figma designs into revenue-ready Shopify stores in minutes 🛍️✨
No more manual theme building, no more guesswork on conversions. This AI-powered tool:
Converts Figma layouts into Shopify-ready sections ⚡
Optimizes UX & product pages for conversions 📈
Generates AI-driven recommendations for higher sales 💡
Design → AI → Shopify → Sales-ready store. That’s the workflow I’m building.
💥 Let’s turn creativity into revenue!
#ConfigMakeathon #Figma #Shopify #Ecommerce #AI #UX #CRO #Productivity
Most Shopify stores are trying to rank pages that already exist 30 times on the internet.
Then they wonder why Google prefers someone else's version.
Here's what's actually happening:
When you sell products from a brand or supplier, you're not the only store doing it.
The product description you copied straight from the supplier sheet is on 30 other sites that did the same thing.
Google doesn't penalize you for it. But it also doesn't have a reason to pick your version over anyone else's.
So it picks one. Usually the site with stronger authority, better internal linking, faster load times, or richer user engagement. The other 29 stores compete for scraps.
The Shopify owners ranking well aren't doing anything magical. They rewrote their product pages to actually say something different. Real use cases.
Specific buyer questions answered. The "why this product, why this brand, why now" baked into the copy.
It takes 20 minutes per product. Most owners won't do it because it feels tedious.
Google rewards the ones who did.
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