AEO vs SEO: How AI Is Changing Google Search [2025 Australian Guide]

I still remember the first time I searched something on ChatGPT instead of Google. It wasn't deliberate. I had a question open in ChatGPT, typed my query, and got a complete, synthesised answer in seconds. No clicking through five blue links. No scrolling past ads. Just the answer.

That's when it hit me. This isn't the future of search. It's already here.

And if you're running an Australian business that depends on search traffic, you need to understand what's happening right now. Because the rules have changed, and most businesses haven't noticed yet.

What Exactly Is Answer Engine Optimisation?

Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) is the practice of optimising your content so AI platforms can pull it directly into their generated answers. Instead of ranking on page one, you're trying to *be* the answer that ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google's AI Overviews deliver to users.

SEO.com defines AEO as making your content "the answer that engines deliver to users, whether through featured snippets, voice assistant responses, or AI-powered chat results." It's not about getting clicks anymore. It's about getting cited.

Here's the critical difference: traditional SEO optimises for traffic through high rankings and click-through rates. AEO optimises for visibility in AI-generated responses where users might never visit your website at all.

According to MarketingProfs research, we're already living in a zero-click search world where 60% of searches end without a single click. People get their answer and move on.

How Google AI Overviews Changed Everything

Google's AI Overviews now appear at the very top of search results, above everything else. Above the ads. Above the organic rankings. Above *everything*.

According to Google's own data, AI Overviews are driving a 10% increase in search usage in major markets like the US and India. People love them because they get answers faster. But for businesses, it's complicated.

Here's how they work. Google's new Gemini model processes your query using multi-step reasoning and searches across multiple webpages to synthesise an answer. Instead of showing you one specific webpage, it looks at what dozens of pages say and summarises everything into one conversational response.

BrightEdge reports that AI Overviews now appear in over 11% of Google queries, a 22% increase since their debut. And that number's climbing fast.

The problem? Australian businesses are seeing 20-60% traffic drops because AI Overviews answer the question without sending users to websites. You can be factually correct, well-cited in the AI response, and still lose most of your traffic.

ChatGPT Search and Perplexity Are Eating Market Share

Google isn't the only player here. ChatGPT processes over 10 million daily queries through its search feature alone. Perplexity handles more than 100 million searches per week, nearly half a billion searches monthly.

These platforms work differently from each other, which is frustrating if you're trying to optimise for all of them.

Perplexity AI has a fascinating preference for community content. Nearly 47% of its top citations come from Reddit, with YouTube accounting for another 14%. If you're only optimising traditional web content, you're missing where Perplexity actually looks.

ChatGPT's different. Wikipedia represents almost 48% of ChatGPT's most-cited sources. That means having a solid Wikipedia presence (if you're notable enough to qualify) matters enormously for ChatGPT visibility.

Here's what makes this tricky. Each AI platform processes content completely differently. What works brilliantly for ChatGPT can actually hurt your visibility on Perplexity. You can't just optimise once and hope it works everywhere.

How Australian Businesses Need to Adapt

The Australian digital marketing landscape has changed fast. The SEO industry hit $1.5 billion in value in 2025, growing 12% year-over-year. But here's the catch: 67% of Australian businesses are already using AI-powered SEO tools, and 56% are actively implementing AI-driven strategies.

If you're not adapting, you're falling behind competitors who are.

Hawk Digital warns Australian businesses that the question has shifted from "How do I rank on Google?" to "How do I show up in ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity?" That's the right question to be asking in 2025.

Here's what's working right now for Australian businesses:

Write conversationally, but precisely. AI engines love natural language that directly answers questions. CXL recommends maintaining long-form comprehensive content for SEO, but putting concise 40-60 word answers right at the top for AI extraction.

Structure content around questions. Your headers should match how people actually search. Instead of "AEO Services," use "What Is Answer Engine Optimisation for Australian Businesses?" AI platforms can grab that immediately.

Optimise for voice search.33% of Australians use voice search daily for local queries. That's only growing as voice assistants get better. Your content needs to sound natural when read aloud.

Build local authority. Local SEO remains the great equaliser for Australian businesses. Dominate your geographic market and you can compete with national chains, because local queries convert at ridiculous rates compared to general searches.

Structured Data Is Your Secret Weapon

Schema markup used to be a nice-to-have SEO enhancement. Now it's mandatory for AI search visibility.

Here's why. Over 72% of Google's first-page results now use schema markup. AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews rely on structured data to understand what your content actually means, not just what it says.

Think of schema markup as a translation layer between your website and AI algorithms. BrightEdge demonstrated that pages with robust schema markup get cited significantly more often in Google's AI Overviews. The data gives AI systems the context they need to determine if your content matches what users are asking.

The technical format that matters is JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data). Google specifically recommends JSON-LD because it separates your markup from HTML content, making it cleaner and less error-prone.

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But here's the critical rule: only apply schemas that genuinely match your content. Use FAQPage schema on actual FAQ pages. Use HowTo schema on genuine step-by-step guides. Don't try to game the system, because AI platforms can reduce hallucinations when grounded in accurate structured data. Give them clean, honest data and you'll get better citations.

The Technical Requirements You Can't Ignore

AI crawlers have different technical expectations than traditional search engine bots. If your site doesn't meet these requirements, you're invisible to AI search no matter how good your content is.

Time to First Byte needs to be under 200ms. That's fast. Really fast. If your server takes longer than that to respond, AI crawlers might skip your content entirely.

Your robots.txt file needs to specifically allow AI bots. You need to permit GPTBot, ClaudeBot, and PerplexityBot explicitly. Check your robots.txt right now. If you're blocking these bots, you're invisible to their search systems.

For JavaScript-heavy sites, server-side rendering becomes essential. AI bots can struggle with client-side rendered content, so make sure your important content is available immediately when the page loads.

And here's something specific for ChatGPT: it often uses Bing's index as its source. Make sure Bing is actively crawling your site, because ChatGPT Search will cite even lower-ranked pages if they're well-structured and accessible.

What Happens If You Don't Adapt?

Let's be blunt. Businesses that don't integrate AI into their SEO strategies could see a 30% drop in search visibility by 2025. We're already in 2025. If you haven't started, you're late.

WebFX data shows that over 60% of Millennials and Gen Z already use AI engines in their regular search routines. These aren't early adopters anymore. This is mainstream behaviour.

And 62% of businesses report declining clicks and web traffic from search engines. That's not a future problem. It's happening right now.

The opportunity is still there, though. Australian businesses that treat 2025 as a transition year and implement comprehensive AI search strategies will establish market positions that become increasingly difficult for competitors to challenge. But the window's closing.

AEO and SEO Work Together, Not Against Each Other

Here's the good news: you don't have to abandon traditional SEO. AEO is an extension of SEO, not a replacement.

Strong SEO still matters because most AI platforms rely heavily on existing search indexes to find sources. Your traditional SEO work puts your content in front of AI platforms. Your AEO work makes sure they can actually use it.

The strategy is this: maintain comprehensive, expert content that establishes topical authority for SEO purposes. But structure that content with clear, concise answers upfront that AI systems can extract and cite.

Use both. Maximise your visibility across traditional search engines, AI tools, and voice assistants. Because 25% of organic traffic is predicted to shift to AI chatbots and virtual agents by 2026. You need to be visible in both worlds.

Where We Go From Here

Search has fundamentally changed. Google's not going back to ten blue links. ChatGPT's not going to stop answering questions directly. Perplexity's not going to start sending more traffic to websites.

The businesses that thrive in this new landscape will be the ones that understand what's actually happening and adapt accordingly. Not the ones hoping things go back to how they were in 2023.

If you're an Australian business owner or marketer, start with these three things today:

1. Audit your structured data implementation and add schema markup where it's missing
2. Rewrite your key pages to include direct, concise answers at the very top
3. Check your robots.txt file and make sure you're not accidentally blocking AI crawlers

The search landscape has changed forever. But that doesn't mean you can't succeed in it. You just need to play by the new rules.

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