FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to the questions we hear most about Answer Engine Optimization, SEO, our services, and how we work — collected here from across the site in one place.
General
- What is the difference between SEO and AEO?
- SEO optimizes your pages to rank and earn clicks in traditional search engines like Google. AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) optimizes your content to be the answer that AI engines — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews — deliver directly, often without a click. You need both: SEO drives the traffic that pays the bills today, AEO protects your visibility as buyers shift to AI.
- Do I still need SEO if I invest in AEO?
- Yes. AEO is built on SEO, not a replacement for it. Answer engines pull from crawlable, authoritative, well-structured pages — the same signals SEO produces. Strong SEO is a prerequisite for being cited by AI, which is why we deliver them together.
- Who is True North Growth Labs for?
- Mid-market brands — typically $10M–$100M in revenue — whose marketing leaders own the search and AI-visibility problem and need a partner to execute, not just advise.
- How do you measure AEO results?
- We track AI Share of Voice: how often your brand appears as the answer or a cited source across the major AI engines for your priority questions, benchmarked against competitors and trended over time.
SEO vs AEO vs GEO
- Is AEO replacing SEO?
- No. AEO extends SEO. Answer engines pull from well-optimized, authoritative web pages, so SEO remains the foundation. The shift is that ranking is no longer the finish line — being the cited answer is. Winning brands run both.
- What is the difference between AEO and GEO?
- AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) covers being the answer across all answer surfaces — AI Overviews, featured snippets, and voice. GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) focuses specifically on being cited inside generative AI responses like ChatGPT and Perplexity. They overlap heavily; a complete program addresses both.
- How do I measure AEO success?
- Track AI Share of Voice — the share of your category’s key questions where your brand is the answer or a cited source — alongside citation counts per engine and trended against competitors. Traditional rankings and traffic still matter for the SEO side.
- How long does AEO take to work?
- Timelines vary by the brand’s starting authority, technical condition, competition, publishing cadence, and the platform being measured. We establish a baseline first and report movement over time.
Answer Engine Optimization
- What is Answer Engine Optimization in simple terms?
- It’s making your content the answer AI gives. Instead of only trying to rank a link, you structure and strengthen your content so tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews quote your brand as the response.
- How do I get my brand cited by ChatGPT?
- Make essential content crawlable, answer the question clearly, cite reliable evidence, and use accurate structured data where it matches the page. Then test whether the page is retrieved and cited for priority prompts.
- Is AEO worth it for a mid-market company?
- AEO may create an early-mover opportunity in categories where competitors have weak AI visibility. Confirm the opportunity with a category-specific baseline rather than assuming the market is uncrowded.
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
- Is GEO the same as AEO?
- They overlap heavily. GEO focuses specifically on being cited inside generative AI answers; AEO covers being the answer across all surfaces including snippets and voice. A complete program addresses both, which is how we approach it.
- How do I rank in Perplexity?
- Perplexity states that its answers are grounded in real-time web sources and include inline citations. Keep content accessible, current, clear, and well-supported, then measure actual citation frequency.
Our services
- What does an AEO agency actually do?
- It baselines where your brand appears across AI answer engines, then improves the structure, authority, entity signals, and freshness of your content so those engines cite you as the answer — while keeping your traditional SEO strong.
- Do you offer SEO and AEO separately?
- Yes, but we recommend them together because AEO depends on SEO foundations. The AI Visibility Audit shows which mix your situation calls for.
The AI Visibility Audit
- Do I have to sign a retainer after the audit?
- No. The audit and roadmap are yours to keep, with no obligation to continue. The meeting is a working session, not a hard sell.
- How long does the audit take?
- About one to two weeks from form submission to your strategy meeting.
AEO services
- How do you grow AI Share of Voice?
- By baselining where you appear today, fixing the technical and structural foundation, publishing answer-first content on the questions that matter, building entity and authority signals, and keeping it all fresh — then measuring citation share by engine and iterating.
- Which AI engines do you optimize for?
- ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Gemini, with attention to how each selects and cites sources differently.
SEO services
- Is SEO still worth it in 2026?
- Yes. SEO can remain an important source of trackable organic revenue, but its contribution varies by company and should be measured directly. The change is that SEO now needs an AEO layer on top to capture the visibility that clicks alone no longer guarantee.
- Do you do SEO without AEO?
- We can, but we recommend combining them. The same content investment pays off across rankings and AI answers when they’re run together.
The North Star AEO Framework
- What is the North Star AEO Framework?
- It’s our five-stage methodology — Baseline, Entities, Answers, Authority, Measurement — for growing a brand’s AI Share of Voice across the major answer engines in a sequenced, measurable way.
- How long until we see results?
- Timelines vary. We establish a baseline, monitor priority prompts over repeated runs, and report early movement and longer-term trends without guaranteeing a fixed window.
Results
- What kind of results can AEO deliver?
- Typical wins include becoming the cited source for high-intent category questions, multiplying branded mentions across AI engines, and recovering visibility lost to AI Overviews. Results vary by starting visibility, competition, authority, and scope.
About True North Growth Labs
- What makes True North Growth Labs different?
- We’re AEO-and-SEO specialists with a named methodology and a real metric — AI Share of Voice — rather than a generalist agency adding “AI” to an old deck. We measure, execute, and report on outcomes tied to pipeline.
- Where are you based and who do you serve?
- We serve mid-market brands (roughly $10M–$100M in revenue), primarily in B2B, whose marketing leaders own the search and AI-visibility problem.
Speaking
- What does Nichole Kelly speak about?
- Answer Engine Optimization, AI search, and the shift from traditional SEO to being the answer AI gives — with practical frameworks marketing teams can apply immediately.
Want to see where your brand stands? Get your free AI Visibility Audit.