What is AI SEO?

Two meanings behind one label

AI SEO is used in two different ways. The first is AI search optimisation, which is work on how a business comes across in answers from AI assistants. The second is SEO carried out with the help of AI tools, such as drafting or auditing.

The two are easy to confuse because they share a name. A service sold as AI SEO may mean either, or both. Ask what it covers, which assistants or search systems it looks at and how it measures the result.

AI SEO as AI search optimisation

In this sense, AI SEO is an umbrella. It covers AEO, or answer engine optimisation, which is work on how information appears in direct answers. It also covers GEO, or generative engine optimisation, which is work on content visibility in generated answers.

The work spans several assistants at once. Each company runs its own crawlers and search systems, and each documents them separately. OpenAI and Perplexity, for example, each publish the names of the crawlers their search uses.

AI search optimisation still rests on SEO. Google says its SEO best practices remain relevant for AI Overviews, with no additional technical requirements.

AI SEO as SEO done with AI tools

In the second sense, AI SEO means using AI tools inside ordinary SEO work. That might mean drafting page outlines, grouping search terms or checking pages for technical faults.

Google's guidance on content applies here. Google says its ranking systems aim to put helpful, reliable information made for people first, not content made to manipulate rankings. It asks creators who use automation heavily whether that use is clear to visitors.

How Carqo relates to AI SEO

Carqo is built for the measurement side of AI search optimisation. A prompt is a question sent to an AI assistant on your behalf. The AI visibility dashboard counts how often saved answers to your prompts named your business and linked to your website.

The dashboard describes a sample of answers, not all AI search. It measures what answers said and makes no promise about what they will say. Use it to set a baseline before any AI SEO work, and to compare like with like afterwards.

In practice

1. Agree the meaning Write down which sense of AI SEO you mean before you plan or buy any work. Share it with anyone helping you, so everyone is working on the same thing.
2. Set a baseline Save answers to a fixed set of questions before you change anything. Record the date, the assistant and the collection method.
3. Measure the same way again Repeat the questions under the same rules after a change. Compare the records and note other events that could account for a difference.

Sources

• Google Search Central, AI features and your website Link checked 29 October 2026
• Google Search Central, Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content Link checked 29 October 2026
• OpenAI, Overview of OpenAI crawlers Link checked 29 October 2026
• Perplexity, Perplexity crawlers Link checked 29 October 2026