SEO isn’t dead. It’s just undergoing a rebrand.
Maybe that’s a bit glib, but it’s not entirely inaccurate. For as long as I’ve been in marketing, clients have been asking about SEO. How do they do it? How do they improve it? How do they win? Very few have a working knowledge of what it entails beyond keywords. What they do know is that, for a long time, when done right, SEO delivered free website traffic. For smaller companies, this made SEO more attractive and realistic than paid campaigns or costly trade show investments.
In the last year, with the explosion of AI, the conversation has predictably shifted from SEO to AEO. As our search behavior continues to evolve from typing keywords into a search bar to having a dynamic conversation in chat, everyone wants to know the same thing: How do I show up in the answers? The assumption is that the change in acronym means a change in approach.
Some argue that AEO is its own discipline. At the risk of angering those people, I believe it’s a continuation of modern SEO. Because while our search behavior has changed, SEO and AEO best practices mirror each other.
A Modern SEO Framework
There are distinctions and nuances, of course. And everything with AI is fluid, including our understanding of why brands are cited or recommended in a chat. But for simplicity, let’s explore a basic framework designed to help implement a solid SEO and AEO foundation. For the sake of not mixing multiple acronyms, we’ll just refer to it as modern SEO.
A modern SEO framework for financial advisors should include:
- Clear positioning and brand authority
- Strong technical foundation and user experience
- Original expert content
- Reputation and third-party validation
But before we move forward, let’s take a half step back to understand why the principles of modern AI are still relevant in the AI age.
SEO Has Been Changing for Years
When most people think of SEO, they think of keywords and writing blog posts and web pages that incorporate those terms. Rank on page one and you get a ton of traffic. That’s not inaccurate, but it is slightly outdated. That version of SEO hasn’t existed in close to a decade.
Similarly, for many people AI began two years ago with the launch of ChatGPT. But Google has long been leveraging AI to better understand search intent, content quality, and provide the best possible answers to every question asked.
As the brain inside Google search has evolved, so have SEO best practices. Those recommendations have routinely included high-quality content, a technically sound site, a strong user experience, and validation from trusted sources. In short, our framework.
Now, let’s walk through each part of the framework and how it applies to AI discovery.
Clear Positioning and Brand Authority
It’s one of the oldest tenets of marketing. In a sense, this was devalued during much of the early days of SEO, when algorithms just tried to match what you did (via a title tag and keywords) to what someone was looking for. In those days, everyone sounded the same because everyone was chasing (and stuffing) the same keywords.
But today’s LLMs want a clear view of your brand. Many financial advisors sound identical. They use the same language, have the same messaging, and offer the same services. That makes it incredibly difficult for potential clients and LLMs to understand how you’re different and why they should choose you over a competitor. Generic firms blend together. Differentiated ones stand out.
Your site must clearly define:
- Who you are
- What you do
- Who you help
- What problems you solve
- Any niche/specialization
- Your philosophy or approach
You’ll sometimes see this referred to as entity building. Consider it brand building. Increasingly, your prospects are arriving at your site after having already done preliminary research. Assume they are evaluating you against your competitors. What your site says, the story it tells, the identity it shapes, will influence whether they go with you or them.
Strong Technical Foundation and User Experience
For the past few years, I’ve been preaching that user experience and SEO dovetail together. Google has been screaming it from the rooftops. The people who visit your site and the LLMs trying to make sense of it both demand a great user experience. That means having intuitive navigation that easily leads users where they want to go, mobile-optimized pages that open quickly and are easy to interact with, and having a clear hierarchy at both the site and page level.
LLMs particularly like structured data (also called schema markup), a standardized code added to a webpage’s HTML because it provides clear, machine-readable data that relays definitions, relationships, and context. It can be added to FAQs, articles, location pages, and more.
Ultimately, technical SEO isn’t so much about rankings or citations as it is about trust. Your potential clients will judge you harshly if your site doesn’t meet expectations or forces them to work too hard to get answers. The same is true of LLMs.
Here are some key elements to consider with technical SEO:
- Fast-loading pages
- Mobile-friendly design
- Clear navigation and hierarchy
- Local SEO optimization
- Claimed Google Business Profile
- Structured data/schema where applicable
- Strong UX with minimal layout shifts/confusion
Original Expert Content
The heyday of old school SEO saw scores of copycat blogs that were thin on content and created to serve keyword-fueled algorithms rather than people. However, even before LLMs hit the scene, there was a shift underway to punish thin content and reward original, high-quality content drawn from expertise.
That’s where we are today, with a caveat. Topical authority and original perspective matter more now than ever. but may not translate into site traffic. In the original SEO environment, writing a 500-word blog to answer the question “what is a fiduciary?” earned you traffic. Now, an LLM will answer that question. You may get a citation, but you probably won’t get a site visit. Zero-click searches have become the new reality for SEO.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t create content. It means you shouldn’t create content with the sole purpose of answering a simple question in hopes of earning a click. Instead, think of content as a multifaceted marketing and sales tool designed to answer the big questions prospects have, highlight your expertise, build trust, and support your branding.
Here are few tips when thinking about content strategy:
- Anticipate the questions and answers that will unfold in real conversations rather than targeting a single keyword or question
- FAQ-style content is viewed favorably by people and LLMs.
- Unique content is better than a rehash of someone else’s asset.
- Original research is particularly powerful.
Importantly, don’t expect that just because you create content, your audience will find it on your site. You need a distribution strategy to get it in front of people. Engagement through emails, social, newsletters and other channels signal that content is useful and influences search results and citations.
Reputation and Third-Party Validation
Backlinking campaigns have long been a staple of SEO because both Google and LLMs care what others think about you. The problem with backlink campaigns is that they typically resulted in backlinks from spammy websites. What truly drives SEO are high-quality referrals.
The same holds true of LLMs, but it’s no longer limited just to backlinks. LLMs look at where your brand is mentioned and the overall sentiment. Part of modern SEO is building your reputation and trust across multiple platforms and channels. Sometimes that can be as simple as encouraging clients to leave reviews. Other times, it might mean being more visible and proactive, seeking out industry podcasts or events to take part in.
Some ways to build trust and third-party validation include:
- Reviews and testimonials
- PR mentions
- Podcast appearances
- Backlinks and citations
- Community involvement
- Relevant online communities
Search engines and AI systems no longer just trust that you’re unlike every other firm because you say so. They’re looking for corroboration across the digital landscape.
The Fundamentals Haven’t Changed, The Opportunity Has
Despite the role of AI, in many ways, modern SEO has become more human. Search engines always strove to provide people with the best answers to the questions they asked. Serving up ten blue links was never the best way to do that. It was the best way to do that with the technology at the time. SEO was a way to take advantage of the opportunity the technology presented.
Modern SEO presents its own set of opportunities. But taking advantage of them will require financial advisors to evolve their thinking and adopt a dynamic approach that extends beyond keywords to a more connected and coordinated marketing strategy. The framework provided here is a strong starting point.