An Armonk-based marketing company is using human intelligence to help its clients become visible on the internet by adapting to the needs of artificial intelligence (AI) through strategies known as Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) . As artificial intelligence is increasingly being used in the operation of internet search engines, the use of traditional methods such lists of keywords to trigger the search engines to give a particular website increased recognition over other websites are being rendered obsolete.
The marketing firm Harry, located at 80 Business Park Drive in Armonk, describes AEO and GEO as ways to optimize content so it can be directly understood and then delivered to internet users by AI-powered search engines and virtual assistants.
Harry notes that AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity are changing the way internet users receive responses to their search inquiries. Instead of lists of links on which they can click filling the computer screen, users increasingly are being presented with well-structured conversation-like answers to their questions. AEO helps to get the AI-powered search engines to recognize content and include it in responses to internet inquiries.
“It’s where SEO (search engine optimization) has evolved to,” Harry’s CEO Bob Knight told Westfair’s Westchester Business Journal. “In the last year alone, nearly 70% of searches have become ‘clickless.’ When you used to Google something, you’d get a list of blue links and you’d clink on a link. Nowadays, 70% of that search does not involve a click. It involves an AI-generative answer.”
Knight describes AI-generative answers to inquiries as often presenting a paragraph or more of text in plain English that provides information without incorporating links for clicking.
“It’s the issue that’s facing every entity that has a website, which is how do you get AI to find you and then advocate for you or your businesses’ point of view to become the answer,” Knight said.
Jennifer Galluzzo, Harry’s chief digital officer, said businesses needs to be aware of what questions people will be asking so that they can position their material to include answers to those questions.
“What are the questions people are going to ask to bring them to that company and they really have to focus on content and building authority,” Galluzso said. “It’s not just coding on the back-end for rankings; it’s about really building an authoritative trustworthy brand and voice and putting that out through trustworthy sources. Media is becoming more important. We’re seeing a lot more with corporate blogs.”
Galluzzo said that even when people are presented with a combination of AI-generated text followed by a list of clickable links to various websites, they’ll first use the text to help them decide which websites to visit.
Lisa Buchman, Harry’s executive vice president and chief communications officer said that how a business structures its internet content is important and there needs to be an understanding of what AI likes to cite when it writes plain English summaries in response to inquiries.
“AI likes to cite journalism and that’s great news for companies that are focused on getting their story out in the media,” Buchman said. “Top-tier outlets are vey important, trade association outlets are very important. AI likes trust signals like third-party verification by a news media outlet or a corporate blog. Telling your story in the media is very important and then structuring your own story in a specific way for AI readability is important.”
Knight pointed out that AI is indexing images as well as video in addition to text so having visual content is just as important as the written word.
“Our goal at Harry is to be the national leader in AEO and GEO,” Knight said. “We’re past the tipping point. The marketing and consulting industries are among the first to be significantly impacted by AI. We’ve really been in the thick of it for over a year. We’ve been researching, we’ve been experimenting, we’ve been finding the right tools and dashboards and training our teams.”
Knight said that they have been exploring the role of a marketing team in the AI era, as well as what’s the role of the various AI software that has become available. He said that they have found that AI cannot replace humans when it comes to writing a press release or designing graphics that will fulfill the needs of client.
“It can save us time, it’s a really useful tool to fine tune something or sharpen copy or animate graphic designs but it’s never fully on target because it doesn’t have feelings,” Knight said. “In many ways it cannot relate to the human experience.”
Knight said that Harry’s clients have been very curious about using AI and how it can be leveraged to their advantage. He said that in a case where a medical client wants to be known for various types of specialized services the client needs to be guided to answer the right questions and provide the right answers. In that way when a consumer asks a search question about any of the relevant topics the client will be recognized by AI and it will put out information about the client rather than a lower quality competitor.
Knight, Buchman and Galluzzo chimed in together to emphasize that material AI creates needs to be double checked and triple checked for accuracy.
“You have to check your facts if you’re doing research and you have to be careful,” Galluzzo said and added, “AI is only as good as the person using it. Ai is a tool, it’s not replacement.”
Knight said that AI has led to a seismic shift in marketing.
“It’s been transformative,” Knight said. “Every entity, whether it’s a business, nonprofit or institution that has a website is going to need to rethink their strategy when it comes to being found, and that involves using AEO and GEO.”
