How AEO and GEO Help Users Choose Your Brand

About This Episode

Showing up in AI results is only half the job, so what actually makes someone pick your brand out of the list?

In this episode of SEO On-Air, host Koa Kauwe sits down with Philip Weafer (Brafton), Ben Carsley (C-4 Analytics), and Patrick Gilbert (AdVenture Media) to discuss the gap between appearing in AI results and being the brand a user actually chooses.

The panel explores why visibility and selection are two different problems. Philip calls the SERP the new search funnel, where you may not win the click but you plant a seed, comparing it to billboards on the drive to a stadium. Ben counters that you cannot be chosen unless you can be found, which makes organic impression share the metric that matters. Patrick argues the rest is a branding problem, pointing to Google’s Decoding Decisions study and the finding that the power of showing up drove more revenue than anything else they measured.

They also discuss who owns search strategy once SEO stops being a silo, why the industry siloed in the first place, the digital land grab of 2013 to 2017 that made strategy optional, whether AEO and GEO are genuinely new or SEO renamed, the Search Console shift to branded versus non branded reporting, the death of vanity traffic, and why what the rest of the internet says about you now outweighs your own domain.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

– Why being found and being chosen are two separate problems
– Why the SERP now works like the middle of the funnel
– What Google’s Decoding Decisions study revealed about buyer choice
– Why an unremarkable brand never gets picked from an AI list
– How much of AEO and GEO genuinely differs from SEO
– Why organic impression share matters more than clicks
– How to report on traffic drops that are actually good news
– Why branded versus non branded search is the new reporting split
– Why what Reddit and review sites say about you outweighs your domain
– What agencies need to ship, not just recommend, going forward

Whether you’re an agency owner, SEO professional, digital marketer, or business leader, this episode provides actionable insights into building AI visibility, reporting on it credibly, and giving users a reason to choose you once they find you.

Because in an AI answer, the brands that win won’t be the ones that simply appear.

They’ll be the ones that give a reason to be picked.

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 Introduction to SEO On-Air & Meet the Guests

04:45 Who Owns Search Strategy Now That SEO Isn’t a Silo

13:16 The Digital Land Grab of 2013 to 2017

16:43 Are AEO & GEO New Disciplines or Just SEO Renamed

21:03 Why Being an Option Means You’ll Never Be Chosen

26:32 The Difference Between Being Found & Being Chosen

30:20 Google’s Messy Middle Study & the Power of Showing Up

34:11 Is Traditional SEO Reporting Still Relevant?

37:09 The Death of Vanity Traffic

39:59 Why What the Internet Says About You Now Matters Most