AEO vs. SEO: What Every Marketer Needs to Know
Thursday, March 19 · 12:00–1:00 PM ET
Live on Zoom (recording available for all registrants)
Live data + Q&A
In this masterclass, I’ll break down one of the biggest shifts happening in digital marketing right now: the difference between traditional SEO and AEO, and why every marketer needs to understand both.
For years, search strategy was built around ranking pages, winning clicks, and pulling people into your funnel through search engines.
That model still matters, but it is no longer the whole game. Increasingly, buyers are not just searching on Google.
They are asking ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, and other AI systems to surface answers, compare options, and recommend brands directly.
That changes the rules.
AEO, or Answer Engine Optimization, is about shaping how your brand shows up when AI systems generate responses, summaries, recommendations, and comparisons.
SEO helps you rank. AEO helps you get cited, mentioned, trusted, and surfaced inside AI-generated answers.
Marketers now need to understand where these strategies overlap, where they differ, and how to build a visibility strategy that works across both search engines and answer engines.
If your team is still focused only on blue links and traffic, you may be missing the layer where decisions are increasingly being influenced before the click ever happens.
What we’ll cover
The real difference between SEO and AEO, and why the distinction matters now
How traditional search behavior is changing as users move from search queries to AI prompts
Where SEO still drives results, and where AEO is becoming the new competitive edge
How AI systems choose which brands, pages, and sources to mention in generated answers
Why rankings alone do not guarantee visibility inside ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, or Copilot
The role of authority, corroboration, structured information, and third-party validation
How your website, brand mentions, comparison pages, reviews, and content ecosystem get interpreted by machines
What types of content are more likely to earn visibility in both search engines and AI answers
The difference between being indexed, being ranked, being cited, and being recommended
Common reasons brands are invisible in AI results even when they have strong SEO fundamentals
What marketers should track as discovery shifts beyond clicks
A practical action plan for strengthening both SEO and AEO over the next 30 to 60 days
Live data walkthroughs so you can see how this plays out in the real world, not just in theory
Do I need to be a Pavilion member?
No. Everyone is welcome.
Why should I listen to you?
I built and sold a company powered by industry-leading SEO where roughly half of all pipeline came from organic.
Now I run Open Forge AI, a platform of AI agents that grow your AI brand visibility.
I see what’s happening across hundreds of companies and categories every single day.
Who is this for?
Founders. Marketers. CMOs.
Anyone trying to understand how visibility is changing and what it takes to win across both traditional search and AI-driven discovery.
Do I need to be technical?
No. This is built for builders and operators.
When and where?
Thursday, March 19 · 12:00–1:00 PM ET
Live on Zoom. You’ll receive a calendar invite and link after registering.
How long is it?
One hour. Fast, practical, and focused.
Will there be a recording?
Yes, recording available for all registrants.
Is it free?
Yes.
Will there be Q&A?
Yes. Bring your questions about your category, your current visibility strategy, how AI systems are surfacing brands in your space, and what you should change to improve both search and answer engine performance.