Google confirmed AEO is still SEO. Here's what actually changed.
A wave of agencies rebranded "SEO" to "AEO" and raised their retainer. Then Google said the quiet part out loud: the fundamentals that earn an answer-engine citation are the same fundamentals that earned a ranking. If someone is billing you $5,000 a month for FAQ schema and calling it a new discipline, you're paying for a paint job.
But dismissing the whole shift as hype is the other mistake. Two things genuinely changed about how clients find a firm — and both decide whether an AI puts your name in the answer or a competitor's.
What didn't change
Depth, expertise, and structure still win. An answer engine cites the page that answers the question directly, demonstrates real first-hand experience, and is structured so a machine can extract the answer cleanly. That's the same E-E-A-T-plus-structure recipe that has rewarded good content for years. Schema helps a machine trust you; it doesn't manufacture substance that isn't there.
What actually changed, #1: the query moved
A meaningful share of intake now begins in ChatGPT or Perplexity instead of a search box. The person doesn't type "car accident lawyer Denver." They ask, "what's my case worth if I was rear-ended and my back still hurts three months later?" — and they read a synthesized answer that may name two or three firms. If your pages describe your services instead of answering that question, you're not in the synthesis.
What actually changed, #2: citation is winner-take-few
A page of blue links has ten spots. An AI answer has maybe three named sources. The distribution got steeper. Being "on page one" is no longer the finish line; being one of the few sources the model trusts enough to cite is. That rewards firms that publish answer-first, credential-backed content consistently — and punishes thin, generic pages harder than the old system did.
What to actually do
Ignore the rebrand; do the work. Take your highest-intent pages and rewrite them to answer the specific questions clients ask, with real specificity about your practice and jurisdiction, and structure them so a machine can lift the answer. Add the schema — it's table stakes, not a strategy. Then measure which pages get cited and which sign clients, and do more of what works.
That's not a new discipline. It's the old one, done seriously, for a channel most firms haven't looked at yet.