From SEO to AI, all the different kinds of internet search – qz.com
Since the internet's conception, search has evolved time and time again, seeing innovations and expansions that Google could only dream of in its infancy. People aren't just opening their search engine of choice to find what they're looking for anymore — they're asking AI chatbots, exploring social-media feeds, and using voice assistants.
Let's take a closer look at each of the major types of search and what makes them unique.
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When you hear someone talk about growing their business through search, they're most often referring to SEO — an organic way to make webpages more visible to search engines and their users. As the dominant engine in the industry, Google is the driving force behind changes in SEO strategy. Early on, this meant keyword-heavy pages, but more recently, the focus has shifted to unique content designed to be helpful and valuable to the searcher.
Although traditional search remains a vital element of an effective online marketing campaign, organic clicks have taken a backseat to some of the newer types of search.
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AEO is a strategy where businesses optimize their content through frequently asked questions pages (FAQs) and structured data to directly answer searchers' questions. Unlike traditional SEO, the goal isn't to get your page to the top spot on search engine results pages (SERPs) — it's to be cited by search engines in zero-click responses, giving searchers immediate responses to their questions.
Picture this. You want to know the most effective way to build an online audience, so you open Google and hit the search button. A featured snippet appears at the top, telling you everything you need to know. Right next to that, it cites the page the information came from. That site is now a recognized authority on the topic, and Google is driving some traffic to it.
Now, you see a related "People Always Ask (PAA)" question: "What's the best platform to build an audience?" When you click the question, you see a response citing another authoritative site. Now, you're diving into the rabbit hole of related information.
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AI's explosion in popularity sparked a new way to search. When AI-powered search engines, such as Perplexity, emerged, traditional engines quickly followed by integrating AI into their platforms, leading to tools such as Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode. This shift introduced GEO, a strategy to help pages remain visible in AI-powered searches.
To provide the most accurate information to the searcher, AI searches typically combine multiple resources. With GEO, the goal is to be one of those resources, leading to an increase in your site's authority — and some extra clicks as searchers read further into the topic.
At least in theory, GEO isn't about finding a strategy within the system to rise to the top. It's about releasing high-quality content that's clear and answers the question at hand.
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Alexa — what's VSO?
VSO is a strategy that optimizes content for voice assistants, such as Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant. Optimizing for voice search boils down to these key ideas:
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Search can be more than just words — it can also be images and audio. Some of the most common uses of multimodal search include:
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Google isn't the only headliner in search — younger generations, such as Gen Z and Gen Alpha, often turn to social media communities for their news and questions. A punchy, easily digestible video on TikTok can provide all the information they need, and it's backed by a face they feel they can trust, instead of the machine-curated text results on Google.
Because of this, brands can't just rely on their traditional SEO or blogs anymore; they must adapt to the shifting attentions of younger generations and build an online presence. They have to employ a multifaceted approach that blends the traditional with the modern, such as creating a short TikTok showcasing a new product to go along with a blog post detailing the specs.
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AI chat search is similar to GEO — a searcher asks an AI chatbot a question, and it compiles online data to provide a (hopefully) accurate response. This response then cites the resources it used to collect the data, and searchers can click on the citations for more information or context.
The similarities don't end there. Optimizing for AI chat search works the same as for GEO; your content needs to be clear and concise, and it needs to provide context for AI to understand the topic.
Keep in mind. With AI chat search and all AI-powered tools, it's important to remain skeptical and verify the information you receive. AI has been shown to hallucinate and provide false data.
