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Give your website some AEO love this February
In the era of artificial intelligence, digital marketing is all about ‘answer engine optimization’
Tracy Pratt
Feb. 15, 2026 6:00 am
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Happy mid-February, Corridor business leaders:
By now, the Valentine’s chocolate is likely half-price at the grocery store, but the "love" for your brand shouldn’t be fading. This month I want to talk about a different kind of relationship — the one between your website and the machines that now "answer" for us.
For years, our digital strategy was built on SEO (search engine optimization). We focused on keywords to help people find us in a list of links. But in 2026, the game has shifted. Today, your customers aren't just looking for links, they are looking for answers. Whether they are asking Siri for a nearby plumber or using a chatbot to compare pricing on local catering packages, they want the solution delivered directly to them without the drudgery of clicking through a deep-dive search.
Enter AEO (answer engine optimization). If SEO is about being "found," AEO is about being trusted, and then chosen by AI assistants as a worthy source of truth.
Don’t play hard to get
To understand why this matters, look at how Starbucks has redefined the customer journey in an “answer first” culture with its 2026 Green Apron AI initiative. They’ve moved beyond simple mobile ordering to anticipatory AI. Their system, known as Smart Queueing, uses predictive models to anticipate customer needs so instead of a customer wondering when their latte will be ready, the Starbucks Answer Engine (integrated into its app) would give them real-time, context-aware updates.
According to the KPMG 2025-26 Global Customer Experience Excellence report, brands that use this kind of "agentic AI" to move from reactive service to proactive, predictive experiences are significantly outperforming their peers in customer loyalty and trust.
Closer to home, let's say you're a local HVAC provider in Cedar Rapids. When a homeowner asks their phone, "Why is my furnace blowing cold air?" they don't want to click five links. They want a bulleted checklist of the top three causes (and optional link to you). If your site provides that information clearly, the AI assistant will give your brand's answer.
Romance the algorithm
As an AI consultant, I work with brands to build these sophisticated knowledge centers, ensuring their digital identity isn’t left behind in the “link-only” era. While a truly competitive edge requires a custom-built blueprint tailored to your specific industry data, there are universal ways to start showing your website some AEO love right now:
- The “first date” summary: AI engines love the "too long, didn't read" method. In journalism, it was the 5 W’s and the H in a lead paragraph (who, what, where, when, why, how). Place your most essential answer in the first 50 to 60 words of a page. These "answer-first" blocks act as a digital handshake, making it easy for machines to extract and quote you directly.
- Commit to knowledge centers: Your customers ask their phones full questions, not just fragments. Stop relying on generic pages and start building dedicated clusters of information that mirror natural speech patterns and solve specific user inquiries.
- Speak the digital language of love: Ensure your back end uses Schema.org markup. This invisible layer of code, specifically local business schema, tells the AI engine exactly what it’s looking at.
- Consistency builds trust: AI cross-checks your info across the entire web. If your hours on your Google Business profile conflict with your website, the AI will view you as an unreliable source. Keep your "Name, Address, Phone" identical everywhere, right down to the "Avenue" vs. "Ave” abbreviations.
Be the local sweetheart
Imagine you own a boutique bakery in the NewBo District. Many business owners just list their products (we bake cakes). However, in the answer engine era, your website needs to transition from a static menu to an interactive “love hub” of expertise.
Instead of broad descriptions, you must design your data to solve specific consumer "micro-problems." For instance, a shopper isn't just looking for "cake"; they are asking their phone, "How many people does a 10-inch round cake feed?" When you frame your local expertise through this lens (providing data-driven answers about portions, event planning or local ingredients) you aren't just selling a product. You are providing the "fuel" that AI assistants need to recommend your brand. By mapping the intersection between your expertise and your customer’s curiosity, you move beyond "ranking" and begin turning casual searches into long-term local crushes.
Remember your love match
This level of knowledge architecture is what separates the digital wallflowers from the brands that get asked to dance. While most businesses stay hidden in a messy list of links, AEO-optimized brands are the ones being quoted and introduced by AI engines as the perfect catch. Users are doing their top-of-funnel courting with AI before they ever click through to a website. By the time they finally arrive at your digital doorstep, the “spark” is already there — they are more educated, more trusting and ready to commit.
The goal of AEO isn't just to please a bot, it's about being a better partner to your human customers. It’s showing real love by respecting their time and giving them the answers they need, precisely when they need them. In the world of 2026, the most successful brands are the ones that realize that providing a clear answer is the ultimate act of devotion.
Brandfully Yours,
Tracy
Tracy Pratt, a Cedar Rapids marketing professional with expertise in communication, consumer behavior and AI strategy, believes in blending data with storytelling to help businesses build stronger relationships. Message her on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/1tracypratt.
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