SEO vs. AEO: The Shift Therapists Can’t Ignore (Episode 28)
Just when you were starting to feel comfortable with SEO, here comes AEO—Answer Engine Optimization. If you’ve heard that people are getting found through ChatGPT and started wondering if this is yet another marketing trend you need to master, take a deep breath. In this episode, I’m breaking down exactly what AEO is, how it connects to what you’re already doing with SEO, and why it’s not as overwhelming as it sounds.
You’ll learn how therapists are already getting discovered through AI tools (even without doing anything “fancy”), why specificity in your copy matters more than ever, and what small updates you can make to your website to stay ahead. The good news? If you’ve been following the guidance I’ve shared on this podcast or inside my programs, you’re likely already in great shape.
Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:
1️⃣ Why AEO isn’t a brand-new marketing mountain to climb—and how it builds on your existing SEO efforts
2️⃣ The kind of therapist website copy AI tools are actually looking for (and why general, vague content just won’t cut it)
3️⃣ Five simple, no-overwhelm steps to make your site more findable on tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity
-
Hey there. Welcome back to Marketing Therapy. Just when you thought you were finally wrapping your head around this whole marketing thing around SEO and websites, here comes AEO Answer engine optimization. You're hearing people are getting found on Chat GPT, and all of a sudden you're like, awesome.
Another marketing acronym. I have to learn another thing on my plate that I didn't really sign up for, but now have to deal with. Here's what I want you to know, and here's what we're gonna dive into in this episode. AEO is not some brand new big thing you have to master. You don't have to go out and get a certification.
You don't have to learn a whole separate skillset. Okay? Interestingly enough, AEO answer engine optimization is really just a natural extension of SEO search engine optimization, the thing you have probably already heard about for years. Clinicians have been talking about getting found on Google since I began serving therapists six years ago, and certainly far before that.
This is something that has been on therapist radar for years and years and years. I think of AEO answer engine optimization has SEO's kind of conversational cousin or maybe an older brother who's just a little more talkative, not an entirely different family. Okay. This is good news for you. It means that you don't need to go throwing out everything you've learned or totally overhaul your strategy to your website or your marketing.
You simply have to keep building on what we already know works. So in this episode, I wanna kind of pull back the curtain and show you what AEO actually is, how it relates to SEO, how it's different, what you can be doing too. Ultimately rank, not just on Google, but on Chat GPT, Gemini, perplexity, all of those AI tools as well.
We've actually seen signs that Chat GPT might pull from Google results. Okay? That tells us that SEO still matters. And if your copy was already written with clarity and specificity and client friendliness in mind, then you are probably further ahead than you think. Okay, so I hope if nothing else, this episode is actually rather encouraging for you.
So today we're gonna talk about what AEO actually is, how it works when people are using AI tools to ultimately find a therapist and some simple steps you can be taking to make sure your website is optimized for this new kind, this new era of search. Like I said, my hope is that by the end of this episode, you feel encouraged because this shift does not have to be intimidating.
It can actually open up even more opportunities for the right clients to find you. So what exactly is AEO? Let's start there. AEO stands for answer engine optimization. It's the idea of being findable when someone goes to an AI tool like Chat, GPT, or Gemini or perplexity, and asks a question. Now, before we get too far here, let me clear up one really important thing.
AEO is not a formalized system, okay? Unlike SEO, it doesn't have decades of history or well-documented ranking factors like SEO does. We know a lot about SEO, not all of it, but a lot of it. AEO, on the other hand, is still emerging. So when people are saying optimize for AEO, what they're really talking about is how do we make it more likely that an AI tool will pull from our website when it's generating answers?
That's what we're ultimately looking for. Here. I,
this is an important distinction because these tools, Gemini, perplexity, whatever your favorite AI tool is. They aren't inventing everything from scratch, okay? They are pulling heavily from sources that already exist, okay? Google, Bing. Professional directories. Webpages that are already indexed, which means SEO is still the foundation here, because if your site doesn't show up well in Google or in Bing, it's not going to be very visible to AI tools either.
So let's step back a little bit and also talk about SEO because it's really where AEO starts to connect. So, SEO, the traditional getting found on Google search engine optimization has two primary sides. On one side, it's technical, the kind of behind the scenes stuff that makes your website function well.
Things like, is your website fast enough? Does it load quickly? Does it look and load properly on a phone? Can Google's bots crawl it and understand it? Is your content tagged correctly so it knows what each page is about? Okay. Those are the technical elements, and all of those things matter because without them, your site might not even show up in search at all.
Google cares that those pieces are in place because at the end of the day, Google wants to give its users results that are not just accurate, but functional. The website loads, it loads properly, it loads quickly, all of those kinds of things. But on the other side, we've got content.
SEO. This is where your actual words come in. It's about whether your copy is clear and specific and credible and helpful. You may have heard of Google's EEAT framework, which is incredibly important, especially for therapists who are providing a health service. EEAT stands for experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.
So Google is actually reading your site and deciding, are you experienced? Do you have expertise? Do you have authority? Can we trust you? It's what helps a search engine ultimately decide, is this a site we should put in front of someone who's searching for help? Now, here's where AEO enters the conversation.
Answer engines like Chat GPT lean much more heavily on that content side. They care less about your site speed or your schema markup, or any of those technical things. And a lot more about, is the language here conversational? Does it match the way people ask questions in real life? Is it specific enough that the model, the AI tool, can confidently quote from it?
Does it sound authoritative and trustworthy? Are there signals proving that authorit and trustworthiness? Now this doesn't mean that the technical stuff doesn't matter because again, these tools are still pulling from search engines, but it does mean that your copy, the words on the page, carry even more weight in this new landscape.
So if we boil it down, SEO is both technical and content. AEO is primarily content driven and the two are connected because AEO depends on the visibility that SEO provides. Is this making sense? So, like I said, if your website is already clear and specific and written in that natural client friendly language, you are probably already further ahead than you think you are.
That's why so many of our students in Confident Copy and clients who have gone through our Done For You program are already being found on Chat GPT, even though they didn't explicitly do anything for ai, they haven't done anything special, but their copy is specific. It is conversational, and that's what these tools are looking for.
So now that we've defined what AEO is, let's talk about why it matters and also again, why you don't need to feel intimidated here. Because I know that when new marketing terms start floating around, it's easy to feel that sense of. Oh no. Another thing, another trend I'm already behind on. I feel that way about reels still.
I don't know how to make it reel, but with AEO, the truth is you aren't behind. If you have been abiding by the best practices and listening to podcasts like this one and guidance like mine, you probably are already doing a lot of what matters most because remember, answer engines. Like Chat GPT and Perplexity and Gemini are not building a whole new internet.
They're pulling from the same places you have already been optimizing for. So if you've invested in your website, worked on clear copy, been specific about who you help and how you're probably already ahead of the curve, and here's the even better news. I think a EI is actually a massive and exciting opportunity for therapists in particular.
Why? Because the way people ask questions in AI tools is so much more specific and human than the way they usually search on Google. So on Google, someone might type in therapist near me for anxiety. In Chachi, bt, they might ask something like, what's a good therapist in Nashville? If I just found out my husband has been having an emotional affair?
Do you feel the difference there? That second question is loaded with detail and context and emotion, and if your website has content that speaks directly to situations like that, you are in a much better position to show up in those answers. It is why I don't want you to view AEO as a threat. It's actually a chance to be found more easily by the exact clients you love, love, love to work with.
We've already seen this happen with our students. I actually heard just last week that a former student of ours, a graduate of Confident Copy, Kara, if you're listening, she mentioned that she's had three clients come to her recently, all having found her on Chat GPT. Another found for someone searching for a therapist with a spiritual approach for moms.
Pretty specific. Another one for infertility work in the Bay Area, which is very saturated. Historically, these are not vague or generic searches, right? Those people, although we don't know exactly what they typed into Chat GPT, to find those clinicians for, of course we're likely asking some very specific and very human questions.
And because those therapists had clear niche specific copy, their sites were the ones pulled into chat, gb t's answer. And there's something so incredibly satisfying about the thought of that, right? That you were just busy writing your copy, making your website, and then doing your thing and Chat GPT is realizing, oh my goodness, this is the therapist I should recommend here.
So again, the big takeaway here, AEO is not a replacement of SEO. It's not a brand new thing you need to learn. It's just an evolution of it. And if you've been focusing on the clear, specific, trustworthy copy we talk about around here all the time, this shift is actually in your favor.
So let's get really practical here. I gave that example of someone who might be looking for, support after finding out their husband had an emotional affair. We need to think about what it actually looks like when a potential client uses an AI tool to find a therapist. Because if you use an ai, you know this, the way you ask questions in AI is a whole lot different than in Google, right?
On Google, you might see some short clipped searches. Something like therapist near me for anxiety, like I mentioned, or DBT therapist, Nashville, something like that. But when someone comes to Chat GPT or Gemini, whatever their favorite tool is, they tend to type in a full sentence, sometimes even a full paragraph, right?
It's more like a conversation. They might say, what's a good therapist in Nashville? If my kid keeps having emotional outbursts and I feel like a terrible parent. Or who are the best therapists in Denver who work with teens with OCD and use ERP? I heard it's really good for OCD, or I'm looking for a therapist in the Bay Area who can support me through perimenopause and also understands my cultural background.
These are richer, more layered, more context heavy queries. And so this is where therapists who have clear and specific copy have such an advantage because if your website says something like, I work with women navigating the hormonal and emotional challenges of perimenopause, or I help teens with OCD using evidence-based ERP therapy, you've just given an AI tool Exactly.
The kind of language it can match to that question. That is why specificity matters so much right now. And it's funny, as I was preparing this episode, I was reflecting on how often specificity has come up as a theme in what I'm seeing work in the marketplace and so beyond AI specificity is serving clinicians so well in every area of their marketing, and here is just another example of that.
Now, please know this doesn't mean you have to predict every single query anyone's ever gonna have word for word. Of course not that would be unrealistic, but it is making sure that your website mirrors the natural real world ways people are talking about what they're going through. It's also a reason why having those niche focused specialty pages is going to be so incredibly powerful for you.
Because when someone asks a question that's layered with detail, location, and life situation, modality, maybe, or identity, your page can be the one that gets pulled in. If it is the most specific and the most relevant.
It is really cool 'cause this is something we've been teaching for a long time, right? Right. In the language your clients are actually using, not in clinical jargon, not in abstract concepts, not in vague generalities, and now all of a sudden that same skill, the one that helps you connect with clients directly on your website is also what's helping get you pulled into AI answers right now.
So let's talk about what you can actually do to make your website more AI friendly. Okay. The first big principle, like I mentioned earlier, is specificity. The more specific your copy is, the more likely it is to be pulled into an AI generated answer. It's why I have always emphasized really laser-focused specialty pages.
If your anxiety page, for instance, there are thousands of anxiety pages in every city right now. If your anxiety page is just a generic description of symptoms, you are not going to stand out. But if your anxiety page is written for moms primarily, for example, then you should be talking about how does anxiety show up when I'm caring for a newborn?
Or why do I feel more anxious now that I've gone back to work after maternity leave? That level of detail is what makes your copy useful for an AI tool, because the other one, what does anxiety feel like? Something general like that is a dime a dozen right? Now,
here's the second thing, conversational answers. This is not the place to be stiff or overly clinical. It never is, but especially when you're answering questions in places like your FAQ. Write like you would explain it to a real person sitting in your office right now. For example, instead of perinatal anxiety is often characterized by intrusive thoughts and heightened arousal states.
You might say. Many new moms find themselves lying awake at night worrying about their baby's safety, despite being exhausted, even when everything is fine, that constant worry can feel exhausting and overwhelming. See the difference. It's human, right? It sounds like the way your client would ask and you would want to answer.
The third principle here is credibility. AI tools are not going to give just anyone's website in their answers. They are looking for trustworthy sources. That means it's worth highlighting your training, your modalities, your professional expertise. But always in plain language, your clients can actually understand.
And when possible, don't just answer the question, guide the reader to a next step. So if we're keeping this perinatal example, if you are answering that question on your website, maybe you end that answer with, if you are noticing these patterns and want support in breaking out of them, I'd love to talk with you.
Schedule a free consult here and link to your contact page. One other just kind of practical thing. Make sure your site is well optimized for Bing. Now, who uses Bing? I sure don't, and I don't actually know anyone that does, but we do know that Chat GPT in particular pulls directly from Bing search results.
So make sure your indexed there. It's pretty straightforward and very similar to Google, but just an extra tip for you. Alright, so suggestions on how to adjust your copy. Get incredibly specific with it. Build out robust FAQ sections on each of your specialty pages. Really, really niche specific. Keep your answers conversational and authoritative, and as always, write in the language your clients are actually using.
If you do these things, you're gonna be in a strong position, not just for Google, because these are all SEO best practices, but also for those AI tools. All right, so if you're listening to all of this and wondering, okay, Anna, you've given me a lot here. Where do I start? Here's what I recommend. Step one, take a deep breath.
You are not behind right now. If you have been following even the basics of what I teach around Walker Strategy Co. Whether that is the podcast or free trainings one of our programs, you are already in good position for both SEO and AEO. Okay? Take a deep breath. You're doing good. Step two, start with your specialty pages.
These are the heart of your website when it comes to how conversion friendly it is. So go back and make sure each one is crystal clear about who it's for and what specific struggles you can help with there. Okay? Remember, specificity is the name of the game, and then step three, I want you to add or refresh your FAQs.
We always add FAQs to the bottom of specialty pages. We've been doing that ever since I started writing copy for clinicians six years ago, and today it's honestly the lowest hanging fruit when it comes to AEO. So I want you to think about the actual questions your clients might type into an AI tool about that specialty, and then answer those in that conversational authoritative language offering that next step when appropriate.
So if your specialty page is about OCD. Don't just have a general FAQ, like what is OCD? I want you to go deeper. Why do I feel like I have to check the locks on my door over and over? Can OCD get worse after having a baby? Okay. Those are the kinds of things AI engines are going to recognize as useful are.
Step four, make sure your site is technically healthy, okay? Remember that AI tools are still pulling from Google and Bing, so things like indexing and site performance still matter.
And then step five, keep it simple, okay? Mm-hmm. You don't need to overhaul your whole site overnight. Start by adding those one or two specific, really juicy FAQs to each specialty page, and that alone can serve you really, really well. Deep breath, specialty pages, FAQs, technical basics, and then keep building from there.
You can do this. AEO isn't something to fear. It's not another marketing burden you have to carry. It is simply an evolution of the same fundamentals that already matter and always have clear, specific, credible copy. If your website right now is already speaking directly to your ideal clients in the language they actually use, then you are already on the right track.
You are already. Answer engine optimized, or at least on your way there. Again, it's why so many of our students are already being found in Chat GPT searches. So instead of looking at AEO as one more thing to learn, or intimidating or bad for you, I want you to see it as a huge opportunity and also as encouragement.
Encouragement to keep writing in a way that's human. And it is grounded in what your clients are truly searching for when they go looking for a therapist like you. Of course, if you're ready for support with that, this is exactly what we do in Confident Copy, which is open year round. You can get all the details, walkerstrategyco.com/confident-copy.
It's that program where we're gonna take your niche. We're gonna take your expertise, your vision for your practice, and we're gonna turn it into website copy. That helps you get found and helps you get on those consult calls where people said, I found you on Chat GPT, and then I read your website and I know you're the therapist I want to work with.
Because your words matter more than they ever have, and with the right strategy behind them, they can carry you further than ever. Thanks for being here today. I'll see you in the next episode.
Resources & Links Mentioned:
Confident Copy: walkerstrategyco.com/confident-copy
The Walker Strategy Co website: walkerstrategyco.com
Connect + Subscribe
Enjoying the podcast? Subscribe so you never miss an episode—and feel free to share it with a fellow therapist who’s building their private practice.
Explore more marketing support for therapists: The Walker Strategy Co website
About Marketing Therapy
Marketing Therapy is the podcast where therapists learn how to market their private practices without burnout, self-doubt, or sleazy tactics. Hosted by Anna Walker—marketing coach, strategist, and founder of Walker Strategy Co—each episode brings you clear, grounded advice to help you attract the right-fit, full-fee clients and grow a practice you feel proud of.
Rate & Review
If you’re enjoying Marketing Therapy, please consider leaving us a rating or review. This helps more therapists find the podcast (& avoid the marketing spiral).
