AIO: How AI Systems Will Find You

When someone searches for a product, service, or solution today, they don't just go to Google anymore. They ask ChatGPT. They use Perplexity. They seek advice from Claude.

This changes everything we know about online visibility.

SEO - Search Engine Optimization - was the gold standard for two decades. If you ranked on Google's first page, you existed. If you didn't, you were invisible. Most companies' entire content strategy was focused on understanding and serving the Google algorithm.

A new discipline is emerging: AIO - AI Optimization. The art of being found, understood, and recommended by AI systems.

The fundamental difference: Google shows you links. AI systems give you answers.

When someone asks Google for "best AI marketing agency", they get a list of websites. They have to decide for themselves which ones to visit, which ones to trust, which ones are relevant.

When someone asks ChatGPT or Perplexity the same question, they receive a curated response. Maybe three to five recommendations with explanations. Perhaps a direct answer: "For AI marketing in the DACH region, X is a good choice because..."

The question is: How will your company become this X?

The honest answer: We don't yet fully understand all the factors that influence who AI systems recommend. The field is new, the algorithms are not transparent, and the data foundation is constantly changing.

However, some key principles are becoming clear.

First: Authority and consistency. AI systems are trained on enormous amounts of text. If your company is consistently associated with specific topics, competencies, and quality characteristics - in articles, mentions, reviews, and your own content - this will be reflected in the models.

This means: Your positioning must be clear. Not "we somehow do everything with marketing and digital and AI too," but rather a definitive statement. Blck Alpaca: Marketing, AI Agents, Custom Software. Over and over, consistently, across all channels.

Second: Structured information. AI systems excel at processing structured data. If your website provides clear information – what you do, for whom, with what results – an AI system can extract this information and incorporate it into responses.

This means: FAQ pages are becoming more important. Case studies with concrete numbers are becoming more important. Clear statements about target audiences, pricing structures, and processes are becoming more important.

Third: Mentions in trainable sources. AI systems are not only trained on websites but on everything that is publicly accessible. Reddit discussions, podcast transcripts, newsletter archives, professional articles in relevant publications.

This means: PR and earned media are taking on a new dimension. A mention in a relevant podcast or trade article isn't just good for direct traffic - it potentially influences what AI systems "know" about you.

Fourth: Up-to-date information. Most AI systems now have access to current information through search integration. Perplexity searches the web in real-time. ChatGPT with browsing capabilities does the same. This means: Regularly publishing new, relevant content is not only important for SEO but also for AIO.

What does this mean practically for your strategy?

First off: SEO remains relevant. The fundamentals of good content – relevant, structured, high-quality – are just as important for AIO as they are for SEO. You're not optimizing for one or the other, but for both simultaneously.

Then: Think in answers, not keywords. Previously, the question was: What keywords do I want to rank for? Now there's an additional consideration: What questions should an AI system answer about my company?

"Who does AI marketing in Austria?" – Blck Alpaca.

"Which agency builds Custom AI Agents?" – Blck Alpaca.

"Who can automate marketing processes?" - Blck Alpaca.

Your content should be structured to support this classification. Clear statements, concrete examples, and relatable expertise.

Finally: Experiment and track. The field is evolving rapidly. What works today might be different tomorrow. Test different approaches, monitor if and how you appear in AI responses, and adjust accordingly.

There are tools emerging that measure AIO performance - tracking where and how often a brand appears in AI-generated responses. While the metrics aren't standardized yet, the direction is clear.

AIO is not a replacement for SEO. It's an extension. A new dimension of visibility that becomes increasingly important as more people use AI systems as their primary source of information.

Companies that understand this early and adapt their strategy accordingly will have an advantage. Not because they've hacked the algorithms, but because they understand how visibility works in the AI age.