We are now in an era where search users increasingly ask questions directly to AI like ChatGPT or Perplexity, rather than Google or Naver. While traditional blog SEO remains important, AEO (AI Engine Optimization) strategies must now be implemented in parallel to gain visibility with AI.
AEO goes beyond simply writing search-optimized content; it involves creating structures and content that AI can trust and reference. Crucially, when AI cites content, it displays it in a source format. Therefore, once your site and blog are optimized for AEO, they have a high probability of consistently securing a spot as AI-recommended content.
We've entered an era where a single piece of content can capture both search engine traffic and AI source exposure. What if your content appears as an AI source?
✅ Brand recognition
✅ Search traffic
✅ Expertise positioning
You can achieve all three at once.
While AI-generated, automated writing is becoming more prevalent, ultimately, high-quality content remains paramount.
In the era when search engines were the only focus, good content merely conveyed information. However, in the AI era, good content is recognized as content that benefits users by driving action. I've covered how to create good content to survive in this increasingly sophisticated content era in a separate article below.
Why Content Creators Must Consider AEO
AI reads first, before humans → Chatbots read and summarize first, then provide it to users.
AI summaries become the whole story → If AI can't extract the core message, no matter how well written, it won't get exposure.
Search traffic is declining while AI-driven traffic surges → Blogs, news, YouTube, etc., also depend on AI recommendation algorithms.
🧠 We're now in the "question-centric search era" for AI
People no longer just search by keywords. For example, users now frequently conduct searches that lead to specific actions.
3 Types of Questions People Search for in Search Engines
"GPTbot 이란"
"gpt 에 블로그 노출"
"ChatGPT 내 사이트 노출 방법"
3 types of questions people search with ChatGPT
"What is GPTBot?"
"How do I get my site featured on Perplexity?"
"How do I get my site to appear as a source in ChatGPT?"
In the past, people simply typed "keyword + keyword" combinations into the search bar. For example, "blog SEO" or "block GPTBot."
In other words, today's AI search involves questions structured with richer language patterns—combining keywords with intent, keywords with action prompts, or keywords with context—rather than just simple keywords.
This shift means content creation methods must change too. Beyond traditional SEO, an AEO (AI Engine Optimization) strategy is essential—structuring content so AI can understand and trust it.
👌 Allow GPTBot access to be exposed to ChatGPT
To allow ChatGPT to learn from and cite web information, you must first permit GPTBot access. GPTBot is a web crawler operated by OpenAI, used by ChatGPT to gather information from the web and cite sources. Allowing this bot to crawl your blog ensures your content is recognized as trustworthy data by the AI. Consequently, your blog has thepotential to be included as a source in ChatGPT's responses.
robots.txt Settings
Configuring it as shown below allows GPTBot access while preventing excessive scraping. (For those like me using a self-hosted server on AWS, this prevents server crashes caused by traffic spikes.)
User-agent: GPTBot
Crawl-delay: 30
❗ Setting "Disallow: /" completely blocks GPTBot access, resulting in **0% AI exposure opportunity**.
✔️ Crawl-delay set to 30 seconds is a balanced setting. It allows data scraping at an appropriate speed, prevents server overload, and maintains positive exposure opportunities.
Just because you've allowed GPTBot doesn't mean AI will automatically cite your content. The AI must be able to 'read' your content and 'understand' it. Be sure to check the following conditions:
HTTPS Implementation: Only sites with security protocols are positively evaluated.
Mobile Optimization: Mobile accessibility and design must remain intact for better crawling quality.
Fast Page Loading Speed: Slow sites may cause AI crawlers to abandon scraping or prioritize them lower.
Public Access Without Login: Content must be viewable immediately without requiring login or registration.
While HTTPS is typically enabled when creating a website, many clients who outsource SEO work often neglect HTTPS setup. HTTPS must be implemented as a fundamental requirement.
1. Structured title: Start with a question or core keyword
In the AEO era, writing a good title is half the battle. AI first reads the title to grasp context. Question-based or clear keyword-focused titles are best recognized. For example, "How to survive blogging?" is less effective than "In the ChatGPT era, is blogging dead?"—a title that conveys both the topic and a sense of urgency.
2. Subheadings per Paragraph: Use H2, H3 tags to segment information flow
Just like humans, AI finds long texts burdensome. Adding subheadings atmeaningful intervals makes it easier to follow the context. In HTML terms, <h2>, <h3> Make active use of H2 and H3 tags. Example: AEO란 무엇인가요? The more subheadings you include, the easier it is for AI to structure and summarize the text.
3. Provide summary sentences: Include one key line per section
Emphasize one key sentence separately at the end of each section. This helps AI compress the content around that sentence when summarizing. For example, insert a sentence that can be summarized, like "AEO is SEO that AI reads first." Such sentences are highly likely to be directly used by AI like GPT, Claude, or Perplexity when summarizing content.
4. Use tables and lists: Visual structure matters to AI too
Organizing content into tables or lists makes structure much easier for both humans and AI to recognize. For instance, when comparing AEO vs SEO, summarize it in a simple table format, or list action items as 1., 2., 3. AI can distinguish and recognize key elements. GPT strongly prefers table and list structures.
5. Emphasize Causal Structure: Design with Problem → Cause → Solution Flow
For AI to understand and recommend information, the logical flow must be clear. Therefore, text should first state " Why is that?" followed by "So how?" Example: "Search engine traffic is declining. Why? Because people are asking GPT directly. Therefore, we must learn AEO." This causal progression is highly advantageous when AI summarizes or converts content into a question-answer structure.
6. Include natural language questions: Incorporate actual user queries
AI prefers content that includes similar questions to answer user queries. In other words, if sentences like "How do I start with AEO?" or "How should I change my content?" are naturally included in the body, AI is more likely to recognize them and match them as response content to user questions. Now, content must be structured for the "questioning AI" rather than the "reading person."
Structured content is recognized as such by search engines and AI when it includes internal headings (h tags), lists (li tags), Q&A (FAQ schema) + how-to (how-to schema).
Unlike humans, search engine crawling bots and AI crawling bots evaluate content quality differently based on whether it is structured or unstructured, even if the written content is identical.
For example, even if two articles are both 1200 characters long, if one lacks a title, lists, or Q&A, the crawling robots will
✅ Example of AI-friendly content
Q. GPTBot이 뭐야?
A. GPTBot은 OpenAI가 운영하는 AI 학습용 웹 크롤러입니다.
Q. 막을 수 있나요?
A. robots.txt에 아래 설정을 하면 됩니다:
User-agent: GPTBot
Disallow: /
Writing content by anticipating questions like this makes ChatGPT pinpoint it as the source!
🔗 How to appear on Perplexity?
Perplexity tends to favor exposing actual links.
✅ Perplexity exposure conditions
Clear question keywords in the title. Example: "GPTBot Blocking Method 2025 Latest Edition"
Page contains a summary first, followed by detailed explanation
Static content (HTML body, not JavaScript)
Use schema.org structured data (optional)
🛠️ Provide structural hints to AI via Schema markup
ChatGPT + Google AI + Perplexity can quickly understand the structure. For WordPress, you can verify schema using the FAQ items provided by SEO plugins like Yoast SEO or RankMath.
🖥️ Prompts for AEO
이 블로그 글을 ChatGPT가 인식하고 요약하기 쉽게 만들고 싶어요. 1. 문단별 요약 가능하게 정리 2. Q&A 구조 추가 3. 키워드를 GPT가 잘 인식하도록 재배치 → 마크다운 형태로 바꿔 작성할것.
📌 Conclusion: Now, "AI-readable content" comes first
More users are now searching via ChatGPT than through traditional search engines. ChatGPT has become the primary information gateway, surpassing search results.
The question has shifted from "Who will read this article?" to "Which AI will summarize this article first?"
For content creators, designing a structure that AI can understand and repurpose now takes precedence over manually inserting keywords. AEO isn't optional—it's a survival strategy.
SEO Tutorial: SEO Master Class for WordPress and AdSense