7 Concepts for SEO & AEO Websites

The mental models and frameworks you need to build websites that rank in traditional search AND get cited by AI engines.

The rules of search are changing faster than most marketers realise. Traditional SEO isn't dead — but it's no longer sufficient on its own. You now need to build for two types of search: traditional (Google, Bing) and AI-powered (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews).

These 7 concepts will help you think about both.

1. E-E-A-T is the Floor, Not the Ceiling

Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness — Google's quality evaluator framework — is now table stakes. If your site doesn't demonstrate genuine expertise, you won't rank for competitive terms. Period.

But E-E-A-T is the minimum. Building real topical authority means going deeper than your competitors on subjects that matter to your audience.

2. Topical Authority > Keyword Volume

Forget chasing high-volume keywords. The sites that dominate now are the ones that have comprehensively covered a topic space. Think about it from Google's perspective: would you trust a site with 3 articles on a topic or one with 40?

Build content clusters. Map your topic space. Cover sub-topics, questions, comparisons, and use cases.

3. Entities Over Keywords

AI systems don't see your page as a collection of keywords. They see it as a web of entities and relationships. Sofian Betayeb is an entity. Webflow is an entity. The relationship "Sofian knows Webflow SEO" is a fact that can be extracted.

Structure your content to make entities and their relationships explicit.

4. Structured Data is Your AI API

If you want AI engines to cite you, give them structured facts. Schema markup is essentially an API that AI systems can read. The more clearly structured your data is, the more likely you are to appear in AI-generated answers.

5. First-Hand Experience Wins

AI-generated content has flooded the internet. The one thing AI can't replicate is first-hand experience. Your case studies, client results, personal observations, and original research are now your strongest differentiators.

Document your process. Share what you've learned. Show, don't just tell.

6. Page Speed is a Proxy for Quality

Core Web Vitals aren't just a ranking signal — they're a signal that you care about your users. A slow site tells Google (and your visitors) that the experience doesn't matter. A fast site signals the opposite.

On Webflow, this means: optimise images, use lazy loading, minimise custom code, and use the CDN properly.

7. Brand is the Moat

The sites that will survive the AI search revolution are the ones that have built real brands — names that people search for directly, that get mentioned on other sites, that generate genuine engagement.

Invest in brand. Write under your real name. Build your newsletter. Be distinctive.

SEO and AEO aren't separate disciplines — they're two expressions of the same underlying goal: be the best, most trustworthy source of information on your topic. Build for that, and the rankings follow.