Welcome back to Plan Like a Boss. I'm your host, Tanya Lawson, musician, turned SEO strategist, planning enthusiast, and your go-to visibility guide for all things creative business. Today we're diving into something that's shaking up the visibility world in a big way. Something I call AIO or artificial intelligence optimization. If you've ever wondered how Chat GPT, Claude, or Perplexity pull answers, and more importantly, how your content can be the answer they choose, this episode is for you. Now, recently, I was at a leadership lab hosted by the College of Business at the university here in my city. And I met the CEO of the most popular bakery in town. They do custom cakes. And as we were chatting, the conversation moved to AI. He mentioned that they were getting tons of people bringing in pictures of cakes that they had designed using AI. And they wanted them to create these cakes for them. He also said he wanted to figure out a way to show up when they inevitably asked AI the next question: where can I get this cake made? Let me tell you where this really clicked for me, because this is something that's pretty new and that I've been researching myself, and I like to call it AIO. Now, I know that by now you've heard SEO thrown around by every guru on the internet. As a matter of fact, tons of people are out there even saying SEO is dead. Now, SEO, as we know it, most certainly isn't dead, but it's definitely evolving. Now, you may have already seen acronyms like AEO, answer engine optimization, GEO, generative engine optimization, and LLMO, large language model optimization, floating around. But frankly, even though they're all a little different, unless you're an expert in the SEO field, you don't need to get caught up in the alphabet soup. And that's why I'm grouping them all together and calling them AIO or artificial intelligence optimization. See, traditional SEO helps you get found on Google, but AIO helps you get found by AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. And since millions of people are using AI every single day to search for recommendations, answers, and even service providers, if your content isn't optimized for AI, you are invisible in a whole new way. So what exactly is AIO? It's very similar to SEO, but it appeals to an entirely different platform. It's the process of making your content more readable, clear, and credible for artificial intelligence systems. Basically, it's content that is structured and written in a way that AI can easily understand. Think of it like SEO's younger, faster, and nerdier cousin, hence the alphabet soup types of optimizations. Now, while SEO focuses mainly on keywords and backlinks, AIO focuses on the context, the clarity, and the authority signals that these AI tools use to decide what's trustworthy. So let's take a look at what that looks like in actual practice. First of all, you want clear context. AI tools read your page like a research paper. They want to know who you are, what it is you teach, and who it's for. You need to be using plain language, defined terms, and headings that explain what's happening in each section. Secondly, you want to make sure you use structured data. Things like schema markup, frequently asked question sections, and bulleted list help AI understand the layout of your information. And if you have good SEO on your website, you're probably already using structured data anyway. And third, you need to take a look at your authority signals. AI tools look for expertise. That means having your name, your credentials, and your niche consistently linked across your website, your YouTube channel, and even in your podcast descriptions. When all of those elements align, AI goes up, Tony Lawson, visibility strategist for creative entrepreneurs. And suddenly you are more likely to be pulled into AI generated answers. All right, let's talk about what this means for you as a creative entrepreneur, service provider, or course creator. You don't need to overhaul everything. You just need to start weaving AIO into your regular content habits. So let's take a look at how to do that. Start with your about page. Make it crystal clear who you are, what you do, and who you serve. And then you're going to use that exact same phrasing across every single platform. For example, if your Instagram bio says helping artists turn creativity into income, make sure your website and your YouTube description say the same thing. That kind of consistency helps AI connect all the dots. Add simple, scannable structure to your blog post. Use H2s that read like questions. So you might see an H2 tag that says, What is AIO? How does AI decide what content to pull? How can I optimize my site for AI? Those headers aren't just for readers, they're for AI to quickly understand your content. Having scannable content is a good thing anyway because, well, people just don't read anymore. The next thing you need to do is make sure you're writing in plain human first language. Be careful if you're using things like ChatGPT to write blog posts. Get rid of all the more overs. All of those AI words that are just they show up all the time. Make sure your content is human first because AI loves clarity. Avoid vague statements like visibility is important for growth. Instead, be very specific and say something like: getting found on Google and Chat GPT helps you reach clients who are already searching for your offers. See how specific that is compared to its vague counterpart? Now, the other thing you need to do is keep your EAT visible, E-E-A-T. That stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. And if you know anything about SEO, you're going to be familiar with EAT. Make sure you add author bios, cite real examples, and link to credible sources, even if those sources are your own podcast or YouTube episodes. Now, AIO isn't replacing SEO, it's expanding it. So think of SEO as helping people find you on search engines and AIO as helping AI find and recommend you during conversations. In other words, SEO helps you show up in search results. AIO helps you show up in answers. And when you're showing up in both, that is the visibility sweet spot. Now, we're all about taking action over here. So if you want to get started with AIO today, here are three quick things you can do right now. First of all, update your about page with clear, keyword-rich language, the exact language that your audience is already searching for. Add frequently asked questions to your top blog post because AI loves direct question and answer sections. And three, make sure your author name and niche are consistent across all your online platforms. Do that, and you're gonna already be ahead of most business owners still trying to optimize for Google circa 2018. So the next time someone asks, is SEO still worth it? You can smile and say, it's not just SEO anymore, it's AIO, and I'm already optimizing for both. Now, if this episode got your wheels turning and you want to learn how to actually do this step by step, come join me in Creative SEO. That's my visibility membership where I help creative entrepreneurs like you build your full visibility ecosystem. From Google and YouTube to Chat GPT and beyond. And best of all, I don't just give you the know-how, but I give you systems and support so that you actually can implement it. Because visibility shouldn't feel like shouting into the void. It should feel like your business is finally getting the spotlight it deserves. Because your people are searching for you. We just want to make sure they can find you. Thanks for tuning in. I would love it if you would give me a review. And until next time, keep showing up, keep creating, and keep planning like a boss.