Over the past two-plus decades, associations that focused on search engine optimization (SEO) have aimed for goals like driving traffic, increasing clicks, or appearing on the front page of a Google search, all with the intent of cementing their association’s reputation as an authority in its field. Achieving a front-page Google listing, let alone the top listing, was a golden ticket. Various studies have found that anywhere from 75 percent to over 90 percent of searchers never make it past the first page of Google results.

With the rise of AI-driven search like Google Gemini, searchers want answers instead of options, and they want them quickly, increasingly relying on “zero-click” searches to find the information they’re after. For example, a study by the Pew Research Center found that the presence of an AI summary in search results cut the likelihood that users would click on a traditional search link by nearly half. found that the presence of an AI summary in search results cut the likelihood that users would click on a traditional search link by nearly half.

So how do associations that have structured their search strategy around SEO for decades adapt to the new era of answer engine optimization (AEO) and generative engine optimization (GEO), to ensure their organizations remain trusted sources?

“There’s a misconception that this is different from SEO,” said Merrik Kressley, senior digital marketing strategist for Accella in Washington, DC. “I see it as an evolution of SEO. SEO is not going anywhere. The biggest difference is you are optimizing for a citation or a mention as opposed to a web page.” In other words, the fundamental shift is from optimizing for links and keywords to optimizing for answers, said Erika Dickstein, chief insight officer at Spring Insight in Bethesda, Maryland.

Kressley; Dickstein; Kevin Grandia, president of Spake Media in Vancouver, Canada; and Alice Locatelli, chief experience officer at the Society of Actuaries in Chicago, recently shared what they have learned from helping associations navigate the early days of AI-driven search.

Provide Answers

Write your content so answers are easy for AI to find and extract, and create a plan for retrofitting older content. “Focus on well-structured content that is easy to read,” Grandia said, such as Q&A-style headers and bullets. Any FAQs should focus not just on your association, but also your area of expertise, he added.

Even if it’s not an FAQ page, consider using questions as headings, Dickstein said. “Instead of a header like ‘What this means for your organization,’ you would write, ‘What does answer engine optimization mean for your organization?’” she noted.

Use AI tools to refine and optimize your content for answers. When writing long-form content for clients, Dickstein uses prompts like: “Are there answers in there? Are there topics we’re not fully explaining, so we can explain them better? Can we pull out a summary and create FAQs?”

In developing FAQs, be selective. “In the same way that you prioritize keywords with SEO, you now want to prioritize ‘which are the real key questions?’ and ‘which are the pages that have these questions and answers?’ not ‘what’s every iteration of this question I can come up with?’” Locatelli said.

Structure Your Content to Appeal to AI

This means leading with solutions, and your FAQ section may be the easiest place to do it.

Locatelli notes there is an art and science behind getting the AEO you want while also creating a website people want to read. For example, to find the right balance, “you might have the more ‘human’ language at the top of the page and the FAQ list at the bottom of the page,” she suggested.

Q&A content aside, generative AI engines also like “deep research,” or well-researched content citing expert sources, Locatelli said. Just as building authoritative content was useful for SEO, “now it's also giving you credibility for AEO because of the expert names that are associated with it or because of the credentials on it,” she said.

Using testimonials and other human perspectives also adds authenticity to your content and helps build up your association as a trusted source for AI search.

Beyond page-level structure and FAQs, associations are also starting to experiment with more structured, machine-readable content at the site level, such as JavaScript object notation (JSON) or schema-forward content models that clearly separate authoritative answers, metadata, and source attribution, Locatelli said. “This helps AI systems ingest content more reliably while still allowing the human-facing page to read naturally,” she noted.

Clear heading levels (H1, H2, H3) are important to help large language models (LLMs) understand the semantic structure of the page, Kressley said. “If you have multiple H1s on the page, that could lead to confusion,” he said. “Make sure your backend structure makes sense from a hierarchical point of view.”

Demonstrate Authority in Plain Language

Associations should double down on the content that conveys their expertise and track record in their sector, and they should do it in plain English. Grandia recommends focusing on content that is well-written, authoritative and concise.

“AI assistants have been trained on human language,” Dickstein said, “so writing in plain language creates the best opportunity for them to be able to scan and find your answers.” When more complex terminology is required, consider placing technical language into footnotes or cross-linking to definitions elsewhere on the site, for example. Finding the best balance likely will vary based on an association’s profession or industry.

Lean on Your Current SEO Strategy

Having strong SEO practices already in place puts your association in a better position when embarking on AEO. “A big piece of SEO was the idea of keywords and backlinks,” Grandia said. “If a site is talking about U.S. economic policy and there are a lot of quality sites linking to it, that’s a sign of authority.”

Both Grandia and Locatelli recommend that associations integrate new AEO practices into their existing SEO work, as these things now go hand in hand.

If SEO strategy hasn’t been a focus for your association, it is a good idea to learn where you stand by conducting a baseline SEO audit to look at fundamentals like internal links, images and site map, Kressley said.

Conduct a content audit in tandem with the SEO audit, Kressley said, and look at the type of content that should be made visible for AEO. Utilize LLM.txt pages to help establish your page as an authority with LLMs, he said.

Ultimately, with long experience in producing knowledge-based content, associations are much better positioned for the shift to AEO than other organizations. Fewer people are clicking through to association websites via AI search. But incorporating AEO into your association’s content strategy will help ensure your brand and messaging are visible in AI search results and summaries.