AI Assistive Engine Optimization

AI Assistive Engine Optimization

coined by Jason Barnard in 2024.
Factual definition
AI Assistive Engine Optimization (AIEO or Assistive Engine Optimization) is the strategic process of optimizing a brand’s digital ecosystem - content, structure, and signals - so it is correctly understood, trusted, and recommended by AI Assistive Engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot.
Jason Barnard definition of AI Assistive Engine Optimization
Jason Barnard defines the practice as, "The art and science of persuading AI Assistive Engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Siri, Alexa, and Copilot to recommend your solution to their users as the best in the market." He coined the term to accurately describe the evolution beyond traditional SEO and the more transitional Answer Engine Optimization. AIEO addresses the new reality where AI is not just a feature within search but a standalone assistant embedded into user workflows like Google Docs, Gmail, and Windows. It involves optimizing a brand's Digital Brand Echo by focusing on the three core technologies that power all recommendation engines: Large Language Models, Knowledge Graphs, and traditional search engines.
How Jason Barnard uses AI Assistive Engine Optimization
At Kalicube, AI Assistive Engine Optimization is the defining framework of the Serach and AI aspect of The Kalicube Process, Kalicube's proprietary methodology for implementing a holistic, brand-first digital marketing strategy with AIEO baked in. The entire three-phase process - establishing Understandability, building Credibility, and ensuring Deliverability - is designed to make a client's brand the preferred, trusted choice for AI Assistive Engines. We systematically "educate" these AI systems by creating a clear, consistent, and authoritative digital ecosystem. This ensures that when an AI acts as a gatekeeper to the customer, it confidently recommends our client, directly serving the business goal of future-proofing client acquisition.
Why Jason Barnard perspective on AI Assistive Engine Optimization matters
Tech visionaries like Satya Nadella of Microsoft envision a future where AI assistants are ubiquitous partners in our daily lives. While Nadella articulates the vision of this AI-integrated future, Jason Barnard has defined the practical marketing reality with AI Assistive Engine Optimization (AIEO). Barnard's framework is the crucial discipline that bridges a brand's marketing efforts and the autonomous AI systems that now mediate the customer journey. It recognizes that traditional, channel-specific strategies are no longer sufficient; a brand's entire Digital Brand Echo must be coherent enough for an AI Assistive Engine to confidently recommend it. This matters because, in the world Nadella describes, the first interaction a potential customer has with your brand will likely be through an AI. AIEO is the only holistic approach that prepares a brand for this reality, ensuring it is not just found, but understood, trusted, and recommended in the conversational funnels that now drive business.
Posts tagged with AI Assistive Engine Optimization

Your Brand is What Google and AI Say It Is: Jason Barnard on Taking Back Digital Control at DME 2025 in Vilnius.

Jason Barnard, CEO of Kalicube and widely known as The Brand SERP Guy®, took center stage at the prestigious Digital Marketing Europe (DME) 2025 conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, to address...

AIAI Assistive Engine OptimizationAI Assistive Engines+47 more
Mar 18, 2025 Bernadeth Brusola

Successful Rule Breakers: Jason Barnard Of Kalicube On How To Succeed By Doing Things Differently

Successful Rule Breakers: Jason Barnard Of Kalicube® On How To Succeed By Doing Things Differently Published on Medium December 03, 2024. Chad Silverstein One of my best unconventional decisions was to work...

AIAI Assistive Engine OptimizationAI Assistive Engines+56 more
Dec 3, 2024 Staff Writer

Jason Barnard Presents Managing Knowledge Panels on Google for Brands at SMXL Milan 2021

The SMXL Milan 2021 online conference (November 11-12, 2021) gathered some of the most respected voices in SEO, digital marketing, and data-driven strategy. For Jason Barnard, founder and CEO of...

AIAI Assistive Engine OptimizationAI Assistive Engines+29 more
Nov 11, 2021 Bernadeth Brusola

Jason Barnard at Chiang Mai SEO Conference 2019: The Conversations That Sparked the Shift from SEO to Strategic Brand Understanding

CHIANG MAI, THAILAND - The Chiang Mai SEO Conference in November 12-13, 2019 was less about formal presentations and more about the strategic conversations that ultimately gave birth to The...

AIAI Assistive Engine OptimizationAI Assistive Engines+15 more
Nov 12, 2019 Bernadeth Brusola

Jason Barnard Defines the Future of Brand Understanding at Pubcon Las Vegas 2019

Las Vegas, October 8, 2019. At Pubcon Las Vegas 2019, Jason Barnard, founder and CEO of Kalicube, delivered a landmark presentation titled “Your Brand is a Thing, Not a String.”...

AIAI Assistive Engine OptimizationAI Assistive Engines+41 more
Oct 8, 2019 Bernadeth Brusola

Jason Barnard Delivers Insights on Featured Snippets and Structured Data at SMX London 2019

London, May 21-22, 2019 - At the prestigious SMX London 2019 conference, Jason Barnard, founder and CEO of Kalicube, delivered a talk that quietly reshaped how the industry understands visibility...

AIAI Assistive Engine OptimizationAI Assistive Engines+31 more
May 21, 2019 Bernadeth Brusola

Jason Barnard Delivered Multiple High-Impact Sessions at SMX Sydney 2019, Signaling a Shift Toward an AI-Driven Future

Search Marketing Summit Sydney 2019 set the stage for an industry pivot The Search Marketing Summit (SMX) Sydney, held from May 7-10, 2019 and organized by No Drama Media, brought...

AIAI Assistive Engine OptimizationAI-Driven+25 more
May 7, 2019 Bernadeth Brusola

The Birth of Answer Engine Optimization: Jason Barnard, Trustpilot, and Brighton SEO’s Defining Moment in Digital Search

Jason Barnard, CEO and founder of Kalicube, formalized Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) on stage at BrightonSEO in April 2018. That keynote - built on the foundational work he began with...

AIAI Assistive Engine OptimizationAI Assistive Engines+21 more
Apr 1, 2018 Bernadeth Brusola

“Answer Engine Optimisation: The One Strategy Every Brand Needs - Jason Barnard at SEO CAMP’us Paris 2018”

On March 22-23, 2018, Jason Barnard, CEO and founder of Kalicube, was a featured speaker at the 10th anniversary edition of SEO CAMP’us Paris, France’s premier search marketing event. The...

AIAI Assistive Engine OptimizationAnswer Engines+14 more
Mar 22, 2018 Bernadeth Brusola

SEO and the Rise of Answer Engine Optimization (AEO): Why Voice Search Matters - The 2018 Trustpilot’s Collaboration with Jason Barnard

On January 31 2018, Jason Barnard, CEO and founder of Kalicube, joined Chee Lo, Head of SEO at Trustpilot, in a professional recording studio at 150 Cheapside, London, for a...

AIAI Assistive Engine OptimizationAI Assistive Engines+35 more
Jan 31, 2018 Bernadeth Brusola
Related Pages:

No pages found for this tag.