From SEO to AEO: Why Indie Hackers Need to Optimize for AI, Not Just Google

Remember when spinning up a blog, tweaking some meta tags, and throwing in backlinks was enough to drive traffic? That feels ancient now—like a startup running on PHP 5.

Search isn’t written for humans anymore. It’s being rewritten for AI engines.

I was listening to Dharmesh Shah (HubSpot’s founder) the other day, and one thing stuck: AI isn’t just tweaking search—it’s reshaping it.

And if you’ve noticed your traffic graph dipping, you’re not alone. Organic traffic is down 20–40% across industries. Why? Because people don’t click links anymore. They ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini—and get instant answers, no browsing required.

As indie hackers, this matters. Whether you’re building SaaS, writing docs, or shipping side projects, AI Engine Optimization (AEO) is becoming the new game. Let’s break it down.

Why SEO Alone Won’t Save You

Old flow:
Search “best CRM for startups” → scan 10 blue links → maybe land on HubSpot’s blog.

New flow:
Ask ChatGPT: “I run a small startup, what CRM should I use?”
Boom — instant summarized answer, table included. No clicks. No site visit.

Even HubSpot has admitted they’re seeing the shift. With 800M+ people using ChatGPT weekly, the click-driven model is collapsing.

That’s the scary part. But also—the opportunity.

Enter AEO: Optimizing for Answers

Here’s the mindset shift:

• SEO → fighting for clicks

• AEO → being the source of truth

AI crawlers like GPTBot and OI Searchbot are already scanning sites. They love structured Q&A, schema markup, and answer-ready content. If your docs, blogs, or landing pages aren’t AI-friendly, you’re invisible in this new ecosystem.

How to AEO-Proof Your Projects

1. Enable AI Crawlers
   Don’t block GPTBot or OI Searchbot. In robots.txt:

User-agent: OISearchBot
Allow: /
User-agent: GPTBot
Allow: /

1. Restructure Content as Q&A
   AI thrives on clarity. Instead of walls of text, break things into questions + answers. Bonus points: add FAQ schema in JSON-LD.

2. Build Authority Through Smart Linking
   AI still leans on classic ranking signals. Publish on platforms (like here on IndieHackers 👀), cross-link repos, case studies, and demos.

3. Monitor AI Referrals
   Some analytics tools now surface “chatgpt” or “perplexity” as referral sources. Start tracking this as a channel—it’s the new organic search.

👉 If you want a shortcut, I built betterAEO to audit sites for AI visibility. Think of it as Lighthouse, but for AI-first search. It scores your pages and gives actionable fixes.

The Indie Hacker Opportunity

This isn’t just about defending your traffic—it’s a new space to build in.

• AEO analyzers → simulate AI queries, check if your project gets cited.

• CLI tools → run AEO checks for docs & APIs.

• Monitoring dashboards → track “AI referrals” as a new metric.

Dharmesh is already hacking on AI side projects. Why not us?

Wrapping Up

AI has shifted search from clicks to answers.

As builders, our job is to adapt—by making our projects AI-digestible. I’ve seen traffic dip ~25% on one of my own projects, but restructuring it into Q&A brought visibility back.

What about you? Have you noticed AI eating your traffic? Tried any AEO hacks yet?

Would love to hear your take—let’s crowdsource the Indie Hacker playbook for surviving (and thriving) in the AI search era.

👉 Curious about your own site’s AI visibility? Run an AEO score + gap analysis with recommendations here: betterAEO.com