Breaking: Viacon's Study Exposes Why 68% Of SEO Strategies Fail In AEO Era

(MENAFN- Market Press Release) February 26, 2026 5:47 am - Breaking: Viacon's new study reveals why 68% of SEO strategies fail in the AEO era, highlighting outdated tactics, AI search shifts, and what brands must do to stay visible and competitive.

As AI-powered search engines, large language models, and conversational search continue to redefine the accessibility of information online, Viacon, a performance-led digital growth agency, has released a groundbreaking study. It reveals how 68% of the current SEO strategies are failing to deliver tangible outcomes in the new AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) era.

This study further highlights the growing gap between traditional SEO practices and the demands of the modern AI-backed search and discovery process.

After carefully analyzing more than 1.5 million search interactions, enterprise websites, and AI-generated responses across multiple industries, Viacon found that most SEO programs are overly focusing on ranking and traffic at the cost of visibility within AI-generated answers. Today, this is where the majority of user journeys begin and end.

The CEO and founder of Viacon, Mashum Mollah, talking about this study, mentioned that“Search is no longer just about blue links and rankings. In the AEO era, users increasingly rely on direct answers from AI systems. And if your brand is not part of these answers, you effectively don't exist in that moment of intent. Our research shows that most SEO strategies have not evolved fast enough to meet this reality.”

According to Viacon's findings, the top reason for fueling the failing SEO strategies is the continued dependence on outdated keyword-centric models. While keyword optimization remains important, the AI-driven answer engines prioritise semantic relevance, topical authority, and contextual depth. So, brands that are simply focusing on keywords continue to struggle to appear in AI-generated responses that synthesise information from multiple trusted sources.

Another critical failure point identified in the study is weak authority signalling. AI systems favor content that demonstrates expertise, trustworthiness, and credibility. However, many brands rely on high volumes of low-quality content, fragmented blog strategies, and surface-level thought leadership, which fail to establish genuine authority.

The study also highlights poor content structure as a major barrier to AEO success. AI engines rely on well-organized, logically structured, and clearly interconnected content to extract precise answers. Websites with inconsistent internal linking, weak topical clustering, and limited use of structured data struggle to provide machines with the clarity they need to surface reliable responses.

In addition, Viacon's research indicates that a lack of conversational optimization is a growing disadvantage. As users increasingly interact with AI through natural language queries, brands that do not align their content with question-based, conversational intent are losing relevance. Traditional marketing copy and rigid informational formats fail to match how people now search, ask, and decide.

Mr. Mollah further added,“Most SEO strategies were built for algorithms that ranked pages. Today, we are optimizing systems that generate answers, and that's a fundamental shift. AEO requires brands to think in terms of knowledge engineering, not just content production.”

Viacon's study further reveals that organizations that fail to measure visibility in AI-generated answers lack the feedback loops necessary for improvement. Without tracking how and where their brand appears in AI responses, companies remain blind to performance gaps, allowing competitors to quietly gain ground.

To address these challenges, Viacon has introduced its AI-powered AEO framework, designed to help brands transition from ranking-centric SEO to answer-first optimisation. The framework integrates semantic search modelling, entity-based optimisation, conversational content engineering, predictive demand analysis, and real-time performance intelligence.

Early adopters of this framework have reported significant gains in AI visibility, higher-quality inbound leads, improved brand recall, and stronger influence across complex buyer journeys. Viacon estimates that brands adopting structured AEO strategies can increase their share of AI-generated answer visibility by up to 3X within six months.

The company warns that the pace of transformation will only accelerate throughout 2026, driven by enterprise adoption of AI copilots, multimodal search, and conversational commerce platforms. Brands that delay adapting their SEO strategies risk long-term erosion of digital authority and market relevance.

About Viacon

Viacon is a growth-focused digital strategy firm specialising in B2B SEO, AI-driven lead generation, and Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO). By blending data science, automation, and strategic storytelling, Viacon helps brands achieve sustained visibility, authority, and measurable revenue impact in AI-powered ecosystems.

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