After twelve years working in digital marketing and SEO, I recently found myself back in the classroom, attending the WSQ Advanced SEO, AEO & GEO course at Equinet Academy.
SEO has changed quite a bit in recent years, coupled with the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews in Google Search. While I’ve been keeping up with these developments through my own work at Neetclick, I thought it would be interesting to see how other SEO practitioners approach the same challenges.
When you’ve been doing something for years, it’s easy to get comfortable with your own ways of working. Sometimes, hearing a different perspective can help you spot something you’ve overlooked or simply reaffirm that you’re on the right track.
After all, there’s always something new to learn right?
What Did the Course Cover?
The course covered a mix of traditional SEO techniques and newer approaches to optimising content for AI-powered search.
On the traditional SEO side, we went through topics such as keyword research, technical SEO audits, on-page optimisation and off-page SEO.
The course also covered Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO), which focus on improving how content is discovered and referenced by AI tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot and Claude.
It was a good opportunity to revisit familiar concepts and see how they were being taught and applied from another practitioner’s perspective.
Revisiting SEO from a Different Perspective
A few topics discussed during the course stood out to me. Not because they were entirely new, but because they are areas that we continue to ponder about and work on at Neetclick.
1. SEO isn’t going away, but it’s evolving
With all the attention on AI search, there’s been plenty of discussion about whether traditional SEO will eventually become irrelevant.
I’ve always felt that the fundamentals of SEO still matter. Having a technically sound website, creating useful content and building your website’s credibility remain important.
AEO and GEO don’t necessarily replace these foundations. Instead, they introduce additional considerations to how we approach search optimisation. Yes, more to think about.
2. Search visibility is becoming more than just rankings
While keyword rankings and organic traffic are still important, businesses also need to consider whether their brands and content are being mentioned, referenced or cited in AI-generated answers.
A potential customer might ask ChatGPT for recommendations and get the information they need without ever visiting a website.
This is something we’ve already been exploring in our work, and it was interesting to revisit the topic with another practitioner. And this leads me to the next point…
3. Measuring AEO and GEO is still a challenge
Traditional SEO has fairly established ways of tracking performance, including keyword rankings, organic traffic and conversions.
However, measuring AI search visibility isn’t quite as straightforward. At least for now.
How do we accurately track brand mentions and citations across different AI platforms? More importantly, how do we determine whether those mentions translate into actual business value?
I think these are questions that even experienced SEO practitioners will continue to work through as AI search develops.
Learning from Real-World Examples
One aspect I appreciated was how the trainer, Edwin, shared real-life examples of how he applied the techniques covered in the course to his own clients.
Having worked on SEO campaigns myself, I know how different things can be when you move from theory to actual implementation. Every client has a different set of challenges, and there isn’t always just one way to approach a problem.
I thought his examples would be particularly useful for students who aren’t currently practising SEO, as they help connect what is taught in class to real business situations.
For me, it was an opportunity to see how another practitioner approaches his work and reflect on my own methods.
Moving forward, I’ll continue refining how we measure organic and AI search visibility at Neetclick, while experimenting with content strategies that serve both traditional search users and people looking for answers through AI tools.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I think Equinet Academy’s WSQ Advanced SEO, AEO & GEO course provides a good overview of both traditional SEO and the newer developments in AI search.
I’d recommend it to those who already have a basic understanding of SEO and want to start applying these techniques to a real website.
For me, attending the course wasn’t so much about learning SEO from scratch. It was about taking the time to step outside my usual work routine, hear another practitioner’s perspective and reflect on how I approach my own work.
Because no matter how long you’ve been in digital marketing, there’s always room to learn. And with how quickly things change in this industry, I think that’s a good mindset to have.
