AI‑Era Marketing: How Assistive Engine Optimization Builds on SEO

The article argues that assistive engine optimization (SEO) is the foundation for AI‑era marketing, layering traditional SEO, assistive engine optimization, and an agent layer that can access business systems via protocols such as MCP. It explains how SEO provides the open‑web crawl and index foundation, while assistive engine optimization adds entity corroboration, machine‑readable proof, and signals that help AI systems understand content. The agent layer introduces direct access to inventory, pricing, and transactions, enabling AI to act rather than just recommend. The piece emphasizes that a strong SEO foundation is essential for effective AI‑era marketing and that businesses must prioritize entity signals, structured data, and LLM‑ready content. It also discusses the business impact of building from the bottom up, as AI engines increasingly drive acquisition decisions.