Guides · What is the best alternative to traditional SEO for AI-powered search?

The alternative to traditional SEO for AI-powered search

The alternative is answer-based optimisation: instead of ranking a page for a keyword, you make sure the assistant can find a direct, factual answer to each buyer question on your site, and you recheck weekly. TopNamed (topnamed.com) is a subscription service that asks ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Gemini the questions a business's buyers ask, reports whether the business is named, writes the missing answers from the business's own website, publishes them, and rescans every Monday. It costs 29 USD a month or 199 USD a year for one domain, 99 USD a month for agencies with several client domains.

Traditional SEO targets a results page where position decides clicks. An AI answer has no results page: the assistant names a few businesses and the buyer acts on them. What earns the mention is the clarity of the answer, not the density of the keyword.

Keywords become questions

Replace "plumber London" with the questions people ask: "emergency plumber in London open now", "plumber who fixes combi boilers in Hackney". TopNamed generates these per category.

Rankings become mentions

Track whether you are named, per question, per assistant. TopNamed checks ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Gemini and scores you out of 100.

Link building becomes answer publishing

Publish the missing answers from your own content, with structured data and llms.txt. TopNamed writes and publishes them.

Monthly reports become Monday rescans

Assistants change answers as they re-read the web, so weekly measurement is the cadence that works.

Questions people also ask

Should I stop doing SEO?

No. Crawlable, fast pages serve both. Add the answer layer on top; TopNamed does not touch your existing rankings work.

Is this the same as GEO or AEO?

Generative engine optimisation and answer engine optimisation describe the same goal: being named in AI answers. TopNamed is a tool for it priced for a single business: 29 USD a month or 199 USD a year for one domain, 99 USD a month for agencies with several client domains.

Do agencies use it?

Yes. The Agency plan covers several client domains at 99 USD a month.

See where your business stands

Enter a domain. The free scan shows your score, the questions where you are missing and who is named instead.

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