AISO: Decoding the Alphabet Soup of AI Search

AI Search Optimization has many associations to it, so before you make big strategy changes in your car dealership marketing or website, you need to understand the terms.

Right now, search marketing feels like alphabet soup. Every week, there’s another acronym—GEO, AEO, AIO, SXO—and someone claiming this one is the “new SEO.”

But here’s the truth: none of them replace SEO.

SEO is still the foundation. Done right, these new layers each have their own strategy that actually complement and expand SEO efforts. The problem is, without a clear term framework, it’s hard to know where each piece fits—or how it applies to your dealership strategy.

Website Caveat: Foundation First

Before you even think about applying new AI strategies, your website has to be AI-ready.

Some legacy platform providers simply weren’t built for where technology is today. In fact, many can’t even be surfaced in results—making dealership websites essentially invisible, no matter how much effort is put into SEO or AI tactics.

And here’s the reality: all the buzzwords—AEO, GEO, AIO—aren’t isolated trends. They’re layers of one connected AI search ecosystem, and every single one depends on a solid technical foundation. Specific updates to both your platform and your content are required to ensure your dealership can actually be surfaced in AI-driven results.

That’s why we created the AISO Term Framework (AI Search Optimization). It defines these layers in a clear way to help dealers (and our own team) cut through the noise, understand the terms, and start asking smarter questions—before pouring resources into the wrong strategies or platforms.

Questions to Ask Your Website Provider

• Is my dealership website visible to AI search platforms?
• What technical capabilities are in place to increase that visibility?

The answers will tell you whether your dealership is truly prepared for the AI-driven search era, or already falling behind.

👉 [Download the Layered AISO Term Framework Here] to learn the layers in one single page and see how SEO fits in as the foundation. Then let’s chat about how your dealership can build on top of it with the right AISO layers and AI Visbile website to stay visible everywhere shoppers are searching for their next best car deal!