Typeface survey: marketers plan to scale back SEO for AEO
A Typeface survey of more than 500 U.S. and U.K. marketing leaders found 49% plan to deprioritize or stop investing in traditional SEO, while 44% plan to increase spending on answer engine optimization instead, the company said Oct. 14. Sixty-two percent of respondents said their brand is trading content quality for AI citations, and 61% said the same of authenticity, per Typeface. The survey’s methodology disclosure — no fieldwork dates, margin of error, or U.S./U.K. breakdown given — is thinner than Typeface’s June 2026 survey on the same topic, per PPC Land.
Why it matters: The gap between the 49% cutting SEO spend and the 44% adding AEO spend suggests budget is leaving traditional search faster than it's arriving in answer-engine work — a mismatch worth watching as AEO investment claims keep outpacing adoption data.
Glossary: Answer engineAEOSEO
Via PPC Land ↗ · Typeface ↗
Posted to the wire October 15, 2026. Edited by Joe Balewski.