In this guide

• What actually changed in Google's recent update
• What AEO is, and how it differs from SEO
• Why this hits professional services harder than trades
• Whether you should stop doing SEO (you shouldn't)
• What AEO looks like for an accounting or law firm in practice
• Where to move your marketing budget now
• What to do first this month

Most professional services firms in New Zealand built their digital presence around one idea: rank on Google, get found, get enquiries. That idea worked for fifteen years. It is now incomplete, and Google's latest update is the clearest signal yet that the rules have moved.

This is not a reason to panic. It is a reason to adjust before your competitors do.

What actually changed in Google's recent update?

Google has been placing AI-generated summaries, called AI Overviews, above search results since 2024. Each core update since has widened the range of searches that trigger them and made the answers longer and more complete.

The practical effect is that more searches now end on the results page. The person reads Google's written answer, gets what they came for, and never clicks through to a website. Search analysts call these zero-click searches, and they have been climbing steadily. The recent update accelerated that climb for exactly the kind of question professional services buyers ask: "what does a property lawyer do," "how much should I pay an accountant in Auckland," "do I need a financial adviser or can I do it myself."

So the change is not that ranking stopped mattering. The change is that ranking is now the second thing that happens, not the first. The first thing is the AI answer. If your firm is named there, you are in the conversation. If it is not, the customer may form a shortlist before they ever see your link.

What is AEO, and how is it different from SEO?

SEO, Search Engine Optimisation, is the work of getting your pages to rank in the list of blue links. It rewards keywords, backlinks, page speed, and a well-structured site.

AEO, Answer Engine Optimisation, is the work of getting your firm cited inside the AI-generated answer, whether that answer is written by Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Claude. It rewards slightly different things:

• Direct answers. Content that answers the actual question in the first sentence or two, before any preamble.
• Clear facts. Specific, checkable statements, your services, your locations, your fees structure, your qualifications, rather than vague "trusted advisers since 1998" language.
• Structured data. Schema markup that tells the engine exactly what your firm does, where, and for whom.
• Consistent identity. Your firm described the same way across your website, your Google Business Profile, and any directory it appears in, so the AI can confidently say who you are.
• Third-party mentions. AI engines lean heavily on what other sources say about you. A mention in an industry article or a respected directory often carries more weight than your own homepage.

The simplest way to hold the two in your head: SEO earns the click, AEO earns the mention. For a long time the click was the only prize. Now the mention often comes first, and sometimes it is the only prize on offer.

Why does this hit professional services harder than trades?

Two reasons.

First, professional services buyers research more before they commit. Choosing an accountant or a lawyer is a considered decision, often weeks long, and a lot of that research now starts as a question to an AI engine rather than a browse through Google links. The buyer asks "what should I look for in a small business accountant," reads the answer, and the firms named in it become the starting shortlist. That happens before any website visit.

Second, professional services content has historically been written to impress, not to answer. Law and accounting websites are full of careful, formal, hedged language. AI engines struggle to extract a clear answer from that, so they reach for sources that state things plainly. A firm that writes "a standard set of annual accounts for a small NZ company typically costs between $1,200 and $2,500 depending on complexity" will get cited ahead of a firm that writes "our fees are tailored to your unique circumstances." The plain answer wins the mention.

Trades had a head start here almost by accident, because trades content tends to be direct: prices, areas covered, callout times. Professional services firms have to make that shift deliberately.

Should you stop doing SEO and switch everything to AEO?

No. This is the most common overcorrection, and it is a mistake.

AEO is not a replacement for SEO. It is a layer on top of it. The AI answers Google generates are built largely from pages it already trusts and ranks well. If your site has weak SEO, you are unlikely to be cited in the AI answer either, because Google has no reason to consider you a reliable source. The foundation still has to be there.

What changes is the balance. A year ago, a sensible professional services firm might have put almost all of its organic budget into ranking. Today the smarter split keeps the SEO foundation healthy and redirects a meaningful share, often a quarter to a third, into the AEO work that earns citations: rewriting key pages for direct answers, deploying schema, building the third-party mentions, and tracking whether the AI engines actually name you. You are not abandoning the old playbook. You are adding the chapter that the update made necessary.

What does AEO look like for an accounting or law firm in practice?

Here is what the work actually involves, in plain terms.

1. Rewrite your core pages to answer first. Your services pages and your homepage should open by answering the question a client would ask, then expand. "We help NZ small businesses with annual accounts, GST, and tax planning, based in Tauranga and working with clients nationwide." Lead with the answer, not the welcome.

2. Add a real FAQ section with direct answers. Use the questions clients genuinely ask: how much does this cost, how long does it take, what do I need to bring, do you work with my industry. Answer each in one to three plain sentences. These are the exact phrases AI engines lift into their answers.

3. Deploy the right schema. FAQPage schema on your FAQ content, and the correct LocalBusiness type, AccountingService, LegalService, or FinancialAdvisor, on your firm details. Schema is code that tells the engine precisely what each piece of text means, so it can quote you with confidence. Add Person schema for the principal too, because for professional services the individual's credibility matters as much as the firm's.

4. Make your identity consistent everywhere. Your firm name, description, location, and services should match across your website, your Google Business Profile, and any directory you appear in. AI engines cross-check these. Inconsistency makes them hesitate to name you.

5. Earn third-party mentions. Get quoted in an industry publication, listed in a respected NZ professional directory, or featured in a roundup. AI engines are far more likely to cite a firm that other credible sources talk about. This is slow work, but it compounds.

6. Track whether it is working. Each month, ask the four main engines the questions your clients ask and note whether your firm appears. This is the only honest way to know if the work is landing. Rankings no longer tell the full story, because the citation sits above the rankings.

Where should you move your marketing budget now?

If you are a NZ professional services firm reviewing your marketing spend after the update, here is the shift worth making.

Keep funding the SEO foundation, because it is what makes AEO possible. But stop treating "we rank on page one" as the finish line. Page one is now the qualifying round. Move a portion of the organic budget into the AEO layer, the page rewrites, schema, mentions, and citation tracking that get you named in the answer.

For most firms this is not a bigger budget, it is the same budget pointed at a more current target. The firms that make this move in 2026 will be the names AI engines reach for in 2027, while their competitors are still optimising for a results page that fewer people scroll down to read.

What to do first this month

Start by finding out where you stand. Ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google itself the three questions your best clients would ask before hiring you, something like "best accountant for small business in [your city]" or "what should I look for in a property lawyer in NZ." See whether your firm is mentioned, and which firms are.

If you are not appearing, the next steps are the practical ones above: rewrite your core pages to answer directly, add a plain-language FAQ, and get your schema and Google Business Profile in order. That alone puts most professional services firms ahead of their local competition, because so few have done it yet.

The window where this is a genuine advantage is open now and will not stay open. The update was a nudge. The firms that take the nudge will own the answers.