Don’t Worry About What To Call SEO, Just Do It

• Jason Boucher
• August 28, 2026
• Marketing
• 0 Comments

In September 1988, Billboard thought it had invented a new music genre and, with it, a brand new chart. The second song to hit number one on its new Modern Rock Tracks chart was “Just Play Music!” by Big Audio Dynamite featuring Mick Jones of The Clash. It appeared on Tighten Up Vol. 88 (Columbia Records). 

The music industry was trying to catch up and wanted a name for what college radio stations had been playing for many years. Record labels, radio stations, musicians, and fans all argued over the label. What genre was this, really? College rock? New music? Postmodern? Alternative? Modern rock? The 12” sleeve said it best: turn on your radio, just play music.

In high school, I had either WHEB or WUNH on in my 1979 Ford Fairmont. Whether it was The Cure, MC 900 Foot Jesus, A Tribe Called Quest, Ministry, or Big Audio Dynamite, I never needed a label for the music I was listening to, I just thought it was all good music. 

We’re doing it again with AI search. GEO. AEO. LLM optimization. Search Engine Land ran a survey this week showing C-suite marketers reach for “GEO” and “AEO” roughly three times as often as the people actually doing the work. 

Most marketers still describe this work as simply SEO. No one has ever asked to optimize their website for answer engine optimization. They just ask why nobody can find them.

Fix that part. Argue about the label later. Just play music. 

What are you calling it?