AEO

What is AEO?

AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimization. It's the practice of structuring content so that AI-powered search engines — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews — select it as their source when answering user questions. Traditional SEO gets you ranked. AEO gets you cited. The goal shifts from earning clicks to earning trust from language models.

What it means in practice

In practice, AEO means writing content that directly answers questions in a clear, authoritative way. You structure pages around specific queries. You use concise definitions, factual claims, and schema markup so machines can parse your expertise. It also means understanding how LLMs retrieve and synthesize information. They favor sources that are well-structured, frequently cited by other authoritative pages, and unambiguous. You're not just writing for humans anymore — you're writing for models that decide which humans get heard.

Why it matters

AI search is eating traditional search. When a user gets their answer from an AI Overview or ChatGPT, they never see your blue link. AEO is how you stay visible in this new landscape. If your content isn't optimized for answer engines, you lose traffic to competitors whose content is. The shift is already happening.

Common mistakes

• Treating AEO as separate from SEO — it's an evolution, not a replacement
• Writing vague, hedging content that LLMs can't extract a clear answer from
• Ignoring structured data — machines need signals beyond just good prose