Answer Engine Optimization, or AEO, is the work of making your content easy for AI answer engines to pull from and cite. Think ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google's AI Overviews. Traditional SEO tries to win a blue link on a results page. AEO tries to become the answer itself.
Why AEO matters now
More people are asking a question and getting a direct answer instead of clicking through ten links. If your site is not structured in a way these models can read and trust, you simply will not show up in that answer, even if you rank well in classic search.
What AEO actually involves
- Clear, structured content that answers a specific question near the top of the page.
- Schema markup (structured data) so machines understand what each page is about.
- Strong entity signals: who you are, what you do, and proof that you are credible.
- Concise, quotable passages, since models tend to lift short, self-contained statements.
In practice I treat AEO as a layer on top of solid technical SEO, not a separate project. If you want this done properly, that is part of my SEO, AEO and GEO service.