Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)
AEO — Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the practice of structuring your content and presence so answer engines — AI assistants and AI search — pull from you when they respond to a question.
An answer engine returns a direct response instead of a list of links. AEO is about being the source that response is built from: writing clear, factual, answer-shaped content, earning presence on the pages these engines cite, and making your information easy for a machine to extract.
AEO and GEO describe the same shift from slightly different angles. AEO grew out of the SEO world's response to featured snippets and voice search; GEO is the term more often used for generative assistants. Either way, the target is the same — be in the answer.
Key points
- →Answer-shaped content (a clear question, a direct answer) is more extractable.
- →Structured data and consistent facts make you easier to quote.
- →The winning position is 'the source of the answer', not 'a result below it'.
Go deeper
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO): A Practical Guide →Answer engines now sit between you and your customers. This guide covers what AEO is, how it differs from SEO, and the concrete steps to get cited by AI assistants.
Related terms
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