AEO
Answer Engine Optimization — optimising content to be cited by AI assistants and answer engines, not just ranked in search.
Definition
Answer Engine Optimization is the discipline of structuring content so AI answer engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Google AI Overviews) cite it. Tactics overlap with SEO but emphasise direct question-headers, FAQ schema, clean tables, and concise definitions that LLMs can lift verbatim. AEO and GEO are roughly synonymous; some practitioners distinguish them by surface (chat vs SERP).
When to use
See also
- GEO — Generative Engine Optimization — the SEO of the LLM era, focused on being surfaced inside AI-generated answers.
- AI Overviews — Google Search's AI-generated answer block at the top of results pages, sourced from indexed structured data.
- Perplexity — AI answer engine that searches the live web and returns synthesized answers with inline citations.