Definition
What is Answer Engine Optimization?
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the practice of making your business easy for AI answer engines, such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews, to understand, trust and cite when buyers ask questions about your category.
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
Aims to rank your pages in a list of search results.
ANSWER ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
Aims to make your business the source an AI answer draws on and names.
The two work together. Both reward clear, credible and well-structured information, so AEO strengthens your search presence rather than replacing it.
What we build
Five components that make your business easy to cite.
Visibility review
How the major answer engines currently describe your category, and whether and how your business appears.
Entity foundation
A consistent name, description and location across your website, profiles and listings.
Answer-ready content
Service pages and FAQs written as clear, quotable answers to the questions your buyers ask.
Structured data
Accurate schema markup that helps machines read your business, plus an optional llms.txt file, an emerging convention we treat as experimental.
Tracking and reporting
Separate reporting on search performance, traffic and conversions, and observed AI mentions and citations.
Measurement and terms
Three separate reports, so each result is clear.
Answer engines take time to reflect changes, so engagements run for a minimum of 90 days. We report search performance, site results and AI answers separately, because they measure different things, and we use tools you own wherever possible.
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01
Search performance
From Google Search Console: impressions, clicks, average position and the queries that bring people to your site.
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02
Traffic and conversions
From Google Analytics 4: visits, including referrals from AI answer engines where they can be identified, and the inquiries and bookings those visits produce.
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03
Observed AI mentions and citations
A fixed set of buyer questions, run on a regular schedule in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews, logging whether your business is mentioned and which sources are cited. Answers vary by user, location and time, so we report them as observations, not rankings.
Minimum engagement 90 days · Website and analytics access appropriate to the agreed scope · Fixed, itemized scope agreed before work begins
Questions
AI visibility, answered
What is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)?
AEO is the practice of making your business easy for AI answer engines, such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews, to understand, trust and cite when buyers ask questions about your category.
Does AEO replace SEO?
No. SEO aims to rank your pages in search results, while AEO aims to make your business the source an AI answer draws on. Both reward clear, credible, well-structured information, so they work together.
How long does AEO take?
Engagements run for a minimum of 90 days, because answer engines take time to reflect changes. We review progress with you throughout.
How do you measure results?
We report three things separately: search performance from Google Search Console, traffic and conversions from Google Analytics 4, and observed AI mentions and citations from a fixed set of buyer questions run regularly across answer engines.
Who is AI search visibility for?
Small and mid-sized businesses whose buyers research before they contact a provider, including professional services firms, B2B service firms, and med spas and dental clinics.
How is pricing set?
Each engagement is scoped to the number of services, locations and pages involved. You receive a fixed, itemized scope before work begins, and engagements run for a minimum of 90 days.
What do you need from us?
Website and analytics access appropriate to the agreed scope, input from your team on the questions customers ask, and timely review of new content.
Also from us: AI automation and B2B lead generation.
20 minutes · No obligation
See how AI answers questions about your category today.
We look at how the major answer engines currently describe your market and where your business appears, then outline what would change it.