Concepts & definitions
What is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)?
What changes in practice
The optimisation target moves from the page to the passage. You are writing units of text that must be accurate and complete when lifted out of context, because that is how they will be used.
The measurement target moves too: from rankings and clicks to whether you were named, where in the answer, and which sources the engine leaned on to say it.
What stays the same
Crawlability, page quality, topical depth, and genuine authority all still apply — Google has been explicit that its AI features run on the same core systems as search.
AEO is best understood as an extension of SEO's surface area rather than a replacement for it. Sites that were technically broken for search remain broken for answers.
See where you actually stand
We ask AI engines the questions your buyers ask and show you whether you were named, who was named instead, and which sources they cited. Free.
Related questions
Generative Engine Optimization is the practice of earning citations and mentions inside generative AI responses. In practice GEO and AEO describe the same work with different emphasis — GEO stresses being cited by generative systems, AEO stresses being the answer. Most practitioners use the terms interchangeably and neither is a distinct discipline.
Yes — arguably more, in a narrower way. Google's AI features run on the same core ranking and quality systems as search, and the engines that browse retrieve from search results. If you are not crawlable, indexable, and credible, you are not in the pool an AI answer is assembled from.
Traditional search returns a ranked list of links and leaves the judgement to you. AI search returns one synthesised answer with a handful of citations, having already made the judgement. The competition shifts from ranking above other pages to being one of the few sources the answer is built from.
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Last reviewed 2026-07-30.