What it means
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the discipline of getting your business cited inside AI-generated answers. Where traditional SEO targets the ten blue links Google shows, AEO targets the synthesized answer at the top of ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews.
The unit of success is the citation. When a user asks an AI engine "best plumber in Melbourne" and the engine recommends three businesses by name, AEO is what gets you onto that list.
Why it matters
AI search adoption has grown fast. ChatGPT alone handles over a billion queries a week in 2026. A meaningful share of those queries are commercial: people asking the AI to recommend a service, a product, or a vendor. If the AI does not name your business, you are invisible to that demand even if you rank #1 on Google.
The conversion rate on AI-driven traffic is also dramatically higher than regular organic traffic, because the user has been pre-qualified by the AI before clicking through.
How it's used
AEO programs combine technical, content, and authority work:
- Technical - make your site accessible to GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, and Google-Extended. Add proper schema. Publish an llms.txt file.
- Content - write in answer-shaped paragraphs that AI engines can lift. Build topical depth.
- Authority - generate brand mentions in trusted sources. Reviews, press, podcasts, citations.
- Measurement - track citation share across AI engines monthly.
For the full playbook, see our AEO services and the GEO SEO complete guide.