What Is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)?

What Is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)?

In the early days of the internet, the path to visibility was simple. You ranked on Google. You climbed the list by optimizing your website with the right keywords, earned a few backlinks, and hoped the algorithm worked in your favor.

That era is quickly disappearing.

Today, more people are getting their answers from AI assistants—tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and countless others that don’t serve up ten blue links. They serve up one answer. Maybe two. If your business isn’t part of that answer, you’re invisible.

This is where Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) comes in.

Why It Matters for Your Business

When someone asks, “What’s the best CRM for small business?” or “Where should I stay in Santa Barbara for a weekend trip?” those questions are no longer being typed into a search engine.

They’re being asked aloud to Siri. Typed into ChatGPT. Whispered to Alexa. Pasted into Perplexity. And those tools don’t recommend pages. They recommend businesses.

If your brand isn’t optimized for that environment—if you haven’t made it easy for AI to identify you as the source—it won’t matter how beautiful your website is or how much you’ve spent on ads. You simply won’t show up. It’s a fundamental shift in how discovery works.

How AEO Works Under the Hood

So how do AI assistants decide what to recommend? They rely on a mix of structured data, brand citations, reputation, and relevance. Think of AEO as building a digital footprint that AI can understand and trust. Some of the building blocks include:

• Clean and readable website code

• Proper use of schema markup

• Verified business data

• Consistent citations across the web

• Content that answers common questions clearly

• 
  

In many ways, AEO borrows best practices from SEO but adapts them for a zero-click, conversational future. The goal is not just to appear in results. The goal is to be trusted enough to be recommended directly.

The Rise of Zero-Click Discovery

AEO isn’t some abstract theory. It’s already here. Research shows that a growing number of users now receive zero-click results—meaning they never visit a website because their question was answered on the spot. That’s a huge shift for businesses that rely on traffic, conversions, or awareness.

But here’s the opportunity: if your business becomes that answer, you’re not just part of the conversation—you’re the entire conversation.

Who Needs AEO?

If you’re a business owner, a marketer, a founder, or even just running a side hustle, AEO is not optional. It’s becoming essential. Whether you’re running a boutique hotel, a skincare brand, a legal service, or a fitness app, people are going to ask about you—or businesses like yours—inside AI platforms. You can either be ready for that moment or lose it to someone else who was.

Where to Start

The good news is you don’t need to overhaul your entire marketing strategy overnight. AEO is about layering new visibility practices on top of what already works. Start by thinking about the kinds of questions people ask about your business. Then think about where those answers live. Are they structured? Are they verified? Can an AI assistant find them?


Request a Consultation

Pick the Right AEO Partner