Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the practice of structuring a website's content so that AI assistants and answer engines, such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google's AI Overviews, can find it, understand it and cite it in their answers.
AEO grows out of SEO. Classic SEO aims for a ranking in a list of blue links; AEO aims for being the source an answer engine quotes or recommends when someone asks a question directly.
What AEO work usually includes
Answer-first pages: the direct answer in the first sentence, details after.
Clear facts that are easy to quote: prices, timelines, locations, who the service is for.
Question-shaped headings and FAQ sections that match how people ask.
Structured data (JSON-LD) that labels the organisation, services, articles and FAQs.
Crawlable, fast pages, plus optional helpers such as an llms.txt file.
AEO vs. GEO
The terms overlap. Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is often used for the same work with a focus on generative AI models; AEO is the broader term that also covers featured snippets and voice answers.
Trueform builds marketing websites in Framer with AEO in mind from the first draft: answer-first copy, structured data and clean CMS structures. See marketing websites.
FAQ
What is the difference between AEO and SEO?
SEO optimises pages to rank in search results. AEO optimises the same content so answer engines and AI assistants can extract and cite it directly. Good AEO builds on good SEO.
Does AEO replace SEO?
No. Answer engines still rely on crawlable, well-structured, trustworthy pages, which is what SEO has always required. AEO adds answer-first writing, clear facts and structured data on top.
Related terms
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the practice of making content more likely to be used and cited by generative AI systems, such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Perplexity, when they write an answer.
JSON-LD (structured data)
JSON-LD is a format for adding structured data to a web page: a small block of code, using the schema.org vocabulary, that tells search engines and AI systems exactly what the page is about, such as an organisation, article, product or FAQ.
llms.txt
llms.txt is a proposed standard for a plain Markdown file at the root of a website (/llms.txt) that gives large language models a short, curated summary of the site and links to its most important pages.
Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals are three metrics Google uses to measure real-world page experience: Largest Contentful Paint (loading), Interaction to Next Paint (responsiveness) and Cumulative Layout Shift (visual stability).
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