Glossary

AEO

Answer Engine Optimization — making content easy for AI assistants and answer features to cite.

Definition

AEO is the practice of structuring content so an answer engine — Google's AI overviews, ChatGPT search, Perplexity, Bing's Copilot — can extract a clean, accurate answer and cite the source. It overlaps heavily with classic SEO but adds emphasis on direct answers, structured data, and unambiguous claims.

Practical AEO: lead with a concise answer near the top of the page, use semantic headings, mark up FAQs with schema, keep facts current, and cite primary sources. The same things that help an answer engine also help a hurried human reader.

Example

An article on 'is a free VPN safe' opens with a one-paragraph quick answer marked up as FAQ schema. An assistant summarizing the question can cite that paragraph directly.

Frequently asked questions

Will AEO make me lose traffic to AI summaries?

Some queries that used to drive clicks now resolve in the answer. Optimizing for citation keeps you in the conversation.

Is AEO different from regular SEO?

It's a specialization. The fundamentals — helpful content, technical hygiene — are the same.