What is AEO?
AEO stands for answer engine optimisation. It covers the work of writing a page so that answer boxes and AI assistants use it as a source. The method is to answer the question in the opening lines, write section headings as questions, and keep every claim checkable. Google states that this is not a separate discipline, and that the same SEO applies.
What does AEO mean, and how does it differ from SEO?
AEO means answer engine optimisation. The aim is not a higher position on its own, but being used as the source inside the answer somebody reads. The user asks, reads the answer, and the source link sits next to it.
Google's own position matters here. Google states that there is no separate optimisation discipline for AI features, and that the same search optimisation applies. So AEO is not a new technical stack. It is the same work, written in an answer-first shape.
The difference is one of emphasis. Classic search work looks at the whole page and its link profile. Answer-first writing insists that one question is settled in the opening lines and that the information stands in a quotable form.
- The aim is to be the cited source inside the answer.
- Google defines no separate discipline.
- The question is settled in the opening lines.
- Information is written in a quotable form.
How do answer engines pick a source?
Answer boxes and generative engines read several pages before writing a reply. The pages that get picked usually share one trait. The question appears on the page in the same words, with the answer right behind it.
The second shared trait is access. The page has to be crawlable, the content has to come from the server, and the heading structure has to be readable. Text that only appears once a browser runs scripts stays invisible to most engines.
The third is credibility. A visible date, a named author, a source link and clear company details make a claim checkable. A figure with no source and a page with no date leave both the reader and the engine guessing.
- The question appears in the same words, with the answer behind it.
- The page is crawlable and the content comes from the server.
- Date, author and source stay visible.
- No figure is published without its source.
What do you change on the page?
The first job is to move the answer forward. The reply to the question is written in the first sixty words, as a paragraph that reads on its own. Lifted out of the page, it still has to make sense.
The second job is headings. Section headings are written as questions, and the answer to that question sits directly underneath. A visible questions section does the same work: readable on the page, marked up in the schema.
The third job is evidence. A figure carries the name of its source, the date is visible, and definitions are written in one sentence. Structured data is added as well, covering the questions section, the definition and the company details.
- The answer is given in the first sixty words.
- Section headings are written as questions.
- The visible questions section and the schema are built together.
- Every figure carries its source and the page carries its date.
- The definition is one quotable sentence.
How do AEO and GEO relate?
Both abbreviations look at the same problem. AEO leans towards the answer boxes in search results, while GEO describes the replies generative assistants give. In practice the work is largely the same.
SEO is the ground both stand on. A page that is not crawled, that loads slowly, or that never surfaces in search is not going to appear inside an answer either. So the order runs: technical health and content first, answer shape second.
Assistants also show where they got it. Where a link sits under the reply, clicks follow; where it does not, the brand name is still read. Both are worth measuring, and they are not the same thing.
- AEO: answer boxes in search results.
- GEO: replies from generative assistants.
- SEO: the technical health and content beneath both.
- Clicks and brand visibility are measured separately.
How is AEO measured?
Measurement comes from three places. The first is Search Console, which shows which query earned impressions and where the clicks landed. The second is the page's own traffic.
The third is asking by hand. Target questions are put to the assistants on a schedule. Two things are noted: whether the brand appears in the reply, and whether a source link is given. This is not a one-off check, so the same questions are repeated in the same wording.
The results are read patiently. Answer surfaces change often, and a single measurement shows no trend. ALTAI Digital keeps this in the monthly report, naming the queries where the site appeared and the pages that were used as a source.
- Search Console: impressions, clicks and queries.
- Page traffic: who arrives on which page.
- Target questions are put to assistants every month.
- Results go into the monthly report with their date.
AEOFrequently asked questions
Google defines no separate discipline and states that the same search optimisation applies to AI features. AEO is the same work written in an answer-first shape. Technical health and content quality still sit underneath.
No. The engine decides which source it uses, and answer surfaces change often. What can be done is to match the question in the same words, put the answer first and keep every claim checkable.
It is not required, but it helps. Marking up the questions section, the definition and the company details describes the page structure in a form machines read. Schema is never used to claim something the page does not say.
Length on its own is not a measure. What counts is whether the page holds the full answer to the question. A short section that settles one question beats a long piece that circles the topic.
It shows when the information was true. On an undated page neither the reader nor the engine can judge how current a claim is. When the page is updated the date changes and the change is logged.
The target question list is asked again every month. Search Console data is read by comparing twenty-eight day periods. Because one measurement shows no trend, the same questions are repeated in the same wording.
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