What is Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO)?

Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) is the practice of structuring your business's digital presence so that AI answer engines — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Claude, Bing Copilot — cite your business in their responses. AEO differs from traditional SEO in several important ways: **Target output:** SEO targets a position in a ranked list. AEO targets a citation in a synthesised answer. **Content format:** SEO content is optimised for keyword density and backlink acquisition. AEO content is optimised to directly answer specific questions in a format that AI systems can parse and cite. **Entity vs. page:** SEO ranks pages. AEO establishes entities. An entity is a verified business, person, or concept with consistent attributes across multiple authoritative sources. **Structured data:** AEO relies heavily on schema.org markup, JSON-LD, and machine-readable formats. Traditional SEO treats structured data as optional. For AEO, it's foundational. **The core AEO framework:** 1. Establish a verified entity record (AI Verified passport) 2. Ensure entity consistency across all sources 3. Create question-answering content with proper semantic structure 4. Add schema.org markup to all relevant pages 5. Get cited in authoritative sources (press, directories, registries) 6. Monitor AI citations and iterate