AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) is the practice of optimising content for AI answer engines such as ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google AI Overviews — so they find, understand and cite a website as a source. In practice it largely overlaps with GEO.
AEO puts the answer engine at the centre: systems like ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google AI Overviews answer questions directly instead of showing lists of links. You therefore optimise not for a ranking position, but for appearing as a source in that one answer.
The term circulates alongside GEO, LLM-SEO and AI-SEO — yet almost always describes the same practice: clear, fact-rich, machine-readable content that an AI system can understand and cite correctly. Apply the principles once and you cover all of these labels at the same time — what matters is clean structure, verifiable facts and freshness, not the acronym.
For businesses this means: the question is not which abbreviation to pick, but whether your website is readable for answer engines — from opening hours to service descriptions. That is exactly what an AI-ready digital foundation delivers as standard.
Frequently asked questions.
Has classic SEO become obsolete with AI search?
No. Google AI overviews mostly cite pages that already rank well classically. SEO remains the ticket in — AI optimisation (GEO) is the extension with citable answers, structure and visible authority.
What does GEO get me — why should my website be cited by AI?
When more and more people get their answers straight from ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google's AI, whether you get found is no longer decided by your Google ranking alone — but by whether the AI names you as a source. That is exactly what GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) does: it prepares your content so AI systems read it correctly, understand it and cite it in their answers. The benefit is concrete: you get recommended when a potential customer asks the AI for a provider like you — with clear, independently readable statements, structured data and machine-readable formats. If you're not visible here, you simply don't exist for this growing group of searchers.