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AEO (answer engine optimization) is the practice of making your brand easy for AI engines such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews to find, trust and recommend, so they name and cite you when people ask them questions. Where SEO aims for a high position in a list of links, AEO aims for a place inside the single answer an AI writes.
In the UK it's often spelled answer engine optimisation. You may also see it called GEO (generative engine optimization), LLM optimization or AI search optimization. They all describe the same goal.
How answer engines choose what to say
When someone asks ChatGPT "what's the best project tool for agencies?", the AI doesn't return ten blue links. It writes one answer and names a handful of brands. To do that, it draws on two things:
- What it learned in training: brands that appear often, and consistently, across trusted sources are more likely to be remembered and mentioned.
- What it finds live on the web: many engines run their own searches before answering. One question is split into several related searches, a process called query fan-out, and the pages that rank for those searches become the sources the AI cites.
AEO works on both: it makes your brand consistently described across the web, and it makes your pages the easiest ones for AI to read, trust and quote.
AEO vs SEO vs GEO
| SEO | AEO / GEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Rank pages in search results | Be named, recommended and cited in AI answers |
| Where | Google and Bing results pages | ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode |
| What wins | Relevance, backlinks, technical health | Clear facts, consistency, trusted third-party mentions, citable evidence |
| How it's measured | Rankings, clicks, impressions | AI visibility: mention, recommendation, ranking and citation rates, plus accuracy |
AEO doesn't replace SEO. Search engines still send most website traffic, and well-structured, crawlable pages are what AI engines draw on. Read the full comparison: AEO vs SEO: what's the difference?
Why AEO matters now
- Gartner expected traditional search volume to fall 25% by 2026 as people move to AI assistants.
- Forrester found that 89% of B2B buyers already use generative AI in at least one part of their purchasing process.
- In SiteSignal's UK workwear study, 17% of AI fact-checks about brands were flat wrong (4,903 checks). If AI gets your prices, contact details or services wrong, buyers act on the wrong information.
- Searches for "what is AEO" grew by about 250% in the US over the last year. Your competitors are starting to act on it.
How to do AEO: 7 steps
- Find out what AI says about you today. Ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews the questions your buyers ask. Note who gets named, what is said about you and which sources are cited. An AI visibility checker does this across all engines at once.
- Let AI crawlers in. Check that your robots.txt and firewall don't block GPTBot, PerplexityBot, ClaudeBot or Google-Extended. In our UK workwear study, 11 of 26 site audits failed because robots.txt blocked AI crawlers. See how AI crawlers access websites.
- Fix wrong facts at the source. State your prices, locations, contact details and services clearly on your own site, and keep them consistent on your profiles and directory listings. Contact details were the facts AI got wrong most often in our research.
- Answer real questions directly. Put a clear, one- or two-sentence answer near the top of each page, followed by detail. Add FAQ sections that mirror how buyers actually ask.
- Add evidence. Statistics, named sources and quotations make content more citable. Research on generative engines found these changes can raise a source's visibility in AI answers by up to 40% (Aggarwal et al., 2023).
- Earn third-party mentions. AI trusts what others say about you: reviews, industry publications, comparison articles and forums. In our UK workwear study, Reddit grew from almost nothing to 1 in 9 citations in ten weeks.
- Measure every week. Track the same buyer questions over time so you can see whether changes work. Answers shift as engines update, so AEO is ongoing, not a one-off project.
How to measure AEO
AEO results are measured as AI visibility. The core metrics are:
- Visibility rate: the share of buyer questions where your brand appears at all.
- Mention and recommendation rate: how often AI names you, and how often it actively recommends you.
- Ranking rate: how often you are named first.
- Citation rate: how often AI links to a page on your site as its source.
- Accuracy: whether the facts AI states about you are correct.
- Share of voice: how you compare with competitors for the same questions.
Learn more in what is AI visibility?, our guide to AI brand visibility monitoring, and compare the best AI visibility tools.
AEO for agencies
Clients are starting to ask their agencies why ChatGPT recommends a competitor. Agencies are adding AEO services alongside SEO: an AI visibility audit, a monthly report, and a plan of technical and content fixes. SiteSignal gives agencies white-label AI visibility reports and a weekly to-do list for every client, plus free AEO reports on your leads to open the conversation.
See your AEO starting point
SiteSignal checks what ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews say about your brand, catches wrong facts, and turns the gaps into a weekly action plan. Start a 7-day free trial, no card needed.
Frequently asked questions
What is AEO?
AEO (answer engine optimization) is the practice of making your brand easy for AI engines such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews to find, trust and recommend, so they name and cite you when people ask them questions.
What does AEO stand for?
In marketing, AEO stands for answer engine optimization (spelled answer engine optimisation in the UK). It is not the same as Authorised Economic Operator, the customs certification that shares the abbreviation.
What is the difference between AEO and SEO?
SEO improves how your pages rank in a list of search results. AEO improves how often, and how accurately, AI engines mention and recommend your brand inside the single answer they write. Good SEO supports AEO, but ranking well does not guarantee that AI will name you.
Is AEO the same as GEO?
Mostly. GEO (generative engine optimization) and AEO describe the same goal: being included in AI-generated answers. AEO is the more widely used term in 2026.
How do you measure AEO?
With AI visibility metrics: how often AI engines mention you (mention rate), recommend you (recommendation rate), rank you first (ranking rate) and link to your site (citation rate), plus whether the facts they state about you are correct. Tools such as SiteSignal run a fixed set of buyer questions through each engine every day to track these.
How long does AEO take to work?
Technical fixes, such as letting AI crawlers read your site, can show up within weeks as engines refresh. Changing how AI describes your brand usually takes longer, because it depends on new content and third-party mentions being picked up. Track results weekly and expect a few months for clear trends.
Can I do AEO myself?
Yes. Start by checking what AI engines say about you, fix any wrong facts on your own site, make sure AI crawlers can access it, and answer your buyers' questions directly on your pages. An AEO tool or agency helps you prioritize and measure the work.