Traditional SEO optimises for a blue link in a results page. AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) optimises for inclusion in an AI-generated answer, in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google's AI Overviews, or any LLM-powered interface. The tactics are meaningfully different.
Why AEO is not just "SEO for AI"
LLMs do not crawl the web the way Google does. They are trained on datasets, then augmented with retrieval (RAG) for current information. To appear in AI answers, you need to satisfy both the training data question (long-term brand authority) and the retrieval question (being indexable and citable right now).
Google's AI Overviews pull primarily from pages Google already trusts for the query. Perplexity uses a retrieval system that favours well-structured, citable content. ChatGPT with browsing uses Bing's index as its retrieval source.
What actually gets cited
Based on analysis across thousands of AI-generated responses, cited sources share these characteristics:
- Clear, direct answers to specific questions: not vague overviews, but specific answers to the exact question the user is asking
- Original data or research: statistics, surveys, case studies that LLMs cannot synthesise from common knowledge
- Structured content: headings, lists, tables that make it easy for retrieval systems to extract a clear answer
- Author authority signals: bylines, author pages, expert credentials
- Schema markup: FAQPage, HowTo, Article schema directly improves AI overview inclusion
The AEO content framework
Structure every content piece to answer the primary question directly in the first paragraph, then elaborate. LLMs favour content that answers the question immediately, not content that builds up to the answer after three paragraphs of preamble.
Use FAQ sections at the bottom of every article. These map directly to conversational queries. Each FAQ answer should be self-contained: a complete answer in 2–4 sentences that makes sense without reading the rest of the article.
Schema markup for AEO
Three schema types have the highest impact on AI Overview inclusion:
- FAQPage: mark up your FAQ sections with FAQPage schema
- Article: with author, datePublished, and organisation markup
- HowTo: for process-based content, mark up each step explicitly
Brand mention strategy
LLMs are more likely to cite a brand they have seen mentioned authoritatively across multiple sources. This is the "entity authority" concept applied to AI. To build it: earn mentions in industry publications, get cited in roundup articles, contribute expert quotes to journalist requests (HARO/Connectively), and maintain consistent brand information across the web.
Treat AEO as a long-term brand-building exercise that compounds, not a technical quick fix.