What is answer engine optimisation (AEO)?
Before paying for AEO, be clear about which answers you want to appear in and what needs fixing.
Steen Stones · Reviewed
Answer engine optimisation (AEO) means making your content visible and useful to AI systems that answer people’s questions directly. It builds on SEO, and Google’s AI search features still depend on its core ranking and quality systems.
What does an answer engine do?
A page that helps answer the question
Featured snippet
- Google selects an extract from a page.
- The extract appears before the rest of the search result.
Generated answer
- Google retrieves relevant pages.
- Its AI system writes a response with supporting links.
The same label, AEO, can describe work aimed at different answer formats. Ask which format the work addresses.
Sources: Google: featured snippets; Google: generative AI search
Google’s featured snippets show an extract from a page before the rest of the search result. Its generative AI systems work differently, using information from retrieved pages to write a response with supporting links.
So when someone offers AEO work, ask which kind of answer they want to improve. They should explain what your content adds and how they will check whether it appears.
How do you make your content eligible?
| Answer type | What happens | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Google featured snippets | A descriptive extract appears before the rest of the search result. | Google’s systems choose whether the page makes a suitable snippet. |
| Google generative search | Information from retrieved pages becomes a generated response with supporting links. | Page indexed and eligible for a Search snippet; site included in Search generative AI features in Search Console. |
| ChatGPT summaries and snippets | Content can be included in summaries and snippets. | Do not block OAI-SearchBot. GPTBot has a separate instruction for potential training. |
For Google’s generative search features, your page must be indexed and eligible to appear with a Search snippet. Google also requires the site to be included in Search generative AI features in Search Console. Check those conditions before rewriting the page.
For ChatGPT summaries and snippets, OpenAI says to leave OAI-SearchBot unblocked. It gives separate instructions to disallow GPTBot where you want pages excluded from potential training. So decide on search access and training permission separately.
Chris Long’s point about Google’s advice is worth keeping in mind: it may not apply to other systems. That is his view on where the guidance applies, not proof that a tactic works elsewhere.
Many of these might apply to Google, but not other systems.
What should you change on the page?
Google asks for expert knowledge or experience beyond common knowledge, with clear sections and headings that help readers. Ask what your company can explain that a generic summary would leave out.
We would start with a question people keep asking before they buy, then answer it directly. Give them the context they need to use the answer, keeping important conditions beside the claim.
Google sets no ideal page length and requires no special schema.org markup for generative AI search. A word count or markup package is a poor substitute for a plan.
Is AEO worth paying for on top of SEO?
AEO builds on SEO, and Google’s AI features use its core Search ranking and quality systems. So check what your existing SEO work covers before adding to it.
We would ask the supplier to show what is missing before agreeing another budget. That means naming the unanswered questions or access problems, then explaining how they would measure the change.
Judge the proposal by the work and evidence it offers. Putting AEO in the title does not make that decision for you.
How do you measure whether it helps?
Google’s Generative AI performance report in Search Console shows how content performs in its AI features. ChatGPT adds a marker to referral URLs so analytics tools can identify visits from it. Use each to understand a different part of how people find your content.
We would compare those readings with enquiries and revenue, then read what the answers actually say. Check whether they cite your content, name your company or recommend you for the job. There’s a difference between showing up and being recommended.