Understanding AEO: what it is and why hacks fail
AEO is SEO adapted to answer engines and LLMs. The goal is simple. When someone asks a question, your brand gets quoted, linked, or used as the underlying source.
Quick tricks do not work. Answer engines reward clarity, evidence, and structure over clickbait. Good AEO is systematic and measurable.
- Paid Ads give you instant reach.
- SEO builds durable organic traffic.
- AEO gets you into AI answers, summaries, and agent workflows.
They complement each other.
The layers of effective AEO
1) Answer intent mapping (what people really ask)
We go beyond keywords and map real questions by stage.
- Navigational, informational, transactional, troubleshooting.
- Long form queries and natural language variations.
- Entities and relationships that users expect to see together.
Output: an answer map that ties questions to pages, sections, snippets, and structured data.
2) Content packaging for answers (how your page gets picked)
LLMs select content that is easy to parse and verify.
- Clear question headers and concise first answers.
- Evidence blocks with sources and data points.
- Author bios and credentials visible.
- FAQs, HowTo, QAPage, Product schema where it actually fits.
- Consistent naming of entities, units, and versions.
We keep the web page human friendly and the extractable answer machine friendly.
3) Technical signals for LLMs (so they can parse and trust you)
A solid base helps both search crawlers and answer engines.
- Clean HTML, stable URLs, fast performance, secure site.
- JSON-LD done right and tested.
- llms.txt or equivalent guidance file to point models to canonical, well curated endpoints.
- Sitemaps that include answer hubs, FAQs, docs, changelogs.
- Canonicals to avoid duplication across docs, blog, and help center.
- Clear licensing and attribution policy pages that invite citation.
4) Offsite authority for answers (why you get cited)
Answer engines check signals beyond your site.
- High quality backlinks from relevant experts.
- Mentions in reputable publications and standards bodies.
- Transparent methodology pages and datasets.
- Real world proof like case studies, benchmarks, and references.
Bigger brands win by default. You can compete with proof and focus.
Integrating AEO with your site and product
We design content and structure with answers in mind from day zero. Product pages, docs, blog, and help center should tell a consistent story. Small weekly changes compound: clearer sections, better citations, faster pages, cleaner JSON-LD. This is what moves you into answers.
If budget is tight, we work in weekly increments. No fluff. Just steady improvements that stack.
When to use AEO vs SEO vs Ads
- Run Ads for launches, events, and immediate demand.
- Invest in SEO for sustained organic traffic and category ownership.
- Use AEO when you want inclusion and citations in AI answers and when agents need to act on your information.
Why AEO takes time (and why that is good)
- Models learn and refresh on cycles. Changes today surface gradually.
- Authority grows with consistent signals and real references.
- Quick wins exist, but durable inclusion needs a clean system that keeps feeding models high quality, structured facts.
Trust compounds.
What we deliver in an AEO sprint
- Answer audit of your current pages against top questions.
- Answer map that links questions to pages and sections.
- On-page refactor for extractable answers and evidence blocks.
- Schema upgrade for FAQ, HowTo, QAPage, Product, Organization.
- Technical checklist including performance, sitemaps, canonicals, llms.txt.
- Offsite plan for citations, expert mentions, and references.
- Measurement setup to track inclusion as a cited source across engines and monitor assisted conversions.
How we measure progress
- Presence as a cited source in answer engines and AI summaries.
- Share of answer for priority questions.
- Crawl and render health for answer hubs.
- Click-through from AI surfaces to pages that convert.
- Lead quality from answer-driven visits.
The bottom line
Great AEO = clear answers, strong evidence, clean structure, repeatable signals.
No shortcuts. Just honest work that earns inclusion and keeps it.
Ready to become the source that answers get built on?
Frequently asked questions
How is SEO for AI Answers different from traditional SEO?
Traditional SEO focuses on ranking pages for keywords. AEO optimises for question clusters, structured answers, entity clarity, and citation signals so AI systems trust and quote your content.
How long does it take to see results from an AEO program?
Expect the first improvements within 4–6 weeks as crawlers reprocess your updates. Durable inclusion usually follows after 2–3 refresh cycles as signals compound.
What deliverables do you hand over at the end of an AEO sprint?
You receive an answer map, updated content and schema recommendations, llms.txt guidance, measurement dashboard templates, and an off-site plan to keep authority growing.