Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO)
Answer engine optimization services that make your pages the answer
Answer engine optimisation services make your pages easy for ChatGPT and Google’s AI answers to quote, with a direct answer at the top of each section.
An AI answer
ExampleWho fixes burst pipes near me tonight?
Your Business Plumbing offers 24-hour emergency call-outs and lists its service area and prices on its site.
- yourbusiness.comCited
- a local directory
- a review site
In every planIncluded in Local or Growth, from $149 a month. Every plan has every feature; they differ by size.
Compare plansWhat AEO involves
Answer engine optimisation is mostly a writing job
AI tools like ChatGPT and Google’s AI answers take a passage from your page and show it as a complete answer. That one requirement shapes all of AEO, and most business pages fail it in the first sentence.
The usual pattern: a heading asks a question, the next two sentences explain why the topic matters, and the answer turns up in the third paragraph. A reader will put up with that. An AI tool finds no answer under the heading and quotes a competitor who led with one.
So most of the job is editing. Answer first, then add context. Use headings that describe the section. Write claims that stay true on their own. Give every figure a source.
How AI picks a passage
Five checks a passage must pass before AI uses it
AI tools don’t read your page from top to bottom. They take the passage under a heading and ask if it works on its own. That is why most pages fail two sentences in.
- 1AI tools can reach the section — This assumes the basics are in place: a page that can be crawled and read.
- 2The heading states the question — Plain headings win. A heading nobody would search for rarely gets matched to a question.Headings written to tease the reader
- 3The first two sentences answer it — This is the best single sign that a section will be used. It is also where most business writing fails.Two sentences of background before any answer
- 4The claim works on its own — It has to stay true and complete once the paragraph around it is gone, because that is how it will be used.Claims that only make sense next to the sentence before
- 5The figure has a source and a date — A number with no source is hard for anyone to rely on or repeat.Numbers with nothing to back them up
What we do
What our AEO service involves
This is routine editing and structure work, done carefully on every page.
- List the questions your buyers ask, from Search Console, sales calls, support tickets and keyword tools
- Find which questions your site already answers well and which it doesn’t
- Rewrite priority pages so the first two sentences under each heading answer it
- Replace teasing headings with ones that say what the section covers
- Define key terms once, in simple words that make sense on their own
- Add a source and a date to every figure on the page
- Use tables and lists where they help, and remove decorative ones
- Check structured data against what the page shows, and delete anything the page doesn’t back up
- Find the follow-up questions competitors haven’t answered, and answer them
- Re-check every three months against the same questions, and report what changed
The trade-off
Where AEO helps and where it can cost you clicks
Writing a page to be quoted and writing it to be visited are different goals. Apply AEO to every page and your sales pages can lose traffic.
| Dimension | Information pages | Sales pages |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Be the quoted source | Get found, then win the enquiry |
| Answer-first structure | Yes, throughout the page | Only in FAQs and sections that answer objections |
| Effect on clicks | Some loss is expected and fine | Any loss means AEO has gone too far |
| What success looks like | Showing up in answers and brand mentions | More enquiries and sales |
| Common mistake | Thin answers that AI tools skip | Giving away the reason to contact you |
Questions
Common questions about answer engine optimisation
Is AEO different from SEO?
AEO is part of SEO. It asks whether AI tools can lift a passage from your page and use it as an answer. It needs the same basics: pages that are crawlable, accurate, well structured and backed up by other sites.
What is new is the writing. Most business pages are written to be read top to bottom. AEO pages are written so any section can be quoted on its own.
If we become the answer, do we lose the click?
On information searches, often yes. Someone who got their answer has less reason to visit.
That is a fair trade for early research content, where being quoted is the goal. It is a bad trade for sales pages, which need the visit. So we keep AEO to the pages where it helps.
What changes on a page?
The first two sentences under each heading answer it, and context comes after. Headings say what the section covers. Terms are defined in simple words. Figures carry a source and a date. Lists and tables appear where they help.
None of this is unusual, and it makes the page better for human readers too. We check that before making any change.
Does schema markup make a page more likely to be used?
Only a little. Schema markup helps machines understand a page, as long as it is valid and matches what the page shows.
No markup type makes AI tools quote a page. If an agency’s AEO offer is mostly a schema checklist, you are paying for very little.
Find out which of your pages AI tools can quote
We run the test above on a handful of your key pages and show you which sections answer the question and which bury it.
Prefer to talk it over? Book a free call
References
Sources for answer engine optimization services
The official documents and research this page is based on. Platform rules change, so check the source before you act on a detail.
Related
More on answer engine optimisation
- what answer engine optimisation meansA short explainer on the term.
- generative engine optimisationGetting named when AI tools combine several sources into one answer.
- organic searchAEO only works when your SEO basics are in place.
- content that earns citations
- AEO vs GEO vs SEOHow the three overlap and where they differ.
Where answer engine optimisation matters most
Problems answer engine optimisation can fix
More AI search optimisation services
Last updated · Published by Zubair Afzal, responsible editor · We check this page every three months. Next check: .