Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO)
TL;DR
The practice of optimising content to be cited as answers in AI-powered responses from tools like Google AI Overview, Perplexity, and ChatGPT.
Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) — also called Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) or AI Overview Optimisation — is the emerging practice of structuring content so it is surfaced by AI-powered answer engines rather than (or in addition to) traditional search result pages.
As tools like Google's AI Overview, Perplexity, Bing CoPilot, and ChatGPT with web search become primary research interfaces, the zero-click journey is expanding. Users receive synthesised answers without clicking through to websites — unless your content is the source cited. AEO is about being that source.
Key AEO tactics include: writing concise, factual definitions at the top of pages (the "position zero" structure), implementing FAQ schema and HowTo schema, ensuring content is well-cited elsewhere (high backlink authority), using conversational heading structures, and structuring content that directly answers questions in the first 50 words. AEO is closely related to traditional SEO and E-E-A-T principles.
Examples in Practice
A definition page that appears as the cited source in a Perplexity AI answer. A FAQ section that appears in a Google AI Overview summary.