What is AEO?

The short answer

When a buyer asks ChatGPT "what's the best project management tool for a remote agency?", the AI returns a synthesised answer naming a few brands. AEO is the work that gets your brand named in that answer; and ideally cited as the source. It applies to ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot, and any tool that answers directly instead of returning a list of links.

Why it works differently from SEO

AI models do not browse your website in real time for every query. They work from three sources:

• Training data; content crawled and baked into the model when it was trained. This is why being widely mentioned matters more than being recently published.
• Live retrieval (RAG); real-time document retrieval at query time, for tools that support it (Perplexity, ChatGPT search, AI Overviews).
• In-context signals; the structured data, schema and page clarity that help the AI confirm what your content is actually about.

The signals that move AEO

The signals that help most

• Brand mentions in authoritative sources (press, trades, reputable blogs).
• PR coverage; the kind that shows up in training data.
• Reddit and forum discussions where real people recommend you.
• Schema markup; especially FAQPage, Product, Organization.
• Answer-first content; the conclusion in the first sentence, not the eighth paragraph.
• A well-maintained llms.txt file describing your business in plain language.

Many of these overlap with good SEO practice; which is exactly why a strong SEO foundation gives you a head start on AEO.

AEO vs GEO; what's the difference?

People use the terms interchangeably, but we draw a line: AEO is about the standalone answer engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot). GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) is about Google's own AI surfaces; AI Overviews and Gemini; which still sit inside the Google ecosystem and weigh some classic ranking signals. Read the GEO guide →

Do you need a dedicated AEO programme yet?

Honest answer: it depends whether AI search is driving (or blocking) revenue for you right now. Start with your AI traffic data. If it is negligible, AEO can wait. If it is growing fast, or a competitor is being consistently recommended for queries that should be yours, that is your signal to act.