Definition
AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimization. It refers to the technical, structural, and editorial work required to improve how AI systems surface your content in generated answers.
Unlike SEO, which focuses on ranking a result page, AEO focuses on being represented inside the answer itself.
Why it matters
As more users start with ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, and similar systems, brands increasingly need visibility inside the answer layer instead of only on the traditional SERP.
That makes citation, extractability, and answer clarity more commercially important than they were before.
How to improve it
Most teams begin with a visibility scan, then a page audit, then a citation-gap review. This sequence helps isolate whether the issue is discoverability, page readiness, or comparative authority.