More purchasing decisions now start with a question asked to a model, not a search engine. If your business isn’t in that answer—you don’t exist in that channel.
SEO and AEO are two layers
#- SEO answers the question: Will Google show your page?
- AEO answers the question: Will the model cite your content in its response?
Both layers rely on the same foundation: readable structure, reliable facts, and structured data (schema.org).
How to build for AEO
#- Answer directly. A section with a one-sentence, citable answer at the top of the topic.
- Structured data. Article, FAQPage, Breadcrumb—so the machine understands context.
- Content map for models. An
llms.txtfile with a site guide.
Measure, don’t guess
#Without measuring AEO, it’s fortune-telling. A custom monitoring system (like Rank Sentinel) lets you track rankings in Google and citability in model responses—with full history for trend analysis.
Visibility you don’t measure isn’t a strategy—it’s hope.
FAQ
#What is AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)?
#It’s optimizing content to be cited by answer engines—ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews. What counts is a concise, self-contained answer at the top of the page and clean structured data.
How does AEO differ from classic SEO?
#SEO fights for position in links; AEO fights to be cited in a model’s response. It requires answer-first, FAQPage, entities, and facts easy to extract—not just keywords.
How to measure visibility in model responses?
#By monitoring citability: ask models about your topics and check if and how they cite you. This complements rank tracking in Google with visibility in the AI layer.