Aaron Norris · May 2026
Overview
SEO got businesses ranked. AEO gets them cited. Answer Engine Optimization is the practice of structuring content so that AI systems (Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, ChatGPT) select it as the source of an answer. The shift matters because a citation in an AI response often replaces the click that used to follow a search result.
What Changed
Traditional SEO assumed a user would type a query, scan a results page, and click a link. AI Overviews compress that workflow. The model reads the top sources, synthesizes an answer, and shows it above the results. The user often gets what they need without clicking. The brand that gets cited is the one that benefits.
The cited source is rarely the one with the most backlinks. It is usually the one that answered the question most cleanly, in extractable prose, with clear semantic markup around the answer.
How AEO Content Is Structured
Each major heading or question is followed by a 40 to 60 word paragraph that answers the question directly and stands on its own. Schema markup (FAQPage, Article, Service, Person) gives the model an additional structural signal. The combination of clean prose and clean structure is what gets selected.
What to Do Next
An AEO audit reviews how a site is structured for AI extraction and identifies the gaps. Search and AEO Strategy is the practice that addresses this. Schedule a consultation to scope the audit.