Definition
What is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)?
Answer Engine Optimization is the practice of structuring content so it is selected as the direct answer by search and AI answer engines, rather than only ranking in a list of links. It emphasizes concise, self-contained answers, question-shaped headings, and structured data. AEO overlaps heavily with generative engine optimization (GEO) and is often used interchangeably.
Why it matters
As more queries are resolved by answer engines instead of link lists, being the extracted answer is increasingly where visibility and traffic come from.