What is AEO? Answer engine optimisation explained

Quick answer: AEO, or answer engine optimisation, is writing and structuring your content so that it can be used as the direct answer to a question: in a featured snippet, a "people also ask" box, a voice assistant's reply or an AI-generated summary. The core idea is simple: ask the question, then answer it plainly, straight away.

Why AEO matters

People increasingly want an answer, not a list of links. Search results often show a short answer at the top, voice assistants read one out, and AI tools summarise. If your page is the clearest answer to a customer's question, it has a better chance of being the one that is used, and your business is the one that gets named.

AEO does not replace SEO. It builds on it. A page still needs to be findable and trusted before it can be chosen as the answer.

Where answers appear

• Featured snippets: the short answer box at the top of some Google results.
• "People also ask" boxes: related questions with short answers.
• Voice assistants: spoken answers on phones and smart speakers.
• AI answers and summaries: responses written by AI tools, sometimes with sources listed.

Which one appears, and when, is decided by the search engine or AI tool, and it changes over time. No one can guarantee that your page will be chosen.

How to write answer-first

1. Find the real questions. Start with what customers ask you on the phone, by email and in person.
2. Use the question as a heading. Plain wording, the way a person would say it.
3. Answer in the first sentence or two. Give the direct answer in around 40 to 60 words, in plain language.
4. Then add detail. Examples, steps, costs, caveats and links to related pages.
5. Be specific. Names, places, numbers and timeframes beat vague claims.
6. Be honest. If the answer is "it depends", say what it depends on.

Before and after

Before: "At our company we pride ourselves on delivering unrivalled solutions tailored to every client's needs."

After: "How long does a website take to build? A standard JP Sitecraft site is built in 7 days, counted from the day we receive your content."

The second version is the kind of text a search engine or AI tool can lift out and use as an answer.

Use FAQ pages, and mark them up

A well-written FAQ page is one of the simplest AEO tools. Keep each answer short and direct, and make sure the page's visible content matches any structured data you add.

Structured data (FAQ markup) helps machines understand the questions and answers on your page. Google has limited FAQ rich results to a small set of sites, so do not expect a special display. The value is in the clarity: it makes your content easier for machines to read.

An AEO checklist

• Question-style headings with a direct answer underneath.
• Short paragraphs and lists, not walls of text.
• Facts that are consistent across your site and your Google Business Profile.
• Structured data for your business and FAQs.
• A fast, mobile-friendly site.
• Content that is reviewed and kept up to date.

How AEO fits with SEO and GEO

AEO is about how you phrase and structure content. SEO is about being found and trusted in search results, and GEO is about being recommended by AI tools. Our guide, SEO, AEO and GEO explained, shows how the three fit together. To see how your own site answers customers' questions today, an AI Visibility Audit is a good place to start.