What Is Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) And How To Do It

What Is Answer Engine Optimisation

Answer engine optimisation (AEO) is the work of getting your page quoted when a search engine or an AI assistant answers a question. An answer engine gives the answer first and the links after it. On Google, that means featured snippets, the People Also Ask box, AI Overviews and AI Mode. Away from Google, it means ChatGPT, Gemini and the voice assistant on a phone.

Our data shows where those answers come from. In Search Console data from 69 of Primal’s client websites, article pages took most of the question searches on Google. Home pages and product pages hardly showed for them.

AI answers draw on other sites as well. Over the last month, Elevate, Primal’s AI Visibility Tracker, logged 285,098 AI answers to questions in the categories of 171 brands. A brand’s own website was cited in only about 1 in 5 of them.

So AEO has two parts. The first is a page that answers each buyer question in its first sentences. The second is your brand’s place on the other sites that AI answers read in your category.

The letters AEO also stand for a Thai Customs programme. The last section before the questions at the end explains the difference.

How AEO Differs From SEO

AEO is part of search engine optimisation (SEO). SEO gets a page ranked in the results. AEO gets a passage on that page quoted as the answer. Google cannot quote a page it has not indexed, so the SEO work comes first.

Google’s guide to generative AI features in Search says the usual SEO advice still applies. Its AI features rest on the same core ranking systems as the rest of Search. The guide also mentions AEO and generative engine optimisation (GEO) by name. It says many suggested “hacks” for them do not work in Google Search. The capture below shows that paragraph.

The table below sets the two side by side.

	SEO	AEO
Goal	The page ranks in the results	A passage from the page is quoted as the answer
What the page needs	Content that matches the search, a page Google can reach, and links from other sites	A heading for each buyer question, with the answer in the first one or two sentences
What you measure	Rankings, clicks and organic traffic	Quotes, mentions and citations in answers

GEO is about being mentioned in the answers that generative AI writes from many sources. The three terms are compared in our post on SEO vs AEO vs GEO.

Where Answer Engines Show Your Answers

Answer engines show your answers on Google’s results page and inside AI assistants. Each one picks its own sources. Each also gives you a setting that can take your page out. None gives you a setting that puts it in.

Answer format	Where it shows	Who picks the page	What you can set
Featured snippet	Usually at the top of Google’s results, and inside People Also Ask	Google’s systems	nosnippet, data-nosnippet and max-snippet
People Also Ask	Questions in Google’s results that open when clicked	Google’s systems	The same snippet settings
AI Overviews and AI Mode	Google Search	Google’s core ranking systems	The snippet settings, and the generative AI setting in Search Console
ChatGPT search	The ChatGPT app and website	OpenAI’s search, through its OAI-SearchBot crawler	Allow or block OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt
Gemini	The Gemini app	Gemini, with content from Google’s Search index	Google-Extended in robots.txt

Most results pages for our clients’ keywords already show these formats. Across 995 keywords in Primal’s rank-tracking data for 17 client brands, an AI Overview showed on 859 Google results pages. People Also Ask showed on 646.

How Google And AI Assistants Choose The Page They Quote

Every answer engine works in a similar way. It turns the question into searches and finds pages in its index. Then it reads them and cites the pages that back up its answer.

Your page can only be picked if the engine’s crawler can reach it and the page is in that index. A passage on it must also answer one of the searches.

How Google Picks Featured Snippets And AI Overview Links

Google picks from its own Search index, and no code on your page can claim the spot. Google’s featured snippets page asks whether you can mark a page as a featured snippet. Its answer is “You can’t.” Google’s systems decide whether a page would make a good one.

For AI Overviews and AI Mode, Google’s guide sets two conditions. The page must be indexed and allowed to show with a snippet. The site must also be included in the Search generative AI features setting in Search Console. Google then uses its core ranking systems to fetch pages, and it links the pages that back up the answer.

Google also runs several searches at once behind one question. It calls this query fan-out. The guide’s example is “how to fix a lawn that’s full of weeds”. The extra searches might include “best herbicides for lawns” and “remove weeds without chemicals”. So a page that answers one narrow question well can be cited for a wider one.

How ChatGPT And Gemini Pick Their Sources

ChatGPT search reads pages on the web and cites the ones it used. OpenAI’s crawler page says sites that block OAI-SearchBot are not shown in ChatGPT search answers. They can still show as plain navigation links. GPTBot is a separate crawler that collects content to train OpenAI’s models. Blocking GPTBot does not take a site out of ChatGPT search. Our post on ChatGPT SEO goes through the settings.

The Gemini app draws on Google’s Search index for its answers. Google’s list of its crawlers says a robots.txt token called Google-Extended controls two things. It decides whether your content can train Gemini models. It also decides whether the Gemini app can use your content as a source for its answers. It does not change whether your site appears in Google Search. So a site that blocks Google-Extended leaves Gemini app answers and stays in Google Search.

Which Pages Get Question Searches

Article pages get most of the question searches on Google. On the median site in our data, article pages took about 9 in 10 of the impressions from question searches. An impression is one showing of a page in the results.

We looked at one week of Search Console data from 69 of Primal’s client websites that have an article section. We split out the searches written as questions, such as those with what, how or why. Then we compared them with the other searches that carry no brand name. Article pages took about 1 in 4 of those other non-brand impressions.

Home pages and product or service pages took under 1 in 100 question-search impressions on the median site. On 56 of the 69 sites, articles took a larger share of question searches than of other searches. The chart compares the two shares.

Question searches are still a small part of what people type. On the median of 117 client sites in the same week, they made up about 6 in 100 non-brand impressions. So product and service pages still need to rank for the short searches buyers use to find a product. Each question needs a page or a section that answers it.

Customers Often Ask Us Whether AEO Belongs On Service Pages Or Articles

It belongs on both, split by the question. Questions a buyer asks just before deciding go on the service page. Examples are how long the work takes and what the service covers.

A wider question needs its own article, such as what something is or how to choose one. That is where Google sends question searches.

How To Write An Answer AI Can Quote

An answer engine lifts a passage out of your page and shows it without the text around it. So the passage has to answer the question on its own. Check every answer on your site against four tests.

1. The first sentence answers the question in the heading.
2. The passage makes sense when read alone, with no “this” or “above” that points back to an earlier paragraph.
3. Every figure names its source in the same sentence.
4. The detail, the exceptions and the steps come after the answer.

Here is one section written two ways. The question is “Does blocking GPTBot remove my site from ChatGPT search?”

Before: AI crawlers are widely discussed, and site owners hear mixed advice about them. To answer this properly, it helps to look first at the different bots OpenAI runs and why each of them exists.

After: No. OpenAI’s crawler page says GPTBot collects content to train its models, while ChatGPT search uses OAI-SearchBot. To stay in ChatGPT search answers, allow OAI-SearchBot in your robots.txt file.

	Before	After
Words before the answer	The whole passage, and the answer never comes	None, the first word is the answer
Makes sense when quoted alone	No	Yes
Names its source	No	Yes
Tells the reader what to do	No	Yes, allow OAI-SearchBot

The Quick Answer at the top of this page uses the same pattern. Its first sentence answers the title, and it stays true if an answer engine shows it alone.

How To Do Answer Engine Optimisation

Start with access, then write the answers, then work on the other sites that AI answers cite. A developer can run the first two steps as checks. The rest is ongoing work for your marketing team.

1. Check that engines can reach your pages. Open your robots.txt file and confirm it allows Googlebot and OAI-SearchBot. Decide on Google-Extended on purpose. Then check in Search Console that your main pages are indexed.
2. Check your snippet settings. Google’s robots meta tag page says nosnippet keeps a page’s text out of AI Overviews and AI Mode. A max-snippet value of 0 does the same. So a page you want quoted must not carry either one. Its answer must not sit inside a data-nosnippet element.
3. List 20 to 30 questions your buyers ask. Take them from your Search Console queries, the People Also Ask box and your customer service team. Add the narrower questions around each one, such as price, comparisons, location and reviews.
4. Give each question one page or one section. Put the question in a heading and the answer in the first one or two sentences. You do not need a page for every wording of the same question. Google’s guide says its AI systems understand synonyms and the general meaning of a search.
5. Add what only your business can say. That means first-hand experience and your own figures. A summary of other pages cannot copy them. Google’s guide says this kind of content will likely do more for your place in its AI answers than any other tip in the guide.
6. Get your brand onto the sites AI cites in your category. Ask your buyers’ questions in ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Mode. Note which sites the answers cite. Then make sure your details on those sites are complete and match your own site.

A shop, clinic or online store should also keep its Google Business Profile and Merchant Center details up to date. Google’s guide says both help products and services appear in AI answers and in other Google results.

On one account a key page never came up as a citation, and we wanted to know why. The answer was not the content. Site settings were stopping Google from reading the site and there were no sitemaps, very quick fixes. On another, the competitor was winning the citations because they had made one page per question, 1,470 words with 8 frequently asked questions, against the client’s 26-word page. The step that decides whether you are quoted is usually that plain.

How To Measure Answer Engine Optimisation

Measure AEO on Google with Search Console, and away from Google with the same set of questions each month. Search Console’s help page on impressions explains how each format is recorded.

A People Also Ask answer gets an impression only when someone opens the question. A featured snippet is recorded like any other result and usually takes position 1. An AI Overview takes a single position, and every link in it shares that position.

Search Console also has a Generative AI performance report. Google’s guide points to it as the way to see how people find your content through its generative AI features.

For ChatGPT and Gemini, ask the questions from step 3 every month and write down two things for each answer. A mention means your brand’s name is in the answer. A citation means the answer links to your site. If mentions rise and citations do not, the engine knows your brand but quotes other pages about it. Judge the trend from month to month, because the answers on any one day can change.

In the video below, I show how to check whether AI assistants recommend your brand.

A video from my YouTube channel on measuring how often AI answers mention and cite a brand.

What AEO Means At Thai Customs

At Thai Customs, AEO stands for Authorised Economic Operator. That programme has nothing to do with marketing. A Google search in Thailand for “aeo” on its own shows mostly customs pages.

Thai Customs’ page on the programme says it is a voluntary partnership on supply chain security. It uses the World Customs Organisation’s model, where customs and firms work together. Importers, exporters and customs brokers that meet its security standards are certified. In return, they get faster customs clearance and fewer inspections.

So spell out “answer engine optimisation” in briefs, proposals, job adverts and page titles before you use the short form. Importers, exporters and logistics firms are the readers most likely to take AEO to mean the customs programme.

If you want a team to run this work for you, Primal’s AEO services start from the questions your buyers ask. We write answer-first pages in Thai and English, then track whether Google, ChatGPT and Gemini cite your brand for those questions. We work from our Bangkok office, with colleagues in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

Frequently Asked Questions About Answer Engine Optimisation

Does Schema Markup Make A Page The Answer

Not on its own. Schema markup labels the facts on a page, but Google’s featured snippets page says no page can be marked as a featured snippet. Google’s guide says its generative AI features do not need structured data or any special markup. The guide still advises using structured data, because it helps a page qualify for rich results.

How Long Should An Answer Be

Google gives no exact length. Its featured snippets page says the minimum length depends on the information, the language and the device. One or two sentences that fully answer the question, with the detail after them, is the pattern this post uses.

Does AEO Need An llms.txt File

Not for Google Search. Google’s guide says Google Search does not use llms.txt files or other special markup for AI. It also says you do not need to break your content into small chunks for AI to understand it.

Customers Often Ask Us How To Split AEO And SEO Work

Keep them in one plan, because they work on the same pages. SEO work keeps those pages reachable, indexed and ranking. AEO work adds the list of buyer questions, a heading for each question, answers in the first sentences, and a monthly check on which engines quote you.

Customers Often Ask Us What It Means When A Site Blocks AI Crawlers

It means the site’s robots.txt file or its firewall turns away the crawler an AI engine uses to read pages. A page that OAI-SearchBot cannot reach is left out of ChatGPT search answers. OpenAI’s crawler page also asks sites to let in requests from its published internet protocol (IP) addresses. So check your firewall as well as robots.txt.