What is AEO?

Answer Engine Optimization, or AEO, is a digital strategy focused on making your business's content the direct answer to questions users ask online. This is different from traditional SEO, which aims to rank your website in a list of links. Instead, AEO targets the specific, featured answer boxes that appear at the very top of a Google search (called "Featured Snippets"), as well as the single, spoken responses given by voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant. It’s about becoming the definitive, authoritative answer that search engines and AI trust to provide to their users.

Unlike traditional SEO, which optimizes an entire page, AEO optimizes for concise information. The strategy involves two main parts. First, creating content that is structured in a clear, conversational, question-and-answer format. This means anticipating the exact questions your customers are asking ("what are your store hours," "how do I fix [problem]," "what is the best [product] for") and providing a direct, simple answer right away. Second, it often involves using "structured data," which is a simple layer of code that acts like a digital label, helping search engines instantly understand and extract key information like your phone number, location, or the steps in a how-to guide.



For a business owner, AEO is critical for building immediate trust and authority. When your business is selected as the featured answer, you are positioned as the definitive expert, bypassing all your competitors in the standard search results. This is essential for capturing "zero-click" searches, where a user gets their answer without ever having to click a link. By being that single, trusted source, you build brand awareness, intercept customers at the exact moment of their query, and future-proof your business for a world where users increasingly expect instant, direct answers from AI and voice assistants.