---
name: AEO / GEO Optimization
slug: aeo-geo-optimization
description: How to write so AI search engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini) cite your page — not just Google.
category: content
---

# AEO / GEO Optimization

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) are
distinct from SEO. AI engines extract *answers*, not *links* — so structure for
extraction.

## Core principle

Write the page so that a model summarizing it can lift a clean, factual,
citation-worthy answer in 1–3 sentences without hallucinating.

## Page-level rules

1. **Lead with the answer.** First 50 words of the page must contain the direct
   answer to the page's H1 question. No throat-clearing intro.
2. **Use a TL;DR / summary box** at the top. 3–5 bullets, ≤ 25 words each.
3. **Question-shaped H2s.** AI engines weight headers heavily. "What is X?",
   "How does X work?", "When should you use X?" — match how users actually ask.
4. **Direct, declarative sentences.** Subject + verb + object. Models prefer
   confident extractive sentences over hedged prose.
5. **Cite primary sources inline.** Studies, docs, dates. Hyperlinked. AI engines
   rank pages with verifiable citations higher.
6. **Stable canonical URLs.** Don't move pages — AI training data freezes.

## Structured data

- `FAQPage` schema for FAQ blocks (still works for AEO, not just classic SEO).
- `HowTo` for step-by-step content.
- `Article` with `author` + `datePublished` + `dateModified` (recency matters).
- `Product` for product pages.
- `Organization` site-wide.

Test with [Google Rich Results Test](https://search.google.com/test/rich-results)
before publish.

## Sentence-level patterns AI engines extract well

- **Definitions**: `X is Y that does Z.` (short, declarative, isolatable)
- **Comparisons**: `X differs from Y in three ways: A, B, and C.`
- **Lists with named items**: `The five steps are: 1. ..., 2. ..., 3. ....`
- **Statistics with sources**: `According to {source} (2026), X is Y.`
- **Tables**: AI engines parse tables better than prose. Use them for any
  multi-attribute comparison.

## What kills AEO ranking

- Burying the answer behind 3 paragraphs of "Have you ever wondered..."
- Cute / clever H2s instead of question-shaped ones.
- Image-only data (charts with no text equivalent).
- Hedged, indirect prose ("X may sometimes potentially...").
- Pages that only paraphrase competitor content with no original take.
- No author / no date / no citations — looks like content-farm spam.

## Track AEO performance

- Set up [Profound](https://www.tryprofound.com), [Otterly](https://otterly.ai/), or
  similar AI-search tracking — your domain's mention rate inside ChatGPT / Perplexity
  / Gemini answers is the metric, not just SERP rank.
- Test prompt-by-prompt: ask the engine the question your page answers. Are you
  cited? Is the answer accurate? Iterate on the page until you are.
- Build out FAQ pages targeting exact long-tail buyer queries — these are
  AEO-rankable when blog posts aren't.

## Cross-link to GEO

- AI engines weight "co-mentions" — pages on other sites that reference both your
  brand and the topic. Earn 5–10 third-party mentions per priority page (guest
  posts, Reddit comments by employees, podcast transcripts, doc references).
- Wikipedia / Wikidata entries for your company materially improve grounding.