Everything you need to understand Answer Engine Optimization — the new SEO. Learn the terms, concepts, and strategies that get your site cited by AI.
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)
The practice of optimizing content so AI answer engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews) cite your site as a source. AEO is to AI search what SEO is to Google search.
Answer Engine
AI-powered search tools that generate direct answers to questions instead of returning blue links. Examples: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Bing Copilot, Claude.
Citation
When an AI engine mentions your domain as a source in its generated answer. Citations are the new backlinks — they drive referral traffic from AI search.
LLM (Large Language Model)
The AI model behind answer engines (GPT-4, Gemini, Claude). LLMs generate answers by predicting text based on training data and web search results.
AI Overviews
Google's AI-generated answer summaries that appear at the top of search results, replacing traditional organic results for many queries.
Schema Markup / Structured Data
JSON-LD code on your page that tells AI engines exactly what your content is about (Article, FAQ, Product, Organization). Schema is the #1 technical AEO signal.
FAQPage Schema
A specific schema type that marks Q&A pairs on your page. AI engines love FAQPage because it's pre-structured as questions and answers — easy to cite.
Speakable Schema
Schema that marks sections of your content suitable for text-to-speech playback. Critical for voice search optimization (Alexa, Google Assistant).
Entity
A person, place, organization, or concept that AI engines can identify and connect. Entity optimization helps AI understand your content's context and relationships.
Knowledge Graph
Google's database of entities and their relationships. Getting your entity into the Knowledge Graph dramatically increases AI citation likelihood.
Passage Indexing
Google's ability to index individual passages of a page, not just the page as a whole. AEO optimizes passages for citation.
Question-Answer Format
Structuring content as questions and answers (H2 = question, paragraph = answer). This mirrors how AI engines query and cite content.
Definition-Style Content
Writing clear definitions like 'X is a Y that...'. AI engines extract definitions for featured snippets and direct answers.
Information Gain
The unique value your content adds beyond what's already available. AI engines prioritize content with high information gain to avoid redundant answers.
Semantic Density
How richly your content covers a topic with relevant entities, terms, and concepts. Higher density = more citable.
Content Depth
Comprehensive coverage of a topic. AI engines prefer pages that fully answer a question over thin, shallow content.
Citation Rate
The percentage of AI-generated answers that mention your domain. The primary KPI for AEO success.
Brand Mention Monitoring
Tracking when and how AI engines mention your brand across different queries and platforms.
Competitor Citation Gap
Queries where a competitor is cited by AI but you are not. Identifying gaps reveals AEO content opportunities.
AEO Score
A 0-100 metric measuring your page's readiness to be cited by AI engines. Combines schema, content, structure, and entity signals.
Zero-Click Search
When a user gets their answer from the AI summary without clicking through to any website. AEO aims to get you cited even in zero-click scenarios.