Glossary
What is answer engine optimization (AEO)?
Answer engine optimization is the work of structuring content so that a search engine can use it as the direct answer to a question. The answer may appear as a featured snippet, in a "People also ask" box or in an AI Overview.
Why it matters
More searches now end on the results page. When Google shows the answer itself, the page it took the answer from gets the visibility, and the other results get less attention.
For a B2B company, the questions buyers ask early in their research are the ones answered this way. Being the source of the answer puts your name in front of them before they compare vendors.
How we handle it
We start from the questions buyers type, then write a short, direct answer near the top of the page and support it with detail below. Schema markup tells search engines which part of the page is the question and which is the answer.
Related service: Answer engine optimization services
Related terms
Keep reading
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Featured snippet
A featured snippet is a short answer that Google shows above the regular results, taken from one web page.
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AI Overviews
AI Overviews are summaries written by Google’s AI and shown at the top of some search results.
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Schema markup
Schema markup is code added to a page that describes its content in a format search engines read directly.
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Generative engine optimization (GEO)
Generative engine optimization is the work of getting a brand mentioned and cited in answers written by AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Gemini.
See how your site performs in search
Tell us what is happening with your search traffic. You get a straight answer on where we would start.