Definition
The work of being named and cited in answer engines' answers. Interchangeable in practice with GEO.
In the report
The work the report's fixes describe: the thirteen site checks, then the profiles, listings and pages the engines cite. The report ranks five fixes by the questions each would recover.
Worked example
An AI email marketing tool was missing from 27 of 36 answers. The report's five fixes, in order: get the G2 profile to ten reviews (g2.com was cited in 10 of the 36 answers, more than any other page); claim the two directory listings the engines cited in 9 and 8 answers; write the guide that answers the 'for email marketers' questions a rival's page currently wins; publish an alternatives page for the closest rival; earn a mention on the one publication cited in 8 answers. That ordered list is what answer engine optimisation is for that company this month.
How to move it
Start with the fix at the top of the report; it is the one that recovers the most questions. Then the listing the engines cite most for your questions.
Where it shows up
What is GEO (generative engine optimisation)? The same work as AEO under a name that emphasises the generated answer rather than the engine: being named and cited when ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini or AI Overviews write an answer to a buyer's question. In practice the terms are interchangeable, and the checklist is the same.
What is AEO (answer engine optimisation)? The work of being named and cited in the answers of engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews. It has two halves: making your own site readable and quotable (crawler access, structured data, plain statements of price and scope), and being present on the third-party pages the engines read before they answer.
See AEO measured on your site
Your website, region and work email. The score appears in about three minutes, and the report is a link you keep.