Answer engine optimization
Also called AEO, GEO, generative engine optimization, LLM SEO, AI SEO.
Answer engine optimization (AEO) is the work of getting your business named and linked when someone asks an AI assistant or AI search feature a question. It also goes by GEO, generative engine optimization, and LLM SEO. For a local business, most of it is good local SEO aimed at questions instead of keywords.
Doug's Field Guide · Updated
What changes when the answer is written by AI
A regular search shows ten links and the customer picks. An answer engine reads those links for the customer and writes one reply, often naming two or three businesses. If you're not in the reply, you don't get the click at all.
Most of these tools search the web live before they answer. ChatGPT search uses third-party search providers plus OpenAI's own crawler, OAI-SearchBot. Gemini, AI Overviews and AI Mode use Google's index. Microsoft Copilot uses Bing. Perplexity runs its own search and shows numbered sources. So the first job is being in those indexes with pages that answer the exact question, and the second is being described the same way everywhere they look. A dentist whose site says 'Plano' and whose Yelp says 'Dallas' gives the engine two stories to pick from.
What AEO work looks like for a local business
The tactics are plain. None of them are secret, and nobody can promise you a spot in an AI answer. Here is what the week to week work looks like for a plumber, a med spa or a law office alike.
- Pages that open with the answer: what you do, where, how soon, roughly what it costs.
- An FAQ written from the questions customers really ask, in their words.
- The same name, phone, address and hours on your site, Google, Bing, Apple, Yelp and trade directories.
- Recent reviews that describe the actual work, with replies from you.
- Mentions on the articles, directories and forums the answers already cite.
- Crawlers allowed in robots.txt, including OAI-SearchBot if you want to show in ChatGPT search.
Where AEO differs from SEO
The difference is mostly in what you measure. SEO tracks your rank for a keyword. AEO tracks whether the answer names you, and which sources the answer used to decide. Those sources become your to do list. If every answer about roofers in your town cites the same local news roundup and the same Reddit thread, getting into that roundup and taking part honestly in that thread matters more than another blog post.
Be wary of anyone selling AEO as a new trick, like a special file or hidden text for bots. Google says no special markup is needed for its AI features, and the others reward the same thing: clear, true, consistent information. Expect it to build over weeks, as engines find your new pages and the sources they cite get updated.
Run your first AEO check
- Ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity 'who is the best [your service] in [your town]' and two other questions customers ask.
- Write down who gets named and which websites each answer cites.
- Check that your name, phone and hours match on every cited directory you're listed on.
- Pick one cited page you're missing from and ask to be added, or add one FAQ answer to your site.
Common mistakes
- Paying for an 'AI optimization' product that adds hidden text or special files and nothing else.
- Only checking ChatGPT, when your customers also use Google's AI features and Gemini.
- Blocking OAI-SearchBot or other search crawlers in robots.txt while trying to show up in their answers.
How Doug does it
Doug asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google and Google Maps your customers' questions every week and records if you're named and which sources are cited. He turns the gaps into a fix queue with the work drafted, from FAQ answers and pages to directory listings and pitches to the articles that answers cite.
Terms on this page
- Answer engine
- A tool that answers a question in written form instead of handing back a list of links, like ChatGPT search, Perplexity or Google AI Mode.
- Entity
- A specific thing a search engine or AI recognizes as distinct, such as your business, your town or your owner. Consistent names and details help it connect everything said about you to the right entity.
- Large language model (LLM)
- The kind of AI model behind ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude. It writes text by predicting what comes next, based on patterns learned from huge amounts of text.
Keep exploring
- ChatGPT recommendationsHow ChatGPT picks which plumber, dentist or lawyer to name, and what you can fix.
- AI citationsThe links under an AI answer. They show you exactly which sites decide who gets named.
- NAP consistencyYour name, address and phone number, the same everywhere they appear.
- The fix queueEach week's findings become drafted fixes you can publish, apply, or dismiss.
Sources
Written by Doug's team from these sources and our own work with local businesses. Search engines change their rules, so check the source before a big decision.
