AEO Explained: Answer Engine Optimisation for Business Websites

Traditional SEO gets you ranked. AEO gets you cited. In 2026, the distinction matters because an increasing share of search queries are answered by AI models that synthesise information from multiple sources. Your goal is to be one of those sources — and to be cited accurately.

The foundation of AEO is structured content. AI models extract answers most reliably from content with clear question-answer patterns. Every service page should have a Quick Answer block (40–60 words answering 'What is this?'), FAQ blocks (H3 questions with 40–60 word answers), and structured data (JSON-LD schema) that explicitly labels what your content is about.

Beyond structure, AEO requires authority signals. AI models weight sources by perceived authority: author credentials, citations to authoritative sources, freshness dates, and consistency across the web. A page with a named author, their credentials, 5 cited sources, and a 'Last Updated' date will be cited more often than anonymous content.

Technical requirements: serve content as HTML (not JavaScript-rendered), include llms.txt (a machine-readable summary of your site for AI crawlers), implement comprehensive schema markup, and ensure your robots.txt allows AI bot access. These technical signals determine whether AI models can even find your content.

The entities you want to own: identify the 5–10 questions that your ideal customers ask AI assistants. These are your target entities. Create dedicated, comprehensive content for each. Include original data, specific examples, and structured answers that an AI model can extract verbatim.

Measurement: track AI citations using tools like Perplexity analytics, Google Search Console (AI Overview impressions), and manual testing (ask ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity about your services and see if you're cited). Set a baseline now and track monthly improvements.