SEO & AEO

What Is Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) and Why It Matters in 2026

AI assistants now answer millions of buying questions. Here’s how AEO helps your business become the answer they quote.

What AEO actually is

Answer Engine Optimisation is the practice of making your content easy for AI assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity and Claude to find, understand and cite. Where SEO earns you a ranking, AEO earns you a mention inside the answer itself.

How it differs from SEO

Both reward clear, helpful content. AEO puts extra weight on structured data, question-led headings, concise answer blocks and strong entity signals — the things a machine needs to lift a quotable passage with confidence.

Where to start

Check that AI crawlers can access your site, add schema for your organisation and key pages, rewrite your top pages around the questions customers really ask, and make sure your brand details are consistent everywhere.

Want help putting this into practice? Book a free strategy call with Orbin Digital →