AEO. Show up where buyers are now asking AI
A growing share of your buyers don't open Google anymore. They ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Claude. They get an AI-written answer with a few sources cited underneath. Answer Engine Optimisation is the work of becoming one of those cited sources.
What AEO is
AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) is the discipline of optimising your site to be quoted by AI search platforms. Instead of ranking pages on a search results page, AEO targets the citations underneath an AI-generated answer.
Most of the fundamentals overlap with SEO. The difference is in how content is structured, how schema is enriched, and how citations are tracked across AI tools. Done well, AEO works alongside your SEO, not against it.
Why AEO matters now
A few years ago, the question "how does AI affect search?" was hypothetical. It isn't anymore. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Google AI Overviews are all delivering answers with citation links. And they're picking the sources themselves.
If your site shows up, you get the click and the credibility. If it doesn't, you don't get either. AEO is the work of being one of the sites these platforms pick.
We're not claiming AEO is mature. It's a new discipline and the platforms keep changing. What we are claiming is that the work is real, the impact is measurable, and the buyers we work with are starting to see citations in places they didn't see them six months ago.
What we work on in
an AEO engagement
Schema enrichment
Adding and tuning structured data so AI systems can read your content cleanly. FAQ schema, How-To, Article, Organisation, and custom schema for your page types.
Content formatting for LLM citation
Structuring pages with direct answers, comparison tables, lists, and quotable sentences. The formats AI tools lift most often.
Citation building
Earning your site mentions in the third-party sources that AI platforms train on and pull from (Wikipedia, industry directories, review sites, structured data sources).
AI search visibility audits
Each month we prompt ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Google AI Overviews with the searches your buyers make. We record where your brand appears, and benchmark that against named competitors.
Trend monitoring via SEMrush
Where SEMrush's AI search data covers your category, we use it to track movement between audits.
Iterative optimisation
Refining content, schema, and citations monthly based on what the AI platforms are picking up.
How an AEO engagement runs
AEO works as a hybrid. A one-time project to set up the foundation, then a monthly retainer to keep the work compounding.
- Site audit: schema, content formatting, AI search visibility
- Schema enrichment across the site
- Content formatting changes to existing pages where they'll have the most impact
- Citation strategy: where to build citations, in what order
- Tracking setup: brand mentions and citations across the four AI platforms we monitor
- Monthly AI search visibility audit. We re-run the prompts your buyers make and record your appearance against named competitors across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Google AI Overviews
- One to two hours of changes per month. Schema updates, content tweaks, citation work
- Quarterly strategy review as the AI search landscape evolves
The AI platforms we track
We optimise for AI search broadly. These four cover the bulk of meaningful AI search traffic today. As the landscape changes, we'll add platforms to the tracking where it's worth it. The four we actively track in your monthly report are:
ASL Bloom's programmatic SEO foundation gave us strong content to work with. Their AEO work has positioned them as a #1 result in their category across AI search platforms.
ASL Bloom
ASL Bloom's programmatic SEO foundation gave us strong content to work with. Their AEO work has positioned them as a #1 result in their category across AI search platforms.
"Will and RankRise has helped us innovate with programmatic SEO, position us as #1 in our market and lead on Generative Search!"
Got questions? Here are the answers.
Driven by a commitment to innovation, collaboration, and excellence. These values shape our approach, ensuring every project is built with integrity and designed for success.
Want to know how AI search sees your site right now?
Book a 30-minute call. We'll look at where your brand shows up across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Google AI Overviews. And what's worth fixing first.
