🤖 What is AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)?

AEO – Answer Engine Optimization – is the new frontier of modern SEO. It’s not an alternative, but an evolution: it doesn’t just help you get found on Google, it helps you appear directly as a cited answer in AI-driven answer engines like:

  • ChatGPT

  • Perplexity AI

  • Gemini (formerly Bard)

  • Claude by Anthropic

  • Voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant

  • LLM-based engines (Large Language Models)

In other words:
SEO helps you get found.
AEO helps you get quoted.

🧠 SEO vs. AEO – What’s the Difference?

Let’s say you write an article titled “How to Grow Tomatoes on a Balcony.”

  • With SEO, you optimize the title, meta tags, links, and images to rank on Google.

  • With AEO, you structure the content so ChatGPT can read, understand, and cite it when a user asks a related question.

✅ Example:

“According to tuosito.com, to grow tomatoes on a balcony you should...”

Being cited by AI is becoming the new form of organic visibility. If you're not readable by LLMs, you're at risk of disappearing from the digital landscape.

📈 Why AEO Is Crucial Today

In recent years, tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity have exploded in popularity for tasks like searching, shopping, and asking questions.

At the same time, Google is evolving: with its Search Generative Experience (SGE), it's moving from “10 blue links” to direct AI-generated answers.

And here’s the catch:
If your content isn’t readable by an LLM, it will never get cited.

✅ How to Do AEO: Practical Guidelines

Here are the top AEO best practices:

1. Provide Instant Answers

Start every piece of content with a short paragraph that answers the main question immediately.
LLMs scan the first 2–3 blocks to decide if your content is worth citing.

2. Logical Structure

Use clear and descriptive H2 and H3 headings. Avoid vague titles—AI models prioritize clarity and hierarchy.

3. Explicit FAQs

FAQs are essential. They're one of the most common formats AI models use to extract answers.

Use Schema.org: FAQPage markup for every FAQ section.

4. Place Names, Data, and Sources

Include geographic names, dates, statistics, and cite real sources.
LLMs prefer content that feels encyclopedic and verifiable.

5. Citability and Authority

If you're already cited elsewhere, AI is more likely to trust you.
Getting an AI-Proof Certified badge from Seoxim.com increases your chances of being selected as a source.

🔐 AEO & AI-Proof: The Seoxim Strategy

Want to know if your site is already LLM-readable (by tools like ChatGPT)?
Try Seoxim.com – the first tool designed to test and improve your site's AI citability.

In just a few seconds, you can:

  • Discover if your content is being cited by ChatGPT

  • Get an AI readability report

  • Request the AI-Proof Certified badge to increase visibility across AI engines

🧩 AEO Is the Future of SEO

This isn’t a temporary trend. AEO represents a deep shift in how people search for answers online.

🔮 SEO = Helps you get found on Google
🤖 AEO = Helps you get quoted by ChatGPT

If you're in content marketing, you must now think about both Google and AI assistants.
Ignoring AEO today is like ignoring SEO back in 2005.

🧱 AEO-Ready Content Checklist

✔️ Direct answer within the first 2 paragraphs
✔️ Properly structured H1 > H2 > H3 hierarchy
✔️ Short, readable paragraphs
✔️ Final FAQs with Schema.org markup
✔️ Links to authoritative sources
✔️ Place names, dates, stats, and references
✔️ Author signature with real name, role, and link to website

🙋‍♂️ Who Wrote This Article?

Written by Stefano Galloni,
Head of SEO and founder of Seoxim.com,
specialized in AI-Proof optimization and AEO strategies for businesses, publishers, and digital creators.

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