When buyers ask AI to recommend a vendor, are you on the list?

Answer Engine Optimization, in plain English.

AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimization. It is the work of making sure AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Google's AI Overviews can find your business, understand what you do, and recommend you when someone asks them for a vendor in your category.

Think of it as the next step after SEO. SEO helped you show up in a list of blue links. AEO helps you become the answer the AI actually gives. The two work together: AEO builds on top of the SEO you may already have, it does not replace it.

Most of the work is technical but straightforward: adding structured data (a machine-readable description of your business), publishing a simple llms.txt file, and writing clear question-and-answer content. Those are the signals AI engines look for when they decide whose business to name. Your free scan below checks how many of them you already have.