A Marketer's Guide to Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)

The world of search is undergoing a seismic shift. For decades, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has been a game of ranking on a list of blue links. Today, with the rise of Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Gemini, the game has a new objective: not just to be on the list, but to be the source of the answer itself.

Welcome to Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), also known as Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). This is the new frontier of digital marketing, and this guide will walk you through the core principles, new technologies, and actionable strategies you need to succeed.

"The question isn't whether this shift will happen – it's already underway. The real question is: when an AI is asked about your industry, will it recommend you?"

The Fundamental Shift: Information vs. Guidance

The core difference between traditional SEO and AEO lies in the user's intent and the engine's output.

• Traditional SEO: You aim to provide the best information for a query, so Google ranks your page highly.
• AEO/LLM SEO: You aim to provide the best advice, guidance, or recommendation for a prompt, positioning yourself as the authority that an AI trusts and cites.

Core Principle: You Must Become the Authority

In the world of AEO, everything boils down to one word: authority.

An LLM's primary goal is to provide a helpful, accurate, and trustworthy answer. It determines this by analysing vast amounts of online data to see which person, brand, or website is most consistently and authoritatively associated with a given topic. Short-term tricks will fade, but a long-term strategy of building genuine authority is the only sustainable way to win. Your goal is to be that undisputed authority.

This is achieved through two main pillars: On-Page Structure and Off-Page Prominence.

Pillar 1: On-Page Structure & Content Strategy

This pillar is about making the information on your own website perfectly formatted for an AI to understand, process, and reference.

1. Adopt a Question & Answer Content Format

Structure your content to directly answer the questions your audience is asking. Use clear, descriptive headings phrased as questions (e.g., "What is the Best Camera for Travel Vlogging?") followed immediately by a concise, direct answer. This direct, parsable format is ideal for AI consumption.

2. Write with Absolute Clarity

AI doesn't care about "flashy" or overly creative prose. It values well-structured text with simple, descriptive headlines. Get straight to the point. Use lists, bullet points, and short paragraphs to break down complex topics into digestible chunks of information that can be easily repurposed into an answer.

3. Implement Schema Markup

Schema markup is a form of structured data that acts as a translator for search engines and AIs, explicitly telling them what your content is about. For AEO, the most important types are:

• FAQPage Schema: Perfect for your Q&A pages, as it programmatically labels your questions and answers.
• HowTo Schema: Use this for step-by-step guides and tutorials.
• Article Schema: Clearly defines author, publication date, and other metadata, which helps establish the critical signals of Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T).

"Structured content systems are the future. The CMS is evolving into design systems for intent rather than static content stores – this shift directly supports AEO readiness."

Pro tip: Structured content systems are the future. I've written before about how the CMS is evolving into design systems for intent rather than static content stores – this shift directly supports AEO readiness.

4. Focus on Guidance, Not Just Information

Your content must have a strong, defensible point of view. It's no longer enough to just present information; you must provide guidance.

• Good: A page listing the technical specs of a product.
• Better for AEO: A page that compares three products and confidently recommends the best one for a specific use case, clearly explaining the reasoning behind the advice.

5. Optimise for Multimodality

LLMs like Gemini are now multimodal. They don't just parse text – they process images, audio, and video. That means transcripts, alt-text, and structured video data are no longer "extras." They're essential inputs for ensuring your brand is part of the training set for visual and voice-based search.

Pillar 2: Off-Page Prominence & Seeding the Data

An LLM's core understanding comes from the massive datasets it was trained on. Your job is to ensure your brand, expertise, and content are a prominent part of those datasets and the ongoing conversations across the web.

1. Be Active in AI Training Grounds

LLMs are heavily trained on data from high-traffic, conversational platforms. You need a presence there, sharing your expertise and linking back to your authoritative content on your website. Key platforms include:

• Reddit: Find relevant subreddits, answer questions authoritatively, and share your content where it adds value.
• Quora: As a primary source for Q&A data, this platform is invaluable.
• High-Authority Blogs & Niche Forums: Participate in the digital communities where your audience and peers are active.

2. Build Brand Mentions and Citable Content

The ultimate goal is to have other people and publications cite you as the expert. This is about building brand salience – the degree to which your brand is thought of when a recommendation is needed.

• Publish Original Research: Create unique data, surveys, or studies that others in your industry will want to cite.
• Develop Strong Opinions: A well-reasoned, expert opinion is far more likely to be discussed and referenced than a generic summary of a topic.
• Earn Links and Mentions: When your brand, your name, and your website are mentioned across many trusted public sources in relation to a specific topic, AI models learn to associate you with that expertise.

3. Seed Structured Knowledge Beyond Your Site

Knowledge graphs, Wikidata entries, and even structured LinkedIn/author profiles feed into LLM datasets. The more structured and verifiable your digital footprint, the more likely you'll be treated as a reliable authority.

Next-Gen Enhancements to Stay Ahead

• RAG & Vector Databases: Structure your content in a way that can be pulled into retrieval-augmented generation systems, giving you direct pathways into AI-driven answers. See Orchestrating Intelligence for more on this.
• Conversational Layer Optimisation: Optimise not just for initial queries, but for the follow-up questions an AI user might ask. This is the equivalent of being "sticky" in a chat-based search journey.
• Synthetic Testing with AI: Don't guess – test. Run your own prompts through different LLMs and track when your brand or advice is cited. Treat this like split-testing for the answer economy. See also Project Management in the Age of AI.
• AI-Generated Microcontent: Repurpose your longer content into concise, structured snippets that AIs can easily re-use in answers.

The Marketer's New Role

Much like I argued in my writing on agile prototyping, the marketer's job is shifting from static campaigns to dynamic systems. AEO is less about keywords and more about ongoing participation in the datasets that shape generative engines. It's about building lasting authority, seeding structured knowledge, and continuously testing how your brand shows up in the answer economy.

"The question isn't whether this shift will happen – it's already underway. The real question is: when an AI is asked about your industry, will it recommend you?"

The future of marketing isn't about being found – it's about being trusted as the source of truth.