Fundamentals
What is AI Engine Optimization (AEO)?
AEO is the practice of structuring your business so that AI tools select and recommend you as the trusted answer.
AI Engine Optimization (AEO) is the discipline of engineering your business's web presence, content, and authority signals so that large language models — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, and Google AI Overviews — select and cite your business as the trusted answer to category-relevant questions.
Why AEO matters now
The buying journey is moving inside AI tools. When a buyer asks 'who is the best specialist for X?', the model returns a short, opinionated answer. The names cited inside that answer win the customer. Everyone else is invisible.
How AEO differs from SEO
SEO targets ranking on a results page. AEO targets being chosen in the answer. They share some signals (technical health, content quality), but AEO adds entity structuring, third-party validation, and authority engineering as core pillars.
The pillars of AEO
Retrieval (can AI find structured evidence about you), Authority (can AI verify you are credible), and Recommendation (does AI conclude you are the best answer). A complete AEO program addresses all three simultaneously.