What AEO is and why it matters now
AEO, or answer engine optimisation, makes sure AI systems name you inside the answer itself. When the answer sits above the links, being quoted is the new position one.
The short answer
AEO is the work of making a page easy for an AI assistant to quote and safe to trust, so that you are named when a buyer asks who to consider. GEO is the wider job of shaping how AI models understand and describe your organisation at all.
It targets Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot. Getting named inside an AI answer can be possible without ranking first, so for a young or under-built site AEO can be a way in, not just a threat. For the commercial view, see our AEO and GEO service. It builds on the groundwork in SEO.
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Why it matters
Clicks fall when an AI Overview appears
Organic click-through on informational searches, before and after an AI Overview appeared.
- June 20241.76%
- September 20250.61%
When a brand was cited inside the AI Overview, its organic click-through was 35% higher (0.70% against 0.52%). Seer notes this is an association, and stronger brands may simply be cited more often.
Source: Seer Interactive study (3,119 search terms, 42 client organisations, June 2024 to September 2025): Seer Interactive, AIO Impact on Google CTR. Seer notes it cannot prove that citation causes the higher click-through.
What gets a page cited
Six habits make a page easy for an AI system to quote and safe to trust. None of them is exotic, and together they are what we build into every page.
An extractable answer on the first screen
Two or three plain sentences that directly answer the page’s own question or define the term. A short, self-contained answer is easy for a system to extract and quote, which is why we write every page this way. No study shows that AI engines copy such answers word for word, so we treat it as good practice rather than a guarantee. It costs nothing.
Question-form headings
“Why does data quality break outbound performance?” beats “Data quality”. The heading is the question a buyer actually asks.
Proper schema
QAPage on answer pages, FAQPage, DefinedTerm on glossary entries, HowTo on process content, and Organization and Service on core pages. Google says no special markup is needed to appear in its AI features, and an Ahrefs analysis of 1,885 pages that were already heavily cited reported no citation lift from adding schema. We add it to describe the page accurately, because structured data should match the visible content, not as a citation lever.
Links to primary sources
Regulations, government publications, platform documentation and published studies. A page that shows its sources is easier to trust and to check.
A real, credible author
Named authorship with verifiable credentials, backed by Person schema, so the page has someone accountable behind it.
Consistency off-site
The same name and facts across directories, partner sites and publications. This is where AEO bridges into GEO.
The first two cost nothing to apply. We apply all six, then confirm they work by testing, as described next.
How we measure AEO
We measure AEO by asking live AI assistants the questions your buyers ask and recording whether you are named. The questions never contain your name.
The method
Four steps, repeated over time
Re-running the same questions is what turns a one-off check into a trend.
- 1
Construct the questions
Realistic buyer questions, written without your name in them.
- 2
Ask live assistants
Run each question through live AI assistants and capture every answer.
- 3
Record who is named
Note whether you appear, and which other businesses do.
- 4
Repeat and compare
Re-run the same questions to see what has moved.
| Question type | Example pattern | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Local | Who are the best [service] providers in [city]? | Whether you are named where buyers look nearby. |
| Category | What are the best [category] firms for [buyer type]? | Whether you are in the consideration set for your category. |
| Problem-led | How do I fix [specific problem] in my business? | Whether your content answers the problem, not just the service. |
| Comparison | What is the difference between [approach A] and [approach B]? | Whether you are cited at the decision point. |
Alongside the live tests, we track two further signals:
- AI referral traffic. Visits from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot, set up as their own channel in GA4.
- Branded search volume. A useful downstream signal: more people searching for you by name.
The same method powers our published AI visibility research and the free AI visibility checker. It is also how the audit scores visibility.
GEO: how AI understands you
GEO shapes how an AI model understands and describes your organisation at all, including in ordinary conversations where no live search happens.
AEO asks
When someone asks a question with a live search behind it, is your page the one that gets quoted?
GEO asks
When someone asks a model about your field, does it know who you are, what you do and what you are credible for, and does it say so accurately?
If the story about you online is thin, fragmented or inconsistent, the model fills the gaps itself, and not always correctly. GEO is the work of making the accurate story easy to find and consistent everywhere it appears.
The levers
Six places a model learns who you are
Illustrative: the sources we keep consistent so the model has one accurate story to repeat.
AI model
How it describes you
Your own website
The primary source: clear, consistent pages that state who you are and what you do.
Structured data
Schema that states who leads the organisation, which products belong to it and where it operates.
llms.txt
A plain, hand-maintained description of who you are and which pages matter.
Directories
The reference sites and directories AI systems commonly draw from, kept accurate.
Partner pages
Other organisations that describe you, using the same name and facts.
Press and publications
Third-party coverage that confirms the story rather than contradicting it.
| Lever | What we do |
|---|---|
| Entity consistency | Keep the same name, description, people and facts across your site, directories, partner pages and press. |
| Explicit relationships | Use schema to state who leads the organisation, which products belong to it and where it operates. |
| The sources models read | Work on the reference sites and directories AI systems draw from. |
| An llms.txt file | Maintain a plain description of who you are and which pages matter, by hand. |
| Content built for retrieval | Write short, self-contained sections that still make sense when a model lifts one out of context. |
Industry-based inbound
We build visibility around your ideal customer profile, not generic marketing terms. Each industry you sell into gets its own pillar, written in that buyer’s language.
A page written for everyone convinces no one. A procurement lead at a law firm and a SaaS founder search for different things, fear different risks and trust different signals. This is the same hub-and-spoke architecture applied once per industry.
One pillar per industry
Each sector gets its own pillar page, in the language its buyers use.Clusters for each variation
Sub-sectors, roles and use cases, all linking back to the pillar.The regulatory layer
For regulated or institutional buyers, we link to the real rules that govern how that sector can be approached, such as a professional code of conduct or a financial promotion rulebook. Generic content cannot follow you there.An industry-specific diagnostic
A free, ungated tool for that buyer’s world. We have built these for clients in education and tax, on the same pattern as our own QualiPi diagnostic. Every result lands in the CRM and starts a nurture sequence.Matching proof
Each industry page links to proof from the same industry, and the proof links back.
Industry pages
Industry pages we publish
Each page covers how Deligatr works for that sector.
AEO by sector and next steps
Some sectors have their own AEO pages, because the questions buyers ask, and the way AI answers them, differ from one to the next.
- Local businessBeing named when buyers ask who to use nearby.
- HealthcareAI visibility for practices and providers.
- HospitalityHotels, venues and restaurants in AI answers.
- FranchisesConsistent AI visibility across many locations.
- EcommerceProducts and brands cited in AI shopping answers.
- White labelAEO delivered under an agency’s own name.
- AEO and GEO service: the commercial overview and how to start.
- AI visibility research and the free checker: see where you stand.
- Visitor identification: what happens to the traffic that visibility brings in.
- Pricing: AEO and GEO sit in the Inbound package, with details in the Pricing tab.
- Back to the documentation overview.
Questions about AEO and GEO
The questions we are asked most often about being cited by AI.
What is the difference between AEO and GEO?
AEO asks whether your page is the one quoted when someone asks a question with a live search behind it. GEO asks whether an AI model knows who you are, what you do and what you are credible for, including in ordinary conversations where no live search happens. AEO wins the citation. GEO shapes the description.
How do you know whether an AI assistant names us?
We construct realistic buyer questions, run them through live AI assistants and record whether you are named. The questions never contain your name, because if they did the test would prove nothing. We repeat the same questions over time to see what moves.
Can you guarantee we will be cited?
No. AI answers vary between assistants and over time, so we measure and report rather than promise a position. What we control is how easy your pages are to quote, trust and verify.
Does AEO replace SEO?
No. Answer engines read the same crawlable pages search engines do, so technical soundness still matters. AEO is a layer built on top of SEO, and for a young site it can be a way in before the authority that ranking first needs has been earned.
What is an llms.txt file?
It is a plain description of who you are and which pages matter, maintained by hand. We treat it as one lever among several for GEO. We do not claim any particular assistant is guaranteed to use it.