Answer engine optimisation: be the answer, not the tenth link.
AEO rewrites and structures your pages so that featured snippets, People Also Ask, voice assistants and AI summaries lift your answer directly. Fewer clicks are being handed out; AEO makes sure the ones that remain come to you.
What an AEO project delivers
- Question researchThe questions your buyers ask Google, ChatGPT and voice assistants, pulled from People Also Ask, Search Console queries, support tickets and sales calls, grouped by intent and page.
- Answer-first rewritesEach target page opens with a 40 to 60 word direct answer, followed by the detail. Headings are the questions. Tables and lists where the engines prefer them.
- FAQ and HowTo schemaStructured data that matches the visible text exactly, validated, and kept in sync when the copy changes.
- Entity consistencyThe same name, description, address and offer everywhere the engines look: your site, Google Business Profile, directories, LinkedIn, Shopify Shop.
- Snippet and PAA trackingWhich questions you own, which you lost, and which a competitor holds, reported monthly from your Search Console and our rank checks.
- Voice and local answersShort, speakable answers for “near me” and “which is best” questions, with the local schema that assistants read.
Case study
73 service pages rebuilt as answers, with FAQ schema on every one
A services website had 73 pages that ranked for nothing because they said nothing: about 290 words each, opening with a paragraph about the company instead of the reader’s question.
We rebuilt every service page as an answer. Each one now opens with the direct answer to the question in its title, runs to between 1,250 and 2,100 words of specifics, carries FAQPage schema for the questions people actually ask and reviewer schema for trust. The blog grew from 6 to 56 articles, each written against one question, and GA4 lead tracking was set up so the owner can see which answers produce enquiries.
What we do not claim for this site: ranking numbers. Search Console was connected after the work started. The figures are what we measured.
Pages with FAQ and reviewer schema
Words per page, from about 290
Question-led articles
Homepage load, so the answer arrives fast
How AEO runs
Four steps, one month to the first rewrites, then monthly tracking.
Question map
Every question worth owning, mapped to a page that answers it or a page that needs to exist. You approve the map before any writing.
Rewrite the openings
Direct answers first, the detail after. The quickest win on most sites is the first 60 words of each page.
Mark it up
FAQPage, HowTo, Product, Service, LocalBusiness and Person schema that mirrors the visible text, validated and monitored.
Track answers, not just rankings
Snippets, People Also Ask boxes and AI citations tracked monthly, with the next month’s fixed list of pages to work on.
AEO for Shopify stores
Collection pages that answer “best X for Y”, product pages with the sizing, shipping and returns questions answered in the text and in schema, and buying guides that win the comparison questions. See our Shopify development work and the Shopify SEO checklist.
AEO for services firms
Law, finance, consulting and agencies live or die on “how much”, “how long” and “which is best” questions. We answer them plainly on the page, which is uncomfortable for some firms and exactly why it works. Related: GEO for AI citations and our full search services.
Questions about answer engine optimisation
What is answer engine optimisation (AEO)?
AEO is writing and structuring pages so that search engines, voice assistants and AI summaries can lift a direct answer from them. It focuses on question-led headings, short direct answers, structured data and consistent entity information.
How is AEO different from GEO?
AEO targets the answer boxes of search engines and assistants: featured snippets, People Also Ask, voice results and AI summaries that quote a page. GEO targets being cited inside fully generated answers from ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Mode. The on-page work overlaps heavily; GEO adds more off-site authority work.
Will answering questions on the page reduce enquiries?
In our experience it does the opposite. Buyers who already know your price range and process arrive ready to buy. Pages that hide the answer lose the click to a competitor who gives it.
Do you need a lot of content for AEO?
You need the right content: one clear answer per question, on a page that can be found. Many sites need fewer, better pages rather than more.
How do you report on AEO?
Monthly, from your Search Console: impressions and clicks for question queries, plus our own checks of which snippets, People Also Ask boxes and AI citations you hold. You see the list of pages worked on each month.