What Is AEO? How to Get Your Business Cited by ChatGPT and Google AI

What is AEO (answer engine optimization)?

AEO is the practice of shaping your content so AI-powered search tools pick it as the source of their answer. You may also see it called GEO (generative engine optimization) or LLM SEO; they all mean roughly the same thing.

Traditional SEO aims for a click from a list of blue links. AEO aims for something different: being the business the answer names, quotes or links to.

Why does AEO matter for small businesses in 2026?

Because people increasingly get their answer without visiting any website. SparkToro's data shows about 68% of US Google searches ended without a click from January to April 2026, up from about 60% in 2024.

• Google's AI Overviews appear on more than 20% of searches, and where they appear, click-through rates drop by nearly 60%
• 45% of consumers now use ChatGPT or other AI tools for local business recommendations, up from 6% a year earlier (BrightLocal, 2026)
• If an AI answer names your competitor and not you, you never get the chance to compete for the click

How do AI tools decide which websites to cite?

They favour pages that rank well in their underlying search index, answer the question clearly and early, and come from sources that look credible across the web.

ChatGPT's search draws heavily on Bing: one study found over 87% of its citations matched Bing's top 20 results, compared with 56% for Google. Google's AI Overviews draw on Google's own index. So being indexed and ranking in both matters.

How do you optimise a website for AEO?

Write for the question, structure for the machine, and build trust off-site. These are the steps that make the biggest difference:

• Answer first. Put a direct, quotable one- or two-sentence answer at the top of each section
• Use question headings. Phrase H2s the way customers ask: "How much does a roofing website cost?"
• Keep paragraphs short and self-contained, so any one of them makes sense when quoted alone
• Add structured data: Organization, Article and FAQPage schema help machines read the page. They help, but they don't guarantee citations
• Get into Bing: verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools and submit your sitemap
• Show expertise: named authors, dates, real numbers and cited sources
• Earn mentions: reviews, directory listings and articles on other sites that name your business
• Keep it fresh: update key pages with current prices and facts at least every few months

Is AEO different from SEO?

AEO builds on SEO rather than replacing it. Pages that AI tools cite usually rank well in search too. The difference is the format: AEO rewards clear, direct answers and well-structured pages that a machine can quote safely.

If your website already has solid SEO, AEO is mostly an editing job: tightening answers, restructuring headings and adding schema. If your site has neither, start with the basics: fast, crawlable pages with real content.

What is llms.txt, and do you need one?

llms.txt is a proposed plain-text file that summarises your site for AI tools. It's cheap to add, but no major AI search engine has confirmed it uses llms.txt for ranking or citations, so treat it as a bonus, not a strategy.