Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)
Definition
Answer engine optimization (AEO) is the practice of making a brand present, accurate, and preferred in the composed answers of AI systems such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity. AEO, GEO, and LLMO name the same discipline: optimizing for the answer instead of the ranked link.
The term comes from the shift it describes. Search engines return links; answer engines return answers. AEO treats the answer as the surface to win, which means being on the reading list the engine draws from and being described correctly once you are there.
In practice AEO work is the same work as generative engine optimization: measure what each engine actually says about your category, fix the facts it gets wrong, earn presence on the sources it trusts, and publish pages that answer the questions buyers ask. Different communities favor different names for it. AEO is common in the SEO industry, GEO came out of research and product circles, and LLMO shows up where practitioners emphasize the models themselves. None of the three describes a different technique.
Whatever the label, the measurement question is identical: when a buyer asks an AI model for a recommendation in your category, are you in the answer? That is the number to watch before and after any optimization work.
