What AEO is
Answer engine optimization (AEO) is the work of making your business easy for AI assistants and AI search features to understand, quote and name. When someone asks ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity or Google's AI Overviews a question, the reply usually names a few businesses instead of listing ten links. AEO is about being one of those names for the questions your customers actually ask.
It is not a trick or a hidden setting. In practice it means your pages state the facts a customer needs, in plain words, where a machine can read them.
How AI assistants choose what to say
Assistants with web search work in roughly three steps. They turn the question into one or more searches, read a handful of pages from the results, and write an answer from what those pages say, often with links to the sources.
- They can only use what they can reach. A page blocked by robots.txt, hidden behind a login, or only drawn by JavaScript may never be read.
- They prefer facts stated plainly. “We make same-day crowns in Clapham” is easy to quote. “Modern, gentle care” is not.
- They look for support. Prices, reviews, licences, years in business and written answers make a claim safer to repeat.
What Google says about AI search
Google published its guide to generative AI features in Search (last updated 10 July 2026). In short: AI Overviews and AI Mode rely on Google's normal ranking and quality systems, so good SEO still applies.
- Pages must be indexed and allowed to show a snippet.
- Original, first-hand content beats generic summaries that AI could write itself.
- Google Search does not use llms.txt, and there is no special schema markup for AI features.
- Splitting content into small chunks or rewriting it “for AI” is not needed.
Other assistants publish less guidance. Plain, readable facts on normal pages work for all of them, so that is where to start.
SEO and AEO side by side
AEO builds on SEO. The foundations are the same; what changes is what the customer sees and how you measure it.
| Aspect | SEO | AEO |
|---|---|---|
| Where you appear | A list of links on a results page. | Inside a generated answer, often as one of a few named options. |
| What earns the spot | Rankings, backlinks and technical health. | Clear, verifiable answers to the exact question a customer asks. |
| What success looks like | Positions and clicks. | Mentions, citations and the enquiries that follow. |
| What MakeTrend does | Reads the public pages you already rank with and the searches that showed them. | Finds the missing answers, drafts them from your facts, and tracks samples after you publish. |
The six questions every website should answer
Whatever you sell, a visitor and an assistant need the same six answers. These are the questions MakeTrend's free check looks for.
- What do you offer?
- Who is it for?
- How does pricing work?
- What do customers say (reviews or a rating)?
- Where are the written answers to common questions?
- How does someone take the next step?
Local service businesses need a few more: the towns they serve, opening hours, a phone number, licences and warranties.
A practical AEO checklist
- Let search crawlers in. Check robots.txt does not block Googlebot, Bingbot, OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot or PerplexityBot from the pages you want named.
- Put facts in text. Prices, areas and services that live only in images or PDFs are easy to miss.
- One page per main offer. Use the customer's question as a heading and answer it in the first sentence.
- Show your evidence. Reviews, credentials, prices or price ranges, and how long you have operated.
- Keep details consistent. Your name, address and contact details should match across your site and business profiles.
- Measure the same questions over time. One answer is an anecdote; repeated, dated samples show a trend.
How to measure AEO honestly
AI answers change between runs, days and providers. A fair measurement asks a fixed set of questions on a schedule, keeps each answer with its date, provider and sources, and compares like with like. It also keeps answer samples separate from your enquiries, so a mention is not mistaken for a sale.
See how MakeTrend samples AI answers or read a real free check report.
Questions
Is AEO different from SEO?
Mostly no. Google says its AI features rely on the same ranking and quality systems as Search, so AEO starts with SEO basics. The difference is the result: a generated answer names a few businesses instead of listing ten links, so clear, quotable facts on your pages matter more.
Do I need llms.txt or special schema markup?
Not for Google. Google says Search does not use llms.txt and that there is no special schema markup for its AI features. Structured data still helps rich results. Other assistants publish less guidance, so the safe bet is plain, readable facts on normal pages.
Can anyone guarantee that ChatGPT will recommend my business?
No. Answers change from one run to the next and between providers. What you can do is make the facts easy to find and verify, then measure the same questions over time with enough runs to tell a change from noise.
How long does AEO take to show results?
Publishing a fix is quick; seeing it in answers takes as long as search indexes and assistants take to read the page again, often weeks. That is why MakeTrend compares answers across at least two dates before and after a change.