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SEO & AEO

Answer engine optimisation

Clear answers, reliable evidence and accessible content that AI assistants can understand and cite.

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What is answer engine optimisation?

Answer engine optimisation (AEO) is the work of making your business easy for AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews to understand, trust and recommend. In practice it means clear answers on your website, structured data, and consistent business details and reviews across the web.

What problem does AEO solve?

When someone asks an AI assistant “Who’s a good physio in Paddington?”, it searches the web, reads websites, Google Business Profiles, directories and reviews, then names a handful of businesses. If your site doesn’t say clearly what you do, where and for whom, or your details differ between listings, the assistant has no reason to pick you, even if you’re the best option.

More customers now ask an assistant before they search. AEO makes sure that when they do, the information the assistant finds about you is clear, consistent and easy to quote.

What you get

Useful answer-led content with clear business context and factual support. Inclusion in AI answers is not guaranteed.

Answer engine optimisation

What’s included

  • Question research

    The questions customers actually ask before choosing a business like yours, gathered from your enquiries, Google and AI assistants.

  • Answer-led page content

    Each important question answered directly, in plain language, on the page where it belongs.

  • Evidence review

    Prices, credentials, reviews and past work made visible, because assistants favour specifics they can check.

  • Structured data

    Schema for your business, services, locations and FAQs, so machines read the facts without guessing.

  • Consistency check

    Your name, address, hours and services matched across your website, Google and the main directories.

  • Monitoring

    Regular checks of how ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity describe and cite you.

Who answer engine optimisation suits

A good fit for

  • Service businesses whose customers ask before they buy. Clinics, trades, accountants and lawyers: anyone people research before they call.
  • Businesses with an offer that’s hard to compare. When customers struggle to tell providers apart, clear answers make you the easy choice.
  • Businesses that rank on Google but aren’t named by AI. Search rankings and AI answers draw on overlapping but different signals.

Probably not the right fit if

  • You need enquiries next week. Google Ads will work faster.
  • You want a guaranteed mention. Nobody can honestly promise one.
  • Nobody searches for or asks about your service online. Referrals will do more.

How it works

How it works

  1. 01

    Find the questions

    What customers actually ask before choosing a business like yours.

  2. 02

    Answer them well

    Direct, factual answers on pages that search engines and AI assistants can read.

  3. 03

    Monitor

    Check how AI assistants describe and cite the business over time.

How long does AEO take to work?

Most businesses should plan on three to six months. Assistants that search the web live, such as Perplexity and ChatGPT search, can reflect changes sooner. Results depend on your competition and how much reliable information about your business already exists online.

How much does AEO cost?

AEO starts with the $950 AI & Search Visibility Audit, which shows where you’re mentioned today and who’s named instead. Setup and ongoing programmes are quoted on what the audit finds, with a fixed quote before any work starts.

See what each package includes

Questions

About answer engine optimisation

Can you guarantee we appear in AI answers?

No one can, and anyone who promises it is guessing. We make your business the clearest, most credible answer available, then show you how AI assistants describe you, so you can see what changes over time.

Is AEO different from SEO?

They share foundations. SEO helps your pages rank in search results; AEO helps your business appear in the answer itself, whether that’s an AI assistant’s reply or an answer box in Google. We run them together because the same work helps both.

Do I need to rebuild my website for AEO?

Usually not. Most of the work is content, structured data and listings. The audit tells you if your platform is holding you back, and we can make most fixes on a site we didn’t build.

What’s the difference between AEO and GEO?

They’re two names for much the same work. Generative engine optimisation (GEO) is the term used in research; answer engine optimisation (AEO) is the one most businesses use.

Which AI assistants do you check?

The audit checks ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity with 12 questions your customers actually ask, on two different days, because the answers change from one day to the next.

Further reading

SEO & AEO

More in SEO & AEO

Enquire

Talk to us about answer engine optimisation.

Tell us what you are working on and what you need. An outline is enough to start. We reply within one business day.

Prefer email? hello@vareonhq.com