AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) means optimizing your brand's presence inside AI-generated answers (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews), not in Google's list of links. The practical difference: SEO chases ranking position and clicks, while AEO chases being mentioned, cited, or recommended within the answer itself — often without any click at all.
Below: how AEO relates to GEO and LLMO, what being cited means versus merely mentioned, and what happens to the classic SEO budget.
Updated 2026-07-14 · Websem, AEO questions base
Practically, yes: all of them describe optimization for AI answer engines. GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is the preferred term in academic and enterprise circles, AEO in agency marketing; there's no real methodological difference, only a labeling one.
A mention means your brand name appears in the body of the answer (a recommendation). A citation means your site is listed as a source or link behind the answer. You can be cited without being recommended, and vice versa; a complete strategy tracks both.
AI Overviews draws on Google's index and ranking systems — classic SEO remains the foundation, plus a direct-answer structure. ChatGPT combines the model's memory with its own web search, so your presence in the sources it reads also matters: press, reviews, communities.
No. Answer engines feed on the very same ecosystem that SEO builds: indexable content, authority, citations. AEO is a layer on top of SEO, not a replacement for it — the budget gets rebalanced (typically 10–30% toward AEO), not moved wholesale.
The percentage of answers (within your monitored set of prompts) in which your brand appears, measured against competitors. Watch for the trap: if the prompt set includes prompts containing your brand name, the figure just measures your own name's echo, not the market — always ask for a brand vs. non-brand split.
This question is part of a base of 124 answers about AEO across 12 categories — from how LLMs work to budget, measurement and deliverables.