Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) is the practice of structuring web content so that it is selected and surfaced directly as an answer by AI-powered systems such as Google’s AI Overviews, Bing Copilot, Perplexity, and ChatGPT Search, rather than merely appearing as a ranked blue link. Unlike traditional SEO, which aims for high positions in a results list, AEO focuses on earning the specific citation or verbatim quotation that an AI model includes in its generated response. Tactics include writing in concise, question-and-answer formats, marking up content with structured data such as FAQPage and HowTo schema, establishing topical authority on a narrow subject area, and ensuring that factual claims are corroborated across multiple authoritative sources so that models are more likely to ground their outputs in your content. AEO became a mainstream concern for SEO practitioners from late 2023 onwards as AI-generated answers began displacing traditional organic clicks.