Answer engine optimization (AEO)
Answer engine optimization (AEO) is the practice of structuring content so that answer engines, including AI assistants, featured snippets and voice assistants, can lift a direct answer from it. The term predates generative assistants and is now used almost interchangeably with generative engine optimization (GEO).
What it looks like in practice
A page that opens with a complete answer to the question in its title, a FAQ whose headings are phrased the way people ask, and structured data generated from the same text so the markup and the schema cannot disagree. The same patterns make a page citable by generative assistants.
AEO versus GEO
AEO focused on extractable answers for a single answer box. GEO adds the generative layer: the assistant blends several sources and its own prior into one answer, so presence across the sources it trusts matters as much as the structure of any one page. Treat the two as one discipline.