AEO (answer engine optimization)
Answer engine optimization (AEO) is the practice of structuring content so that answer engines, such as AI assistants, voice assistants and search features that answer directly, can find, extract and quote it as the answer to a question.
Also called answer engine optimization
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- 1 source, linked
- 4 related terms
What it means
AEO grew out of featured snippets and voice search and now mostly means AI answers. It overlaps heavily with SEO, because an engine still has to crawl, index and trust a page before it quotes it. What changes is the unit of value, from a ranked page to a quoted passage.
In practice that means question-shaped headings, a direct one- or two-sentence answer right under each, facts stated plainly with numbers and names, and passages that make sense without the paragraphs around them. This glossary is written that way: every entry opens with a one-sentence definition.
There is no official AEO standard, and Google says no special optimization is needed for its AI features beyond the fundamentals. Treat AEO as disciplined editing, not a trick.
Why it matters for your website
For a treatment center the questions are predictable: does this program take my insurance, how long is detox, can I keep working during IOP, is this place accredited. Answer each on the page where it belongs, in a sentence a machine could quote without editing.
Pair those answers with structured data and consistent facts elsewhere on the web, so that when the quote comes, it is accurate.
Sources
The facts on this page about a law, a regulator, a clinical standard or a platform come from these sources. Each link opens the original in a new tab.
- Google Search CentralAI features and your website (opens in a new tab)
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See how your own site handles it
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