Is AEO the same as GEO?

Yes. GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) and AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) describe the same practice from slightly different angles, getting cited inside AI-generated answers.

Does AEO replace SEO?

No. SEO still drives the link-based search experience. AEO is the new layer on top, for the answer-based experience.

How long does AEO take to show results?

AI engines re-crawl quickly. With SiteSonar, most teams see citation lift inside 14 days.

What is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)?

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the practice of structuring a website so AI engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Google AI Overviews can read it, understand it, and quote it directly inside their generated answers. It is what SEO becomes when the click is replaced by a sentence inside an LLM.

Quick answer

AEO makes your content quotable by AI. The basics: answer the user's question in the first one or two sentences, mark it up with schema so engines know what the answer is, and keep a clean llms.txt so engines know which pages on your site matter.

How AEO is different from SEO

SEO	AEO
Ranks you in a list of links.	Gets you cited inside the answer.
Optimized for crawl + keywords.	Optimized for retrieval + quoting.
Click is the conversion.	Mention is the conversion.

What an AEO-ready page looks like

Answer-first. The lead sentence of each section answers the question directly.
Question headings. H2s phrased as the actual question buyers ask.
Schema. FAQPage, HowTo, and Article schema let engines extract clean facts.
llms.txt. A plain-text index that points AI crawlers at your most quotable pages.
Named entity. Use the brand name in citable sentences, not "we" or "it".

How SiteSonar does it

SiteSonar attaches to your live site, structures every page for AEO, configures llms.txt, and tracks where you are cited across engines. See the AI visibility capability →