What people mean by AEO
AEO stands for answer engine optimisation. It's the work of getting your business named, quoted or linked in AI answers: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google's AI Overviews, Copilot and the rest. You'll also see GEO, generative engine optimisation, used for roughly the same thing.
Some people call it a new discipline. Others say it's SEO with a new label so agencies can sell it twice. After two years of doing it for clients, our view sits in the middle.
The part that's the same
Most of what helps you in AI answers already helped you in Google. Pages that answer a question clearly and early. A site search engines can crawl without trouble. Content written by people who know the subject. Reviews and mentions on other sites. If your SEO is in good shape, you're most of the way there.
The part that's different
A few things matter more for AI answers than they ever did for the ten blue links:
- Mentions without links. AI tools seem to count a brand being discussed on forums, news sites and lists, even when nobody links to it.
- Consistency. If your prices, services or locations differ between your site, your Google profile and directories, AI answers repeat the wrong version or leave you out.
- Exact questions. A page titled after the question people ask tends to get quoted more than a general services page.
- Language. Answers in Arabic draw on different sources than answers in English, so you need to show up in both.
Then there's measurement. Search Console doesn't tell you how often ChatGPT names you. You have to run the prompts yourself and track the answers over time, which is what we did in our Dubai study.
So is it real?
Yes, but it isn't separate. If someone offers you an AEO package that ignores your SEO basics, be careful. If your SEO agency has never looked at what AI tools say about you, ask them to. The best results we've seen come from treating it as one job.
- AI search
- AEO
- GEO
Rania Haddad
Rania leads AI search at AdAscend. Before that she spent six years running SEO for a regional property portal. She reads Arabic search results for fun, which we've stopped questioning.
