What is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)?

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the practice of optimizing content so AI-powered answer engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews can discover, understand, and cite it. Unlike traditional SEO that focuses on search rankings, AEO focuses on being selected as the authoritative answer source by AI systems.

How does the 10-point scoring system work?

Our evidence-based scoring system evaluates pages across 7 weighted categories: Off-Site Authority & Brand Mentions (2.5 points) - third-party citations and multi-source validation; Answer Clarity & Question Coverage (2 points) - direct answers in first sentence; Content Originality & Information Gain (2 points) - unique data and case studies; Content Structure for LLM Parsing (1.5 points) - standalone sections that pass the Taco Bell Test; Specificity & Persona Targeting (1 point) - clear target audience; Freshness & Update Signals (0.5 points) - recency indicators; Schema Implementation (0.5 points) - FAQ, Article, and Person schema. Scores are justified with specific evidence from your page.

AEO/A

How AEO/A Works

Evidence-based optimization. Focus on information gain, content originality, and multi-source authority.

What is Answer Engine Optimization?

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO): The practice of optimizing content so AI-powered answer engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, Grok, and Google AI Overviews can discover, understand, and cite it. Unlike traditional SEO that focuses on search rankings, AEO focuses on being selected as the authoritative answer source by AI systems.

Key difference from SEO: While SEO optimizes for click-through rates and rankings, AEO optimizes for AI citation and extraction. This means structuring content with direct answers, conversational language, FAQ sections, schema markup, and contextually complete paragraphs.

Our Approach

Evidence-Based Focus

Based on research from 28+ industry experts. We audit what actually drives AI citations: off-site authority, content originality, answer clarity, and more. Information gain beats perfect structure.

10-Point Scoring System

Transparent scoring across 7 weighted categories with detailed justification and evidence from your pages. Every score applies the "Taco Bell Test" — each section must stand alone.

Actionable Reports

Get specific recommendations with implementation steps, content originality assessment, freshness evaluation, and quick wins prioritized by expert-validated impact.

10-Point Scoring Breakdown

Our evidence-based scoring system evaluates seven critical categories that determine AI answer engine visibility

Category	Points	What We Evaluate
Off-Site Authority & Brand Mentions	2.5	Third-party citations, multi-source validation, review platform presence, partnership mentions
Answer Clarity & Question Coverage	2.0	Direct answer in first sentence, context provided, fan-out query coverage, conversational language
Content Originality & Information Gain	2.0	Unique data/statistics, non-derivative content, case studies, expert quotes with credentials
Content Structure for LLM Parsing	1.5	Standalone sections (Taco Bell Test), list density, header hierarchy, FAQ sections
Specificity & Persona Targeting	1.0	Clear target audience, feature/use-case specificity, long-tail question coverage
Freshness & Update Signals	0.5	Visible modified/published date, recent updates, current statistics
Schema Implementation	0.5	FAQ schema, Article/HowTo schema, Person schema for authors
TOTAL	10.0

Why these categories? Research from 28+ industry experts shows these seven factors account for 80%+ of AI citation decisions. Pages scoring 7.0+ are significantly more likely to be referenced by ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude. Key insight: "Sea of sameness is death" — unique content with original data beats perfectly structured generic content.

How It Works

Start optimizing for AI answer engines in three simple steps

Provide URLs

Submit the web pages you want to optimize for AI answer engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude. You can provide URLs directly, upload a JSON file, or paste a list.

AI Analyzes Your Content

Our agent evaluates off-site authority, answer clarity, content originality, structure, specificity, freshness, and schema. Each page is scored across all 7 categories with specific evidence cited.

Get Quick Wins

Receive prioritized recommendations with specific implementation steps and expected impact on AI visibility. Most audits complete in 2-5 minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes AEO different from SEO?

SEO optimizes for search engine rankings and click-through rates. AEO optimizes for being cited and referenced by AI answer engines. This means focusing on direct answers in the first 50 words, conversational language, FAQ sections, schema markup, and contextually complete paragraphs that AI can extract and understand without ambiguity.

How long does an AEO audit take?

Most audits complete in 2-5 minutes per URL. You'll receive a detailed markdown report with your AEO score, strengths, critical gaps, and prioritized quick wins with implementation steps.

What do I get in an AEO audit report?

Each report includes: an overall AEO score out of 10, category-by-category breakdown with justification, specific strengths and weaknesses with page evidence, top 3 quick wins prioritized by impact, detailed recommendations table, and a content optimization checklist.

Which AI answer engines does AEO/A optimize for?

Our audits optimize for ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, Grok, and Google AI Overviews. The optimization principles apply across all AI systems that extract and cite web content as answer sources.

Can I audit multiple pages at once?

Yes! Submit multiple URLs and receive individual reports for each page plus a summary report showing score distribution, common gaps, and universal recommendations that benefit all pages.

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