Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)

Optimize your product to show up in LLM answers, not just search results

Ethan Smith
The ultimate guide to AEO: How to get ChatGPT to recommend your product

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)

"Answer Engine Optimization is how do I show up in LLMs as an answer? Everything that works in SEO works in AEO, but there are additional things beyond SEO that also work in AEO." - Ethan Smith

What It Is

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is a new channel for growth that focuses on getting your product or content to appear in AI-generated answers from ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and other LLMs. While SEO optimizes for search engine rankings, AEO optimizes for being recommended or cited in AI responses.

AEO is fundamentally related to search because LLMs use RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) to find and summarize information. The LLM runs a search, finds citations, and summarizes them. This means traditional SEO still matters, but there are additional strategies specific to AEO.

Webflow saw a 6X higher conversion rate from LLM traffic compared to Google Search traffic, making this channel not just new but potentially more valuable per visitor.

How It Works

AEO operates differently from SEO in two key ways:

The Head is Different: In Google, ranking #1 wins you the click. In LLMs, being #1 in citations doesn't guarantee being the top recommendation. The LLM summarizes multiple citations—whoever gets mentioned most often across citations typically becomes the #1 answer. This means startups can win immediately by getting mentioned across multiple sources, without needing domain authority.

The Tail is Larger: People ask longer, more specific questions in chat (average 25 words) versus search (average 6 words). The long tail of very specific questions is massive, and many have never been asked before. Companies can win by answering specific questions no one else addresses.

Two Categories of Optimization:

  1. Onsite - Traditional SEO landing pages, plus content answering follow-up questions about your product (features, use cases, integrations, etc.)

  2. Offsite - Citation optimization across multiple sources:

    • Video (YouTube, Vimeo)
    • UGC (Reddit, Quora)
    • Affiliates (Dotdash Meredith, TechRadar, Forbes)
    • Blogs and reviews

How to Apply It

  1. Identify target questions

    • Transform your paid search keywords into questions using ChatGPT
    • Mine questions from sales calls, customer support, and Reddit
    • Include both head terms and long-tail specific questions

  2. Set up tracking

    • Use an AEO/answer tracking tool (there are 60+ options)
    • Track share of voice (how often you appear) and average rank
    • Account for answer variance—ask questions multiple times across surfaces

  3. Analyze current citations

    • For each target question, identify which sources are being cited
    • Group citations: your site, video, UGC, affiliates, blogs
    • Note which content types appear most often

  4. Create landing pages

    • Match the page type that's appearing (listicle, category, article)
    • Answer all follow-up questions on the page
    • Address the long tail of specific use cases

  5. Execute citation strategy

    • YouTube/Vimeo: Create videos for B2B questions where few videos exist
    • Reddit: Comment authentically—state who you are, where you work, give useful info
    • Affiliates: Pay to be included in relevant lists (expensive but controllable)
    • Help center: Optimize for specific questions (see Help Center Optimization framework)

  6. Run experiments

    • Split questions into test and control groups
    • Intervene on test group only
    • Compare results after a few weeks
    • Reproduce successful tactics multiple times

When to Use It

Good fit for AEO:

  • Early-stage companies (unlike SEO, you don't need domain authority)
  • B2B SaaS with specific feature questions
  • Products with long-tail use cases
  • Companies already doing SEO (AEO is incremental)

Measure success differently by category:

  • B2B: Can't rely on click tracking—use post-conversion surveys ("How did you hear about us?")
  • Commerce: Use shoppable cards and rich snippets
  • Local/Marketplaces: Rich modules are more clickable

Current state:

  • Webflow gets 8% of signups from LLMs
  • Channel is growing rapidly (inflection point was January 2025)
  • ChatGPT is now driving more traffic than Twitter for some brands

Source

  • Guest: Ethan Smith
  • Episode: "The ultimate guide to AEO: How to get ChatGPT to recommend your product"
  • Key Discussion: (00:00:00 - 01:00:00) - Comprehensive discussion of AEO strategy
  • YouTube: Watch on YouTube

Related Frameworks

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