| name | answer-engine-optimization-playbook |
| description | Strategies for getting products and content cited within LLM responses (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude). Use this when launching a new product, seeing referral traffic from AI agents, or trying to capture high-intent users who have moved from Google search to chat interfaces. |
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the practice of ensuring your product is cited as the primary answer in Large Language Models (LLMs). Unlike traditional SEO, which focuses on winning a "blue link," AEO focuses on being summarized as a top recommendation across multiple citations.
The AEO Core Principles
- Mentions Over Ranking: LLMs summarize multiple citations. To "win" an answer, you must be mentioned most frequently across the sources the LLM retrieves.
- The Long Tail is Back: While Google searches average 6 words, LLM prompts average 25 words. Optimize for highly specific, conversational follow-up questions.
- Zero Domain Authority Barrier: Early-stage startups can win AEO immediately by getting mentioned in a single trusted Reddit thread or YouTube video, bypassing the years of authority-building required for Google.
Step-by-Step AEO Workflow
1. Identify High-Intent Questions
Move beyond keywords to full questions.
- Mine Sales/Support Data: Identify the exact questions customers ask on calls or in support tickets. These reflect the "long tail" prompts they use in LLMs.
- Convert Paid Search Data: Take your high-converting PPC keywords and use an LLM to "Turn these keywords into the 10 most common questions a buyer would ask."
- Target the "Follow-up": Anticipate the second and third questions (e.g., "Does this integrate with Looker?", "What is the specific pricing for 50 seats?").
2. Optimize On-Site Content (The "Help Center" Strategy)
- Subdirectory vs. Subdomain: Move all help center and documentation content to a subdirectory (e.g., ) rather than a subdomain () to consolidate authority.
