| name | aeo |
| description | Answer-engine optimization (AEO / GEO): make pages that get cited in AI answers — Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude — not just ranked in blue links. Use when the user mentions "AEO", "GEO", "answer engine optimization", "generative engine optimization", "AI Overviews", "get cited by ChatGPT / Perplexity / Google AI", "AI search visibility", "llms.txt", "answer-first content", "featured snippet", "FAQ schema for AI", or "why isn't my content showing up in AI answers". Every guideline here binds to a named, runnable pseolint `aeo/*` rule, so you can verify it instead of guessing. For building the pages at scale, see the `pseolint` (programmatic-seo) skill; for the audit itself, run the pseolint CLI/MCP. |
| metadata | {"version":"0.1.0","homepage":"https://pseolint.dev"} |
Answer-engine optimization, with teeth
Search is splitting in two: classic ranking, and being the source an AI answer
cites. AEO (a.k.a. GEO) is optimizing for the second. The May 2026 spam-policy
revision put manipulation of AI answers explicitly in scope — so the upside and
the risk are both real.
This skill is different from generic AEO advice: every recommendation maps to a
pseolint aeo/* rule you can actually run. You don't hope a page is
citable — you run pseolint and the rule tells you.
The AEO checklist — each line is an enforced rule
Thresholds live in the engine and drift; cite the rule and let
pseolint --explain <rule> (or the MCP rule resource) give the current number.
- Lead with the answer. A direct, self-contained answer (≈ first 300 chars,
in a
<p> right under the heading) is what gets extracted. Enforced by
aeo/answer-first.
- Be citable, not vague. Concrete, attributable facts — numbers, dates,
named sources — are what AI engines quote. Enforced by
aeo/citable-facts.
- Don't bait, deliver. Headlines that promise an answer the body never gives
get skipped (and look spammy). Enforced by
aeo/summary-bait.
- Modular, extractable structure. Self-contained sections under clear
headings extract cleanly; walls of prose don't. Enforced by
aeo/content-modularity.
- Answer the actual questions. Real FAQ coverage of the query's sub-questions.
Enforced by
aeo/faq-coverage.
- Show freshness. Visible, structured publish/modified dates — AI answers
favor current sources. Enforced by
aeo/freshness-signals.
- Let the answer engines in. Don't block AI crawlers (GPTBot, PerplexityBot,
Google-Extended, ClaudeBot) in robots. Enforced by
aeo/crawler-access
(honors Allow per RFC 9309).
- Ship
llms.txt. A machine-readable map of your canonical, citable content.
Enforced by aeo/llms-txt.
Verify — don't eyeball it
npx pseolint https://yoursite.com
Or call the pseolint MCP audit tool in an agent and read the aeo/* findings.
The same risk gate works in CI via @pseolint/action, so an AEO regression
can't ship silently.
The trap
AEO and anti-spam pull in opposite directions if you cheat: stuffing fake FAQs,
baiting summaries, or mass-generating "answer" pages is exactly the scaled-content
/ summary-bait pattern the engine (and SpamBrain) flags. Earn the citation with
real, well-structured answers — aeo/summary-bait and the spam/* family are
there to catch the shortcut.
Works with
pseolint (programmatic-seo) skill — when you're producing answer pages
at scale, design the template there (it covers thin-content, entity-swap,
and doorway risk); come back here for the per-page AEO layer.- pseolint engine — the MCP server (
@pseolint/mcp), CLI (npx pseolint),
and Action (@pseolint/action) are what turn this checklist into a verdict.
- OKF rule bundle (
/okf) + /methodology — the open knowledge behind
each aeo/* rule, with current thresholds.
