AI SEO. The new ground floor.
60% of searches now end without a click. ~55% of B2B buyers research inside AI assistants before Google. AEO/GEO is not an SEO upsell — it's the new search baseline.
AEO + GEO = visibility inside ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, and Google AI Overviews. From $1,199 audit, $5,499 sprint, $1,799/mo retainer. Schema + llms.txt indexed in 2–6 weeks; first citations typically 4–8 weeks.
Brand marks © their respective owners
AEO + GEO, defined for the answer-engine era.
The discipline.
AI SEO is the practice of optimising a website so it appears, gets cited, and is recommended inside AI answer engines — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Brave Search AI, You.com, DuckAssist, and Google AI Overviews. The discipline is sometimes called AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) or GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation); we use both terms interchangeably because they describe the same engineering surface — different vendors and consultancies coined them in parallel.
Why it matters now.
60% of Google searches now end without a click as AI Overviews answer queries directly inside the SERP. ~55% of B2B buyers research inside ChatGPT or Perplexity before opening Google. AI engines are the first surface most consideration-stage buyers see — and the engines select sources by structured signals, not by ranking position. Brands that are not optimised for AI engines today are increasingly invisible to category-defining buyer journeys.
What we ship.
Full Schema graph deployment (Organization, Service, Product, FAQ, Article, Speakable, BreadcrumbList — validated against schema.org spec), llms.txt + llms-full.txt drafted from your real content (not boilerplate), content rebuilds for AI quotability (TL;DR opening + structured Q&A subheads + citable original stats + author-attributed bylines), entity SEO (Wikipedia + Wikidata + brand-mention strategy + third-party publication adjacency), and citation tracking across all four major answer engines via AthenaHQ + Profound + monthly manual audits. Measured pre/post against your own baseline, not vibes.
Six productised AEO + GEO sub-services. Mix by your priority.
Schema engineering
Full schema graph deployment across Organization, Service, Person, Article, FAQ, Speakable, Product, Offer, BreadcrumbList. Validated against schema.org spec, indexed in Search Console, monitored monthly. The single highest-leverage AEO foundation — without schema, AI engines treat your content as unstructured text.
llms.txt + llms-full.txt
Drafted from your real content, not boilerplate. Defines crawl + use policy for AI engines, surfaces your canonical answers, and forces content organisation as answer-engine surface. Read directly by Perplexity, You.com, Brave AI, several Cohere-trained models in 2026; adoption expanding.
AEO content rebuild
Top 20–50 commercial-intent pages restructured for AI quotability: TL;DR opening block, structured Q&A subheads, citable original stats, author-attributed bylines with credentials in Person schema, comparison content where category buyers research. AI-first format ranks better in Google too.
Entity SEO
Wikipedia + Wikidata work where eligible (notability requirements apply), brand-mention earning through digital PR + research + podcast outreach, sameAs graph (LinkedIn, X, GitHub, YouTube), category-publication adjacency. Entity authority is what AI engines weight when selecting sources to cite.
Citation tracking
AthenaHQ + Profound + Otterly automated tracking across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude on your category prompts. Monthly manual audits to validate. Citation count, citation position, source attribution, share-of-voice vs category leaders. Reported month-over-month against baseline.
AI Overview recovery
For brands that lost organic traffic to Google AI Overviews (typical loss range: 20–60% on affected query clusters). Click-loss audit + schema + content rebuild + entity work + tracking — restoring AI citation density alongside Google rank recovery. See /ai-overviews-recovery/ for the dedicated sprint pattern.
Why answer engines are already the dominant search surface in 2026.
Why AEO is not an SEO upsell. It's the new baseline.
BOTTOM LINE: BOTH SURFACES, ONE PROGRAMME. AEO IS NOT A REPLACEMENT FOR SEO; IT IS THE NEW SECOND HALF OF EVERY SEO STRATEGY.
Brands serious about being inside the answer — not under it.
Brands that lost organic traffic
Down 20–60% since AI Overviews launched? You're the prime AEO recovery candidate.
B2B SaaS founders
~55%+ of buyers now research inside ChatGPT/Perplexity. If you're not cited, you're not on the shortlist.
DTC brands in saturated categories
When ad CPMs spike, AEO citation becomes the highest-margin acquisition lever.
Mid-market brands building entity graph
Wikipedia + Wikidata + brand-mention strategy — single highest-leverage AEO signal.
Audit → engineer → cite. Measured, not vibes.
AEO baseline + audit
Schema map. llms.txt review. AI visibility baseline across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude. Competitor citation density.
Schema + llms.txt rollout
Full Organization + Person + Service + FAQPage + Article + Speakable graph deployed. llms.txt drafted from real site content.
Content rebuild (top 20)
Top 20 commercial-intent pages restructured for AEO: TL;DR, structured Q&A, citable stats, original data.
Entity SEO + monitoring
Wikipedia/Wikidata work where eligible. AthenaHQ/Otterly tracking live. First weekly Loom.
Compound
Monthly new schema. Citation reclamation. Brand-mention PR for the sources AI engines cite. Quarterly content audit.
What ships when you choose us.
AEO scoring
Baseline + monthly tracking across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude.
Schema engineering
Full Organization, Person, Service, FAQ, Article, Speakable graph.
llms.txt strategy
Drafted from real site content, not boilerplate. Refreshed quarterly.
Entity SEO
Wikipedia, Wikidata, LinkedIn, GitHub, brand-mention strategy.
Content rebuilds
Top pages restructured for AI quotability — TL;DR, Q&A, original data.
Citation reclamation
When AI quotes you without linking — we close the loop with publishers.
Three tiers. USD. AEO-first.
Schema map · llms.txt review · AI visibility baseline · CWV snapshot.
- Schema + llms.txt audit
- AI visibility baseline (4 engines)
- Competitor citation density
- Prioritised fix list
Audit + ship: full schema graph · llms.txt deployed · top 20 commercial queries rebuilt · A/B vs pre-baseline.
- Everything in Audit
- Full schema graph deployed
- llms.txt live
- Top 20 pages rebuilt
- 30-day post-sprint monitoring
16 hrs/mo · new schema for new content · monthly citation report · quarterly review.
- 16 hrs/mo allocation
- Ongoing schema work
- Citation reclamation
- Monthly AI visibility report
Migrated content for AI quotability. Restructured top 60 commercial pages with TL;DR, structured Q&A, citable stats. Now cited inside ChatGPT and Perplexity for 14 of their 20 priority commercial queries.
AEO questions we get most.
What's the difference between AEO and GEO? +
AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) is the umbrella for ChatGPT/Perplexity/Gemini visibility. GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) is the same thing — different vendor terminology. We deliver both.
How do you measure AI visibility? +
AthenaHQ / Profound / Otterly for automated tracking + monthly manual audits across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude on category prompts. Citation count, position, source attribution.
How long until I see citations? +
Schema + llms.txt: 2–6 weeks for indexing. Content rebuilds: 4–8 weeks before first citations appear. Brand-mention strategy: 3–6 months for compounding.
Is llms.txt actually used? +
Yes, by some engines as of 2026 — but the larger value is the entity graph it implies. Don't skip it. Plan for it to matter more, not less.
Do AI Overviews count as AEO? +
Yes. Google AI Overviews are answer-engine output. Same playbook — schema, citable structure, entity authority — gets you in.
Will my SEO suffer? +
Opposite. AEO-structured content ranks better in Google too — clear summaries, structured Q&A, and authoritative schema all help traditional ranking.
How much does AI SEO (AEO + GEO) cost? +
Three productised tiers in USD: AEO Audit $1,199 (2 weeks, one-off), AEO Sprint $5,499 (4 weeks, audit + ship full schema graph + llms.txt + top 20 pages rebuilt), AEO Retainer from $1,799/mo (16 hrs/mo ongoing schema + monthly citation report). No long-term lock-in.
What's included in the AEO Sprint? +
Schema map audit, full Organization + Person + Service + FAQ + Article + Speakable graph deployed, llms.txt drafted from real site content, top 20 commercial-intent pages restructured for AI quotability (TL;DR + structured Q&A + citable stats), Wikipedia/Wikidata work where eligible, AthenaHQ tracking live, 30-day post-sprint monitoring.
Get your AEO score in 60 seconds.
Submit your domain. Our AEO Score Tool benchmarks visibility across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude — and shows your gap to the category leader.