Answer engine optimization (AEO) is the practice of making a brand and its content more likely to be named and cited in the answers of AI assistants and AI search features.
Where SEO aims to rank a page in a list of links, AEO aims to be part of the answer itself. The work overlaps with SEO (crawlability, structured data, authority) and adds answer-specific measures such as Share of Answer.
AEO, GEO and “AI search optimization” are used almost interchangeably. See AI visibility vs. SEO.