What is answer engine optimization (AEO)?
Answer engine optimization is the work of getting your brand named and your pages cited in AI answers. What it means, how to measure it, and where to start.
What is answer engine optimization?
At a glance
| Also called | Generative engine optimization (GEO), AI search optimization |
|---|---|
| Goal | Be named and cited in AI answers |
| Measured by | Mention rate and citation rate on a fixed set of prompts |
| Manifold tools | aeo_run_ai_answers, aeo_search_prompts, aeo_get_site_readiness |
AEO in one line
SEO tries to win a place in a list of links. AEO tries to be the answer: your brand named in the text, and your page linked as the source.
How AI engines pick what to say
ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI features search the web while they answer, read a handful of pages and write from them. So AEO has two halves:
- Be readable. The engines' crawlers must be allowed in, by your
robots.txtand by your CDN, and your content must be in the page's HTML without JavaScript. - Be in the sources they read. Your own pages, and the third-party pages the engines keep citing for your category: GitHub lists, Reddit threads, roundup articles, directories, videos.
How to measure it
Pick the questions your buyers ask at each stage, from "how do I…" to "is X free", run them on each engine, and count two rates:
| Rate | What it counts |
|---|---|
| Mention rate | Answers that name your brand |
| Citation rate | Answers that link a page on your site |
Keep the questions fixed and re-run them every few weeks. Answers change from run to run, so compare rates, not single answers. Our own AI visibility baseline shows the method with real numbers.
Doing it with Manifold
Your agent can run any question on ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews and AI Mode with aeo_run_ai_answers, at 27 credits a question on the five default engines, and see every brand named and every page cited. aeo_search_prompts shows questions people already ask the engines, and aeo_get_site_readiness checks for free whether the crawlers can read your site.
