AEO · AI Search
Answer engine optimization: be the business AI recommends.
What is AEO? Answer engine optimization structures your website so AI systems — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews — can find, understand, trust, and cite your business when buyers ask questions you answer. Search is splitting into rankings and answers; AEO is how you show up in the second one. StillAwake Media builds this from Montréal for clients anywhere.
AEO, GEO, AI SEO — the terms are messy. The work isn't.
You'll see answer engine optimization (AEO), generative engine optimization (GEO), AI search optimization, and LLM visibility used almost interchangeably. None of them is an official standard. Under every label, the same things decide whether AI cites you:
Entity clarity
One consistent, machine-readable identity: who you are, what you do, where, for whom — expressed in linked schema.org data, not just prose.
Answer-shaped content
Pages that state the answer — what a service is, what it costs, who it's for — in extractable sentences, not marketing fog.
Machine access
Clean semantic HTML, structured data that matches visible content, llms.txt, and crawlable architecture AI systems can parse.
Corroboration
Citations, directories, first-party data, and authorship signals that give engines reasons to trust you over a competitor.
Deliverables
- — AI-visibility audit: how ChatGPT, Perplexity & Gemini currently describe you
- — Entity graph + structured data implementation (Organization, Service, Offer, Person)
- — Answer-shaped rewrites of your key commercial pages
- — llms.txt + machine-readable business facts
- — Citation-source and directory development
- — Before/after AI-visibility comparison
Pricing & process
AEO engagements are custom-quoted — scope depends on your site's size and how machine-readable it already is. Describe your site through our async project intake; you'll get a written scope, timeline, and fixed price by email. No discovery call required. AEO pairs naturally with our SEO plans from $600 CAD/month.
Start the IntakeAEO questions, answered plainly
What is answer engine optimization (AEO)?
Answer engine optimization is the practice of structuring your website and business information so AI systems — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews — can find it, understand it, trust it, and cite it when people ask questions your business answers. It builds on SEO rather than replacing it.
What's the difference between AEO, GEO, and AI SEO?
They largely describe the same emerging discipline from different angles. AEO (answer engine optimization) focuses on being the answer engines' source; GEO (generative engine optimization) emphasizes generative AI results; 'AI SEO' and 'AI search optimization' are broader umbrella terms. The terminology hasn't standardized — the underlying work (entities, structured data, answer-shaped content, citations) is what matters.
How is AEO different from traditional SEO?
SEO earns positions on a results page; AEO earns citations inside a generated answer. AI engines lean harder on machine-readable signals: a consistent entity graph, structured data, clearly attributed authorship, extractable factual statements, and third-party corroboration. Good AEO work usually improves classic SEO at the same time.
What do you actually deliver?
An AI-visibility audit of how engines currently represent your business; entity and structured-data implementation (Organization, Service, pricing, authorship); answer-shaped rewrites of key pages; an llms.txt and machine-readable business facts; citation-source development; and before/after visibility checks across major AI engines.
How much does AEO cost?
AEO engagements are custom-quoted because scope depends on your site's size and current machine-readability. Describe your site through our project intake and you'll receive a written scope and price — asynchronously, no sales call.
Do you practice what you sell?
Yes — this site runs a consolidated schema.org entity graph, publishes llms.txt for AI crawlers, and exposes real service pricing in extractable form. The techniques on this page are the ones applied to it.