Answer engine optimization (AEO): being the answer, not just a link
AEO is the work that lets an answer engine quote you directly when someone asks a question in your category. We do it for B2B teams whose buyers now ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Google AI Overviews before they ever open a search results page.
The difference, plainly
AI search visibility has two halves, and they are not the same job.
AEO is about being the answer. Someone asks a question. An answer engine or a Google AI Overview returns one direct response. AEO is the work that makes your page the passage that response is built from: a clear question, a direct answer, and a machine readable structure around it.
GEO is about being cited. A generative engine writes a longer response from many sources and lists where it drew from. GEO is the work that makes your brand one of those sources, and it lives on its own page: GEO.
Same foundations, two different measurements. Most teams need both. We treat them as one practice, AI search visibility, and run them together.
What we do
- 01Entity optimizationWe define who you are as an entity: the company, the product, the category, the people. Then we make every mention of you on your site say the same thing in the same words, so a model resolves you to one thing rather than three.
- 02sameAs consolidationWe connect your site to the profiles that describe you elsewhere with `sameAs` links, so the entity graph points back to a single canonical you.
- 03Structured dataOrganization, Service, Article, BreadcrumbList and FAQPage schema, written to match the visible page and validated. FAQPage and Service schema do the heaviest lifting here, because they hand an engine a question and an answer already paired.
- 04Answer-first content architectureEvery page states the question as a heading and answers it in the first two sentences, before any setup. Passages are self contained, so a model can lift one without losing the meaning.
- 05Question coverageWe map the questions your buyers actually ask, including the long, spoken-style ones people only type into a chat box, and we build the page set that answers them.
- 06llms.txtWe write and publish an `llms.txt` file that tells AI crawlers what your site contains and which pages carry the definitive answers.
- 07Crawler accessWe check that AI crawlers are allowed where you want them and blocked where you do not, in robots rules and at the CDN.
- 08Citation trackingWe run your category questions against ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Google AI Overviews on a schedule, record what comes back, and log where you appear and where someone else does.
How we run it
We start with a written audit. We ask the engines your buyers' questions, record what each one returns today, and read your site against what we saw. You get a list: which questions you appear in, which you do not, what your content is missing structurally, and what to fix first.
Then we work in a rolling engagement, in this order.
- Set the entity. One description, one name form, one category, everywhere on the site. Consolidate with `sameAs`.
- Add the schema. Organization and Service first, then FAQPage and Article as the answer pages ship.
- Restructure the existing pages. Question headings, answer-first openings, self contained passages, and the internal links between them.
- Publish `llms.txt` and confirm crawler access.
- Write the answer set. A rolling plan of pages built around the questions the audit found unanswered.
- Track and adjust. We re-run the question set each month and change the plan based on what came back.
Each week you get a written update: what we shipped, what the tracking showed, what is next, and anything we need from you.
Deliverables
- Written AI search visibility audit with the current answer set recorded per engine
- Entity definition and the site-wide consistency pass
- `sameAs` consolidation across your profiles
- Structured data implemented and validated, including FAQPage and Service schema
- Answer-first rewrite of the existing pages
- Published `llms.txt` and a crawler access check
- New answer pages, written and published
- Monthly citation tracking report across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Google AI Overviews
- B2B SaaS teams whose buyers ask an AI assistant about the category and hear another company's name
- Marketing leaders watching organic clicks fall while the questions stay the same
- Teams with a real body of writing that no engine currently quotes
- Companies with a category to explain, where the definition itself is the thing worth owning
- Teams wanting a promise that a specific engine will name them. We do the work and we track the result. No engine sells placement, and neither do we.
- Sites with no substantive content. There has to be something worth quoting before we can make it quotable.
- Anyone hoping to skip the classic search foundation. If the crawl is broken, start with SEO.
Related services
Questions we get asked
What clients say
Tension Studio
Testimonial 1 of 3
I highly recommend Pravin as a Webflow dev. Impressive expertise, and great knowledge on integration with 3rd party apps for styling and CMS with Whalesync and Finsweet. He consistently delivered exceptional work. A pleasure to work with, communicating effectively and solving big hairy problems with ease. Often going above and beyond to get to the right solution. Work with Pravin if you want to partner with an expert Webflow developer. Highly recommend.
Johan Marais-PiperFounder, Tension StudioPravin is a talented Webflow developer. He went above and beyond on our website rebuild project. He implemented the designs faithfully and set up the project elegantly. He also suggested improvements and came up with creative solutions when we ran into roadblocks. He's also a nice person and was fun to work with. I'd recommend him highly for any Webflow project.
Thomas KaldorFounder & CEO, AjustPravin was an outstanding developer who helped me work on a few webflow projects. He was very timely and delivered all the projects on time. Pravin also went above and beyond while working on a project to help us fix some of our legacy challenges on our project. It was such a pleasure working with him and I'll continue to maintain the relationship to work with him on more projects.
Sefunmi OsinaikeCo Founder, Co.LabAsk the engines about your category. Then send us the site.
We review how you appear in Google search and in AI answers today, and we send you what we find in writing.
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