What is AEO and how do you show up in ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude?
Nova “An AI does not cite you for repeating keywords. It cites you when your answer is clear, verifiable and easy to find.”
Quick answer
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) means preparing your site’s content so search engines and AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude can find it, understand it and use it as a source. It does not replace SEO: it builds on it and focuses on clear answers, verifiable facts and crawler access.
Key facts
| What it optimizes | Your content being found, understood and cited by AI assistants |
|---|---|
| Relationship to SEO | Complements it; Google says its AI features need no special optimizations |
| ChatGPT search crawler | OAI-SearchBot (must be allowed in robots.txt) |
| llms.txt | An emerging proposal; Google does not need it for its AI features |
| Guarantees | Nobody can guarantee an AI will cite you |
How is AEO different from SEO?
SEO aims to rank your page well in a list of results. AEO aims to make your content the source of an answer. In practice they share the same foundation: useful content, a crawlable site and consistent data.
What does a site need for an AI to cite it?
AI assistants cite content they can read and verify. What helps most is the same thing that helps a human reader.
- Allow search crawlers in robots.txt.
- Content visible in the HTML, not only rendered with JavaScript.
- Direct answers at the top of each page.
- Consistent company details: name, services, location and contact.
- Visible sources and dates when you state facts.
Is your site ready for an AI assistant to read and cite it?
See details and pricingWhat does Google say about its AI features?
Google states there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, and that you do not need to create new machine-readable files, AI text files or markup. The same SEO best practices apply.
How does ChatGPT reach your site?
OpenAI uses different agents. OAI-SearchBot surfaces sites in ChatGPT’s search features; GPTBot crawls content that may be used to train models. You can allow one and block the other in robots.txt.
Frequently asked questions
Does AEO replace SEO?
No. It complements it: without a crawlable, useful site, no AI assistant has anywhere to get your information from.
Does blocking GPTBot remove me from ChatGPT?
Not necessarily. GPTBot relates to model training; ChatGPT search uses OAI-SearchBot, which is controlled separately.
How much does an AEO service cost?
At CA, AEO setup starts at $125 USD. The monthly plan is listed on the product page.
You may also like
Related guides
Sources
- Google Search Central — AI features and your website
- OpenAI — Crawlers and user agents
- llmstxt.org — The /llms.txt proposal
Sources checked on the update date. This guide is informational and is not legal or tax advice.