AEO Services: Answer Engine Optimization That Gets You Quoted

AEO services make your business the answer that gets quoted: in Google's AI Overviews and featured snippets, in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude, and in voice search. I'm Lilach Bullock, a British marketer with 23 years in search. I rebuild the pages that matter so they open with the answer, back it up with specifics and get picked up where your buyers now read instead of click. If you're looking for answer engine optimization services, you work with me directly: I've built, scaled, and sold a digital marketing agency, and I was listed by Forbes in the Top 20 Social Media Power Influencers.

See your starting point with the free AI Visibility Checker, or tell me what you need.

What is answer engine optimization?

An answer engine doesn't give your buyer ten links. It gives them one answer, sometimes with a few sources underneath. Answer engine optimization is the work of making your page the one that answer comes from. It's less about keywords and more about questions: which questions your buyers ask, how you answer them, and whether the answer is easy to lift and hard to argue with.

What I found when I checked 300 searches

For my AI Overviews study I pulled live Google results for 300 small business marketing searches. Three findings shape how I do AEO for clients:

93% showed an AI Overview. For most questions your buyers type, an AI answer now sits above every ranking.
YouTube was cited on 57% of them. Answer engines quote video. If you only publish text, you're missing most of the sources they reach for.
Reddit was cited on 20%. Community answers count. What people say about you in public matters as much as what your own site says.

So AEO isn't just rewriting your website. It's making sure the right answer exists in the formats and places the engines already quote.

For every other piece of the puzzle, see my guide to ranking in AI search engines.

What's included in answer engine optimization services?

Question research. The exact questions your buyers ask, taken from your own Search Console data, live search results and the prompts people type into AI assistants.
Answer-first rewrites. Your key pages rebuilt so the first two sentences answer the question, followed by the specifics that make the answer worth quoting.
FAQ and schema. Question-and-answer sections with FAQPage and other structured data, so machines can read what a person can.
One set of facts about you. Your name, services, locations and credentials said the same way everywhere, so the engines trust them.
Answers beyond your site. Video and community answers where your buyers already look, planned with you and kept in your voice.
Monthly question tracking. The same question list re-checked across Google and the AI assistants, so progress is visible.

Proof from my own site

This page follows the same structure I use for clients: answer first, specifics next, questions at the end. The method works on my own site before it goes near yours.

AI assistant traffic to my site more than tripled in a month.
ChatGPT now sends readers to one of my free guides every day, a page I built answer-first from the top.
I publish my data. Every study is on my research page, with the method explained, free to cite.

My study of 400 local service searches shows how often Google answers before it shows a single business, and who it quotes.

How an AEO project runs

Questions. We agree the 30 to 50 questions that bring you buyers and I record who gets quoted for each today.
Answers. I rewrite or build the pages that should own those answers, starting with the ones closest to winning.
Proof. Schema, facts, examples and data added so each answer is specific enough to quote.
Presence. The answers you need outside your website, in video and community spaces, planned with you.
Re-check. The same questions tested every month, with a short plain-English report.

AEO vs SEO vs GEO in one minute

SEO gets your pages ranking in Google's list of links. AEO gets your answer quoted, in AI Overviews, snippets and assistants. GEO gets your business named when someone asks an AI who to use. They share foundations, and I run them as one plan. If you want everything under one roof, see my AI SEO services.

AEO by sector

Answer engines treat sectors differently. Finance is held to a higher trust bar, publishers fight AI Overviews for explainer traffic, and software and B2B buyers ask AI for shortlists. Read more on SEO for financial services, publisher SEO, SaaS SEO and B2B SEO.

For the real numbers behind this, read my SEO case study.

Frequently asked questions

What does AEO stand for?

AEO stands for answer engine optimization: making your content the answer that answer engines quote. Answer engines include Google's AI Overviews and featured snippets, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and voice assistants.

What are the top AEO platforms?

AEO platforms track whether answer engines quote or name your business for the questions you care about, and who they name instead. Some are dedicated AI visibility trackers, others are AI features added to the big SEO suites. I compare them in my guide to the best GEO and AEO tools, and you can run a free check with my AI Visibility Checker.

Is AEO replacing SEO?

No. AEO sits on top of SEO. Answer engines still lean on pages that are crawlable, trusted and well ranked, so the SEO foundations stay. AEO adds the structure and specifics that make your page the one they quote.

What are AEO services?

AEO services (answer engine optimization) make your business the source that answer engines quote. That means Google's AI Overviews and featured snippets, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and voice assistants. The work is mostly about how your pages answer questions: straight answers first, specific facts, clear structure and schema.

Is AEO the same as GEO?

Close, but not identical. AEO is about being the quoted answer, wherever the answer appears, including Google's own AI Overviews and snippets. GEO (generative engine optimization) is about being named inside AI assistants like ChatGPT. Most businesses need both, which is why my GEO services and AEO work share one baseline.

Do I need AEO if I already rank on page one?

Probably, yes. In my AI Overviews study, 93% of small business marketing searches showed an AI answer above the results. A page-one ranking under that box earns fewer clicks than it used to, unless your page is the one being quoted.

How do you measure AEO?

By the questions, not a single score. For each buyer question I record whether an AI Overview or snippet appears, whether it quotes you, and whether ChatGPT and the other assistants name you. We re-check the same list every month.

How much do AEO services cost?

It depends on how many pages and questions matter to your business. I scope it after a short conversation and give you a clear quote before anything starts. Begin on the work with me page.

Can AEO work for a small business?

Yes, and it often works faster for small businesses than big ones. A specific answer from someone who does the work beats a vague page from a big brand, and answer engines are good at spotting the difference.

Get your answers quoted

Start with the free AI Visibility Checker, then tell me about your business. Quick question first? Use my contact page.