What is AEO, and how do I get into the direct answer?
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) is shaping a page so a direct answer can be lifted from it — a Google featured snippet or a paragraph inside an AI answer. What decides it is not length but structure: the question as a heading and the answer immediately below.
The difference from SEO is simple. SEO cares where you are in the list. AEO cares whether your paragraph is the one taken as the answer.
The format that works
Question as the heading. Not "Pricing" but "How much does an SEO audit cost". The heading should match what the person types.
Answer in the first paragraph. One or two sentences, no run-up, directly under the heading. If the answer starts in the fourth paragraph, nothing will pull it from there.
Forty to sixty words. Paragraphs of that length are the ones that fit a snippet — longer no longer fits, shorter does not answer.
A list or table when the answer has steps. For "how" questions systems usually take a numbered list; for comparisons, a table.
Structured data
FAQPage markup helps when the questions genuinely exist on the page. It is
not a trick: schema without matching visible content is a lie, and Google
penalises that separately.
The same goes for HowTo and QAPage. Content first, markup second.
What is not enough
Writing the question and then three paragraphs about why the topic matters is not enough. The system is looking for an answer, not context.
Structure alone is not enough either: if another page answers the same question better, the snippet goes there. AEO raises the odds; it does not guarantee.
A free scan checks whether pages contain questions with answers at all,
whether FAQPage markup exists, and whether it matches the visible content.
Frequently asked
How is AEO different from GEO?
AEO is about the direct answer — a Google snippet or an AI paragraph. GEO is broader: whether AI understands, cites and recommends your site at all. The structure work is the same for both.
Does a snippet steal clicks?
Sometimes, but it buys visibility and trust. For questions whose answer is one sentence, there often would have been no click either way.
Does FAQPage markup still work?
Google has heavily restricted showing it in results, but it remains useful: the structure helps models too, not only search.
How many questions should a page have?
As many as people actually ask. Three real questions with answers are worth more than ten invented ones nobody asked.
Check yours
A free scan shows which of the things described here your site already does, and which it does not.