Answer engine optimisation and generative engine optimisation are useful terms for a practical concern: can someone asking a detailed question discover and understand your business through an AI-assisted answer?
I would approach that concern with clear information, credible evidence and sound website fundamentals. AEO and GEO should improve how your expertise is communicated. They should not become an excuse to sell mysterious files or guaranteed AI mentions.
Understand what the platform actually requires
Google’s guidance for AI Overviews and AI Mode says established SEO practices remain relevant and that there are no special additional optimisations required for those features. It also says there is no special schema or AI text file you need to add. Source: Google’s AI features guidance.
That guidance concerns Google’s features; it should not be treated as a universal description of every answer engine. Different platforms can use different sources and controls. Ask a provider which platform a recommendation applies to and what evidence supports it.
My starting point would be a small set of real customer questions. “What does this service include?” is often a more useful brief than “optimise us for AI” with no audience or commercial context.
Answer one purchase question clearly on each relevant page
A service page should explain who the work is for, the problem it addresses, the deliverables and the next step. A comparison article should explain the trade-offs. A pricing page should distinguish fees from scope and exclusions.
Put a direct answer near the question, then develop it with examples and qualifications. This helps a human reader understand the page even if no AI system ever cites it. It also makes gaps in your own explanation easier to spot.
For example, instead of “complete growth solutions,” explain whether you provide strategy, creative production, implementation or supervision. If you offer all of those, show how a buyer selects the appropriate level of involvement.
Make evidence and identity easy to check
Use an accurate author biography, clear company information and consistent contact details. Where an article includes external facts, link to the underlying source and distinguish the source’s finding from your own interpretation.
Use real examples when you have permission to share them. Where you need a worked example, label it as hypothetical. An invented client success story is not a substitute for evidence.
Keep dates and limitations visible. A pricing survey from a previous year can be useful context, but it should not be presented as a current quotation. An image can explain a process, while the important answer should also be available as readable page text.
Check the technical basics without turning them into magic
Review whether the relevant pages can be accessed, whether internal links help readers find them and whether structured information matches what the page actually says. These are maintenance checks, not a guarantee of inclusion in an answer.
Google’s AI guidance emphasises accessible text, useful supporting media and consistency between structured data and visible content. Read the technical and content guidance. If a tool recommends markup that describes services, reviews or credentials you do not have, reject that recommendation.
Do not create dozens of near-identical pages just to repeat a query. Each page should earn its place by helping a distinct customer question. Google’s spam policies address scaled content created primarily to manipulate rankings. Source: Google Search spam policies.
Measure useful discovery, with the limitations visible
Keep a modest question set and record what you observe: the prompt, platform, date and whether the answer mentions or links to your business. Treat this as a sample, not a stable ranking position. Answers can vary, and an occasional mention does not establish a reliable trend.
Alongside that observation, look for relevant visits, enquiries and feedback about how people found you. Keep attribution uncertainty explicit. An AI mention without a click can be difficult to connect to a later sale.
I would start with your most important service and pricing pages, then add useful question-led articles. My AEO services and GEO services can be scoped around those priorities. For the wider background, read my introduction to AEO and GEO.
Test a page with a question-and-evidence worksheet
Write down the customer question, the page intended to answer it, the direct answer, the evidence supporting the answer and the next step for the reader. Leave a field blank when the information does not exist. That blank is a content task; adding another acronym to the page will not fill it.
For “Can you manage my existing marketing team?”, the answer should explain the supervision arrangement, who executes, what meetings are included and where package details can be checked. For “What does a website cost?”, explain the scope variables before offering a number.
Review the result with someone unfamiliar with the business. If they cannot explain what you offer or what the quoted price covers, improve the explanation before treating AI visibility as the main problem.
Frequently asked questions
Can someone guarantee that AI will recommend my business?
No. A provider can improve the information, evidence and technical accessibility of your site, but cannot guarantee a platform’s answer.
Do FAQs automatically make a page visible in AI answers?
No. FAQs are useful when they answer real questions accurately. Their presence alone does not guarantee visibility or citations.
Should I replace SEO with GEO?
I would treat them as connected work. Maintain sound search fundamentals while improving the clarity and usefulness of answers about your business.
Written by Kavish Arora. Sources reviewed on 13 September 2026. Illustrative scenarios are labelled; they are not client results or performance guarantees.
