What is AEO? How to Get Cited by ChatGPT in 2026

Search is splitting in two. Half your buyers still type into Google. The other half are asking ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude — and getting answers without ever clicking a website. If your brand isn't in those answers, you're invisible to that half of the market.

What is AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)?

AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) is the practice of structuring your content, schema, and entity signals so that large language models — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Claude — cite your brand as a source when answering user questions. Unlike classic SEO which optimizes for blue-link rankings, AEO optimizes for being quoted, named, and linked inside AI-generated answers.

AEO vs SEO vs GEO — what's the difference?

SEO targets the 10 blue links. GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is the broader discipline of being visible in any generative AI surface, including AI shopping and image generators. AEO is the slice of GEO focused specifically on answer engines — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, AI Overviews — where users ask a question and get a written answer with citations. In practice, the three overlap heavily, and the techniques compound.

Why AEO matters in 2026

ChatGPT now has 800M+ weekly active users. Google AI Overviews appear on roughly half of all U.S. queries. Perplexity is the default 'research' engine for a fast-growing class of professionals. Click-through rates from traditional SERPs are dropping 30–60% on informational queries because the answer is rendered above the links. The brands cited inside those answers are the ones still capturing demand.

How does ChatGPT decide who to cite?

ChatGPT and Perplexity cite sources based on a mix of: retrieval relevance (does the page directly answer the question), entity authority (is the brand a known authority on this topic in the model's training data and live index), citation worthiness (clear definitions, statistics, primary research), and structural quality (proper schema, headings, dated content, and clean HTML). Pages that read like an encyclopedia entry — not a marketing brochure — get cited 5–10× more often.

The 9-step AEO playbook

1. Map the questions your buyers are asking AI engines. 2. Build pillar pages with question-led H2s and 40–60 word quotable answer blocks under each. 3. Add full schema: Article, FAQPage, HowTo, Product, Organization, Person — with sameAs links to your authoritative profiles. 4. Strengthen entity signals (Wikipedia, Wikidata, Crunchbase, LinkedIn, GitHub) so models recognize your brand as an entity, not a string. 5. Publish primary research, original data, and proprietary frameworks — these are catnip for citations. 6. Get cited by sources LLMs already trust (Reddit, Wikipedia, news outlets, top-tier industry blogs). 7. Add a clean llms.txt and AI-friendly robots.txt that explicitly allows training crawlers you want to index you. 8. Track citations weekly with tools like Profound, Otterly, or AthenaHQ. 9. Iterate — re-write pages that don't get cited until they do.

What kind of content gets cited most?

Definitions, statistics, comparisons, step-by-step processes, and contrarian takes backed by data. ChatGPT loves pages that answer 'what is X', 'X vs Y', 'how to X', and 'why X happens'. Vague, opinion-heavy thought-leadership rarely gets quoted — specific, structured, source-able content does.

Schema markup that drives AI citations

FAQPage schema is still the highest-leverage win — it makes your Q&A directly ingestible by LLMs. Pair it with Article (with author + datePublished + dateModified), Organization with sameAs, and Person schema for E-E-A-T signals. For ecommerce, Product + Review + AggregateRating drive AI shopping answers. Validate everything in Google's Rich Results test.

How to measure AEO performance

Track three layers: (1) Citation rate — how often your brand is mentioned in answers for target queries; (2) Share of voice — your citation count vs competitors on the same prompts; (3) Referral traffic from ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI surfaces in GA4 (filter by source/medium = chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, gemini.google.com). Set a baseline, then re-test the same prompts every two weeks.

Common AEO mistakes to avoid

Walls of marketing fluff with no quotable sentences. Missing or invalid schema. Hiding stats inside images instead of HTML. Blocking GPTBot and PerplexityBot in robots.txt 'just in case'. Treating AEO as a one-time project instead of an ongoing program. And the worst one — assuming classic SEO alone is enough. It isn't, not anymore.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is AEO replacing SEO?

No — AEO is layered on top of SEO. Classic ranking factors (technical health, backlinks, content depth) still matter, but AEO adds entity authority, schema, and citation-worthy structure as the new top of the stack. Brands that ignore AEO will keep ranking but lose share of voice in AI answers.

How long does it take to get cited by ChatGPT?

For brands with existing topical authority, 30–90 days is realistic once you ship AEO-optimized pillar content with schema. For new brands with no entity footprint, expect 4–6 months while Wikipedia, Wikidata, and authoritative third-party citations build up.

Do I need to block or allow GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, and PerplexityBot?

Allow them. Blocking AI crawlers is the fastest way to disappear from AI answers. The only exception is if you license your content commercially and want to negotiate paid access — otherwise, open the doors.

What is llms.txt and do I need one?

llms.txt is an emerging standard (similar to robots.txt) that tells LLMs which content on your site is canonical, structured, and safe to cite. It's not yet honored by every model, but it's a low-effort, high-upside addition — most serious brands now ship one.

How is AEO priced as a service?

My AEO & GEO engagements start at $4,500 for a one-off audit + 90-day implementation roadmap, and $3,500–$7,500/month for ongoing programs. Pricing scales with site size, target query universe, and whether I'm leading strategy only or executing the content + schema work too.

Can I do AEO myself or do I need a consultant?

Founders and in-house teams absolutely can — the playbook above is the whole game. A consultant accelerates it by knowing which prompts your buyers actually use, which schema combinations work today, and which content angles get cited fastest in your niche.