Answer Engine Optimization
When buyers ask ChatGPT or Perplexity who to use, the answer is a shortlist, and you're either on it or you aren't.
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Proof · Avantra
19.8% Visibility Score second only to SAP (92.4%) and ahead of DynaTrace (18.7%), Datadog (12.9%) and Splunk (12.7%).
Read the Avantra case studyWe track where your brand shows up in those answers across six AI platforms, topic by topic and against your competitors, then change your content, schema and entity details so the answer engines name you earlier and more often.
What's included
The work itself.
- 01
AI Visibility Audit
We check how often, and how early, your brand is named when people ask about your category on ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot and Meta AI, and how that compares with the competitors you're up against.
- 02
Answer-Shaped Content
AI engines lift direct answers. We put a clear, extractable answer near the top of each section instead of burying it in marketing copy, built around the questions your buyers actually ask.
- 03
Schema and Entity Signals
FAQPage, Organization and Service markup across your site, with your name, description and claims kept consistent from page to page, so the engines aren't reading two different versions of you.
- 04
Pages Crawlers Can Read
Real images instead of CSS backgrounds, content that doesn't need JavaScript to appear, and FAQs that are marked up rather than hidden in accordions. If a crawler can't read it, it can't cite it.
- 05
Topic-by-Topic Tracking
Visibility and average mention position for every topic area you want to own, measured against your competitors over time, so you can see which answers you're winning and which you aren't yet.
Scope
Every plan starts from your situation.
Every plan starts from the topics you want to be named for and the competitors you're measured against.
What shapes the scope
Topics You Want to Own
How many topic areas we track and build answers for. Avantra's engagement covered 10.
Competitors in the Frame
Who you're measured against in the answers, and how far ahead of you they already are.
Your Site Today
How much structural work comes first: schema, crawlable pages and answer-ready content.
Included in every plan
- Visibility tracking across six AI answer platforms
- Competitor benchmarking, topic by topic
- Schema and structured data
- Answer-shaped content for your key topics
- Regular visibility reporting
Questions
Asked and answered.
What Is AEO?
AEO, or answer engine optimization, is the work of getting your business named or cited inside AI-generated answers on platforms like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini and Perplexity, often with no click at all.
How Is AEO Different from SEO?
SEO gets you a ranked link that a person clicks. AEO gets your business named inside the answer itself, which matters more every time a buyer asks an AI assistant for a recommendation instead of searching.
How Do You Measure AEO?
We track how often your brand appears, and how early it's named, across the six major AI answer platforms, topic by topic, against the competitors you're up against. For Avantra that meant 10 SAP topic areas measured against SAP, DynaTrace, Datadog and Splunk.
How Long Does AEO Take?
Months, not weeks. The work on your site can move quickly, but how often AI assistants name you depends on authority built up over time, including mentions on other sites, and that takes longer to shift.
Do I Still Need SEO?
Yes. Most of what AEO relies on, like structured content, schema and a fast site crawlers can read, is the same groundwork good SEO lays. The two work best together.
Not sure which one you need?
See the work instead