What is Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO)?

AEO is the practice of structuring your online presence so AI assistants — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews — cite your business when answering relevant queries. Unlike SEO, AI engines select sources, not pages.

How does Citura calculate my AI visibility score?

Citura analyses 6 dimensions: robots.txt/llms.txt configuration, structured data (schema.org), answer-first content depth, agent.json presence, and active citation signals. Each dimension is weighted; the aggregate is your 0–100 score.

How long before I see results with Citura?

AI citation indexes update slowly — expect meaningful movement in 4–8 weeks. Your score improves within days as optimisations are deployed; actual citations follow as AI engines re-crawl your domain.

Does Citura guarantee AI citations?

No. Citura sells the system and the signals — not a placement. Anyone promising "rank #1 in ChatGPT" is misleading you. We make your business structurally citable; the AI engine decides when to cite.

Is my data safe with Citura?

Citura only analyses publicly accessible data on your domain. No credentials are required. All processing runs on EU infrastructure (Google Cloud Run, region europe-west6).

Is AEO the same as GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)?

GEO and AEO describe the same underlying discipline from slightly different angles. GEO (coined by Princeton researchers in 2023) emphasizes optimizing for generative AI outputs broadly. AEO focuses specifically on answer engines — systems that synthesize direct answers. In practice, the tactics are identical. Citura uses AEO as the primary term because it is more descriptive of the user intent (getting cited as an answer source).

Does my Google ranking affect my AEO performance?

Indirectly, yes. AI engines bias toward domains that appear frequently in their training data, which correlates with backlink authority — a key SEO signal. However, a page can be poorly ranked in Google and still be cited by ChatGPT if it provides the best direct answer to a specific query. AEO and SEO are complementary, not redundant.

Which AI engines should I prioritize for AEO?

Start with Google AI Overviews (largest volume, integrates with existing search intent), then Perplexity (fast-growing, used heavily by professionals and researchers), then ChatGPT with web search enabled. Claude and Gemini Advanced have smaller query volumes for web-sourced answers but are growing. A robust AEO implementation covers all of them through the same structural improvements.

Can small businesses compete with large brands in AEO?

Yes — more easily than in traditional SEO. AI engines favor specificity and direct answers over domain size. A local accounting firm that provides a precise, well-structured answer to "How do Swiss SMEs file VAT?" can outcompete a large generalist platform that buries the answer. AEO rewards expertise expressed clearly, not just domain authority.

How do I know if I am currently being cited by AI engines?

The only reliable method is active monitoring: send target queries to each AI engine and record whether your domain appears in the cited sources. Manual testing is time-consuming; automated monitoring (as Citura's Pro plan provides) runs this weekly across multiple engines and tracks your citation rate over time.

What is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)?

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the practice of structuring your online presence so AI assistants like ChatGPT and Perplexity cite your business. Learn the exact definition, how it differs from SEO, and what signals matter.

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the discipline of structuring your website's content, metadata, and technical signals so that AI-powered assistants — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Claude — select your business as a cited source when answering user queries. Unlike SEO, AEO targets the AI engine's source-selection logic, not a search ranking algorithm.

Why AEO exists now

In 2023, generative AI assistants moved from research tools to primary information interfaces. Perplexity passed 100 million monthly queries in early 2024. Google AI Overviews now appear in over 40% of informational searches. OpenAI's ChatGPT with web search activated processes millions of queries daily that previously went to Google. Each of these systems selects sources — they do not rank pages. That source-selection mechanism is what AEO targets.

The core shift: a user who asks "What is the best accounting software for Swiss SMEs?" no longer gets a list of blue links they must evaluate. They get a direct answer with three to five sources cited inline. If your business is not in those sources, you are invisible regardless of your Google rank.

How AI engines select sources

Current research and observed behavior point to four primary selection factors:

Factual density and answer-first structure — the page must provide a direct, complete answer in the first 40–60 words. AI engines excerpt the most answer-like passage; pages that bury the answer lose.
Structured data signals — schema.org markup (FAQPage, HowTo, Article, LocalBusiness) makes content machine-parseable. Pages with valid JSON-LD are significantly more likely to be cited.
Domain authority and backlink trust — AI training data biases toward frequently-cited domains. This means SEO domain authority still matters, but it is a floor condition, not the differentiator.
AI-specific technical readiness — llms.txt, agent.json, and a correctly configured robots.txt that allows AI crawlers are signals that modern AI engines actively check.

AEO vs SEO: the key difference

SEO optimizes for ranking position in a list. AEO optimizes for selection as a cited source in a synthesized answer. SEO success means appearing on page one. AEO success means being the source the AI quotes. A business can rank #1 in Google and be completely absent from ChatGPT answers — they are independent systems.

What an AEO audit covers

A full AEO audit examines six dimensions:

AI crawler access — robots.txt, llms.txt, agent.json presence and correctness
Structured data — FAQPage, Article, Organization, LocalBusiness schema validity
Answer-first content — does each key page provide a direct answer in the first paragraph?
Citation signals — is the domain mentioned in AI training sources, Wikipedia, industry directories?
Technical crawlability — page speed, canonical tags, sitemap freshness
Active monitoring — real queries sent to AI engines to measure actual citation frequency

How long before AEO shows results

AI citation indexes update slowly. Google AI Overviews re-crawl sources on a cycle similar to regular search (days to weeks). Perplexity and ChatGPT with live web search update faster. Expect measurable changes in citation frequency within 4–8 weeks of implementing structural improvements. Automated monitoring — querying the AI engines weekly with target queries — is the only reliable way to measure progress.

First steps for any business

Start with three actions: (1) add a llms.txt file to your root domain that describes your business in plain language; (2) add FAQPage schema to your top five landing pages with real questions your customers ask; (3) rewrite the first paragraph of each page to provide the direct answer before any context or preamble. These three changes address the most common AEO deficits and can be implemented without a technical team.