For two decades, being 'findable' meant ranking on Google. That's still true — but a growing share of queries now get answered directly by AI engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Gemini. Showing up there is a different discipline, and it has two names you'll hear a lot: GEO and AEO.
What is GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)?
GEO is about making sure generative AI engines can access, understand and cite your content. The first hurdle is purely technical: AI crawlers like GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended and CCBot must not be blocked in your robots.txt. Then it's about clear, substantive, well-structured content an AI can confidently quote — plus emerging signals like an llms.txt file pointing AI to your best pages.
What is AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)?
AEO is about being the answer. Answer engines extract concise, direct responses to questions, so content that's structured as clear question-and-answer pairs — with FAQPage or QAPage structured data — is far more likely to be surfaced. Think question-style headings, a direct answer in the first sentence, and supporting detail underneath.
A practical GEO/AEO checklist
- Allow AI crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended, CCBot) in robots.txt.
- Publish genuinely useful, 300+ word, self-contained pages on your key topics.
- Use question-style headings and answer them directly and concisely.
- Add FAQPage / QAPage structured data where it fits.
- Strengthen entity clarity: Organization schema, author/E-E-A-T signals, and sameAs links.
- Consider an llms.txt file to guide AI engines to your best content.
How CrispAudit helps
CrispAudit gives your site separate GEO and AEO scores alongside classic SEO, checks AI-crawler access and llms.txt, flags thin content, and looks for the question/answer structure and schema that answer engines reward — with specific fixes for each.
Run a free audit to see your SEO, GEO and AEO scores side by side.
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