AEO — Answer Engine Optimisation
Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) is the practice of structuring your content so that search engines and AI systems can extract it as a direct answer — appearing in featured snippets, Google AI Overviews, People Also Ask boxes, and voice assistant responses.
What Is an Answer Engine?
Traditional search engines return a list of links and let the user choose. Answer engines go one step further — they extract and display the answer directly, without requiring a click. Google's featured snippets (the box at position zero), AI Overviews, People Also Ask, and voice assistant responses are all answer engine outputs. Third-party AI tools like Perplexity, ChatGPT, and Bing Copilot operate in the same way.
AEO is about making your content the source these systems choose to quote.
Why AEO Matters Now
Google's AI Overviews now appear on a growing proportion of UK search queries — particularly informational searches beginning with What, How, Why, or Who. If your content is not structured for extraction, a competitor's will be used instead. Featured snippets alone typically achieve a click-through rate 2–8× higher than standard position one results.
AEO is not a replacement for traditional SEO — it is an extension of it. Pages that already rank well are far more likely to be selected for answer boxes.
Check 1: FAQ and HowTo Schema
FAQ schema (FAQPage) and HowTo schema (HowTo) are structured data types that explicitly tell Google and AI systems which parts of your page are questions and answers or step-by-step instructions. Pages with these schema types are directly eligible for rich results and AI answer sourcing.
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "FAQPage",
"mainEntity": [
{
"@type": "Question",
"name": "What is AEO?",
"acceptedAnswer": {
"@type": "Answer",
"text": "AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimisation — structuring content so AI and search engines can extract it as a direct answer."
}
}
]
}
</script>Check 2: Question-Format Headings
Google scans your headings when deciding what content to feature in People Also Ask and AI Overviews. Headings that begin with question words — What, Why, How, When, Where, Who, Which, Can, Does, Should — directly signal answer intent.
Our audit checks how many of your H2, H3, and H4 tags begin with a question word. Aim for at least three question-format headings on content pages.
Write: "How Should I Care for My Candle?"
Check 3: Featured Snippet Paragraph Length
For paragraph-style featured snippets, Google typically selects passages of 40–80 words that directly answer a question. This is known as the "snippet sweet spot". Our audit counts how many of your paragraphs fall within this range.
Structure your content so that immediately after each question-format heading, you write a concise, self-contained paragraph that answers the question directly. Avoid starting the answer with "I think" or "It depends" — begin with the answer itself.
H2: "What is the best temperature for storing soy candles?"
P: "Soy candles should be stored between 10–25°C, away from direct sunlight and heat sources. Temperatures above 30°C can cause the wax to soften and the scent to degrade faster. A cool, dark cupboard is ideal for long-term storage."
Check 4: List Structure
List-style featured snippets display your bullet points or numbered lists directly in the answer box. Google tends to show the first 4–8 items from a list. Use ordered lists (<ol>) for steps or rankings, and unordered lists (<ul>) for non-sequential items.
Make each list item concise and self-explanatory. Avoid long paragraphs inside list items — the extractable part is the list item text itself.
Check 5: Speakable Schema
Speakable schema marks specific sections of your page as suitable for text-to-speech conversion by Google Assistant and other voice systems. It is particularly useful for news publishers and informational content. While adoption is still limited, it future-proofs content for voice-first AI interfaces.
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "WebPage",
"speakable": {
"@type": "SpeakableSpecification",
"cssSelector": [".article-summary", "h1"]
}
}
</script>AEO Content Strategy
- Research "People Also Ask" questions — search your target keyword in Google and note every PAA question. Build a heading and answer paragraph for each one
- Use the inverted pyramid structure — lead with the answer, then expand with supporting detail
- Cover the full topic — AI Overviews pull from multiple sections of a page; comprehensive content wins more coverage
- Keep answers factual and accurate — AI systems avoid sourcing content with factual errors or contradictions
- Update regularly — fresh content with recent dates is preferred for time-sensitive topics