aeolisted

# Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) **Get your content cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, and Mistral as the authoritative source.** AEO is the practice of optimizing content for **citation** in LLM-generated responses — distinct from SEO, which optimizes for search rankings. This skill audits, optimizes, and tracks AEO performance. ## Distinct From SEO | | SEO | AEO | |---|---|---| | **Optimizes for** | Click-through rankings | Being cited as authoritative source | | **Audience** | Humans browsing search results | LLMs answering questions | | **Success metric** | Position 1-10, organic traffic | Citation count across LLMs | | **Key signals** | Backlinks, keywords, page speed | E-E-A-T, structured data, factual density | | **Update cadence** | Weeks-to-months | Days-to-weeks (LLM training cycles) | Both can coexist — the same content can rank #1 on Google AND get cited by Perplexity. But the techniques differ: SEO rewards keyword density + backlinks; AEO rewards primary-source signals + structured facts. ## When To Use - Planning a new content piece for an AI-first audience - Auditing existing content for E-E-A-T gaps before AI Overview rollout - Tracking which pages get cited by which LLM (citation ledger) - Researching what queries LLMs cite sources for (vs. what they answer from training) - Benchmarking against competitors' citation rates - Building a long-term AEO strategy aligned with traditional SEO ## When NOT To Use - Pure click-through SEO without