Technical.Graffiti

What is AEO? Answer Engine Optimisation for Businesses

What is AEO?
Answer Engine Optimisation explained.

A search engine returns links. An answer engine returns an answer.

AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimisation — the practice of making your business the answer AI gives, not just a result it lists.

What an answer engine is.

When you ask ChatGPT "who does emergency boiler repair in Northampton," it names one or two businesses and tells you why. There is no list. There is no position two, three, or four. There is an answer, and either your business is in it or it is not.

Why this is different from ranking number one on Google.

Ranking number one on Google means appearing at the top of a list of ten results. A proportion of searchers click your link.

Being the answer in an AI response is categorically different.

The customer asks, the AI answers, the customer acts. The entire journey from question to contact can happen without your website ever being seen by a human eye.

Ai checker score card

Does your site pass the AI visibility check?

The only proof that matters is your own.

Run the free check on your own domain. Whatever comes back is real — generated live, against your actual website, in front of you. Nobody can fake that on your behalf.

Free · 60 seconds · No account needed

Check my AI visibility — free, 60 seconds →

How AI engines
decide who to recommend.

01

Structured Data
Schema markup tells an AI engine your business name, type, services, location, and contact details in a format machines can read directly.
Without it, AI infers from your text. Inferences do not generate confident recommendations

02

Named entity recognition
AI engines build knowledge graphs of which businesses exist, what they do, and where.
To appear in that graph, your business needs to be consistently identified by name, address, and category across multiple sources.

03

Content that directly answers questions
AI engines pull from FAQ sections, definition pages and clearly structured explanatory content.

If your website answers the questions your customers are asking, there is something for the AI to cite.
If it is a list of services with no explanatory content, there is nothing for it to use.

AEO for local businesses specifically.

Most small UK businesses have not taken any steps to optimise for AI answers. They have not added schema markup. They do not have an llms.txt file. Their citations are inconsistent.
That is a genuine competitive advantage for any business that acts now.
Get found by AI. In minutes.

Don't let your competitor be the answer.
Make sure it's you.

Your AI visibility files - generated and delivered automatically in minutes.

Over 90% of businesses are completely invisible to AI search. When a customer asks ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity for a recommendation, the engines only cite the rare brands they can technically verify.

If that isn’t you, your rival gets the lead.

Secure your digital footprint before your competitors wake up to GEO.

Free · 60 seconds · No account needed

Check my AI visibility — free, 60 seconds →

Technical.Graffiti

© 2026 Technical Graffiti Ltd
· Company No. 07180346
· Registered in England & Wales
· ICO No. C1894540