Search is no longer just Google
For twenty years we optimized sites for a list of ten blue links. But when someone asks ChatGPT what is the best tool for X, they do not see ten links: they see a direct answer with two or three names. If your brand is not in that answer, you do not exist for that person.
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) is the work of getting AI models to understand you, trust you, and cite you when they answer a question relevant to your product.
Why it matters right now
AI assistants have become the first place many people research: what to buy, what stack to use, who to hire. These answers are built from what the model was able to read and understand on the web. If your site is a black box to them, your competitor gets the mention.
And unlike Google, there is no second page here. Either you get cited or you do not.
What an answer engine looks at
- Whether your content can be read without running JavaScript, because many bots do not render.
- Whether you have structured data (schema.org) explaining what you are.
- Whether your
robots.txtlets bots like GPTBot or ClaudeBot through. - Whether you offer an
llms.txtfile that summarizes your site for models. - Whether your brand is clearly associated with what you do.
How to start without overwhelm
You do not need to rewrite your site. Start with the mechanics: check that your key pages return real text in the HTML, not an empty div filled in by JS. Then make sure you are not accidentally blocking AI bots. Add basic schema to your home and product pages. And write content that answers concrete questions, with clear headings and self-contained paragraphs that can be quoted as-is.
AEO does not replace SEO
AEO leans on many classic SEO foundations: useful content, good structure, authority. The difference is the output format. Think of AEO as a new layer on top of what you already do, not a replacement. Read more in SEO vs AEO.
Scanaris checks your AEO for you
The Scanaris AEO pillar reviews your llms.txt, your structured data, whether your content is readable without JS, and whether you block AI bots in robots.txt, and it gives you a ready-to-paste fix prompt for each thing that is missing. These are read-only checks on public information: it never touches your site.