Answer Engine Optimization is the practice of optimizing websites to be cited by AI answer engines such as ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Microsoft Copilot and Grok. It is a discipline parallel to traditional SEO, designed for an internet where the primary search interface returns generated answers rather than blue links.
Answer Engine Optimization combines schema markup, llms.txt files, AI Instructions pages, entity strengthening, citation harvesting and answer-pattern content. Each lever increases the probability that an AI agent extracts and cites the brand when answering relevant queries.
ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews routinely answer high-intent commercial queries without sending users to source sites. Brands that are not cited become functionally invisible. Brands that are cited capture the attention and trust they used to earn through organic clicks.
Every retainer combines technical foundation (schema, llms.txt, AI Instructions), entity work (Wikipedia, Wikidata, sameAs links), citation surface work (Reddit, Quora, Stack Exchange placements), and answer-pattern content writing. The free Website AI Agent Readiness Check audits 50+ signals.
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