Questions,
answered directly.

An AEO-native website answers questions in its own markup rather than describing itself. In practice: a direct answer under every heading, headings phrased as the questions buyers ask, every figure carrying a named source and date, a connected entity graph, and content present in the initial HTML response rather than after JavaScript runs.

Answer engine optimization (AEO) is the practice of structuring content, entity signals, and third-party corroboration so that AI systems cite and recommend your brand. Unlike SEO, which competes for a position among ten links, AEO competes for inclusion inside a single synthesized answer that typically names only two or three brands.

To be cited by ChatGPT, allow GPTBot and OAI-SearchBot, serve content in the initial HTML response, publish comparison and list-format pages that answer specific questions in their first fifty words, deploy a connected schema graph, and build third-party mentions on the sources ChatGPT retrieves from.

AEO agency retainers range from roughly $2,500 per month for small business programs to $50,000 per month minimums at enterprise consultancies, with most mid-market engagements between $4,500 and $10,000 monthly. One-time AEO audits typically cost $1,500 to $5,000. Fewer than half of agencies publish rates.

Build a fixed set of 25 to 100 buyer questions, run them monthly across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Google AI Overviews, and record three outcomes separately: whether you are cited as a linked source, merely mentioned, or actively recommended as a preferred option.

Yes, but indirectly. Schema markup does not force citation. It helps AI systems resolve what your organization is, who runs it, and which web identities are the same entity — and that entity confidence is a prerequisite for a model staking a recommendation on you.

Technical and crawler fixes can affect live retrieval within days to weeks. Measurable citation movement across a prompt set typically takes three to four months, and compounding returns arrive between six and twelve, because citation depends on third-party corroboration accumulating rather than on-site changes alone.

For most businesses, no. Blocking AI crawlers removes you from the systems your buyers use for research, which is self-defeating if you want to be recommended. Publishers licensing content commercially have a legitimate reason to be selective; service and product businesses almost never do.

The five most common causes, in order of frequency: AI crawlers blocked at the CDN or in robots.txt, content that only exists after JavaScript runs, canonical tags pointing at another domain, no entity signals allowing a model to identify you, and no third-party corroboration giving it a reason to recommend you.