Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is optimizing to be the answer an AI or search engine gives directly, rather than one of ten blue links. SEO gets you ranked; AEO gets you quoted. As buyers read a single AI answer instead of scrolling results, being the cited source beats ranking third.
What changes with AEO
The unit of success shifts from position to presence: are you named in the answer, how prominently, and from which source. Clear answer-first writing, FAQ and Organization schema, and being a trusted citation matter more than keyword density or exact-match anchors.
AEO and GEO overlap heavily. GEO is the broader practice of winning across generative engines; AEO zooms in on being the answer itself. In practice you do both together.
Do you still need SEO?
Yes. Strong SEO fundamentals — crawlability, authority, good content — still feed AI answers, and classic search is not going away. The smart move is to extend SEO into the answer layer, measuring and optimizing for what the engines say, not just where you rank.