Last Updated on July 28, 2026
AEO stands for answer engine optimisation. It is the practice of making your business easy for AI tools like ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Copilot to find, verify and quote when they answer a customer’s question.
SEO was about ranking in a list of links. AEO is about being the source an answer engine cites, or the business it names, when there is no list at all. The two overlap, but the emphasis shifts from keywords and positions to verifiable facts and clear answers.
What answer engines reward is unglamorous. Business details that match everywhere. A live Google Business Profile and clean directory listings. Reviews with recent dates. A Companies House record that checks out. Pages that state plain facts, prices and answers a machine can lift cleanly, rather than marketing wallpaper.
What they ignore is content that says nothing specific. An engine that has read ten thousand pages of “trusted local experts” does not need yours. It cites businesses that publish something checkable: a price, a number, a real answer to a real question.
Whito’s view (UK)
Most UK small businesses do not need an AEO consultant. They need the foundations AEO actually measures: consistent details, a verified record, live listings and pages that answer questions plainly. In our June 2026 AI Door Test, 92% of UK business websites gave AI crawlers no instructions at all. The bar is low. Being checkable clears it.
