Be the direct answer. Not one of ten blue links.
In shortAEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) structures a page so it can serve as the direct answer to a customer question inside search. That includes the featured snippet at the top of Google results, a People Also Ask answer, and the summary of a Google AI Overview or AI Mode. Each page opens with a clear, quotable answer.
One answer, taken apart
The anatomy of one answer
A featured snippet looks like one clean box. Four parts sit underneath it, and each one is a choice the page makes.
1How much does a bookkeeper cost in Melbourne?
2A bookkeeper in Melbourne is usually paid by the hour or a fixed monthly fee. The price depends on how many transactions you have and whether payroll and BAS are included.
- Hourly: suited to a small number of transactions
- Monthly fee: suited to regular payroll and BAS
- Extras: catch-up work and software set-up
4Your practice’s website › Bookkeeping › Pricing
- The questionA heading that matches how the customer asks it, in their words.
- The answerTwo or three sentences straight after the heading that answer it on their own. This is the part a search engine can lift.
- The detailThe reasons, steps or list that follow, for the reader who wants more.
- The sourceYour page, so the answer points back to you.
A page missing any of these parts is harder to use as the answer.
Where it appears
Where direct answers appear
The formats differ, but each needs a clear question, a direct answer and a page that matches both.
Featured snippet
Sits at the top of Google results, above the ordinary links.
People Also Ask
A list of related questions, each with a short answer.
Do bookkeepers charge by the hour?
Many do, and some offer a fixed monthly fee. A good answer page states both and says which it offers.
Is a bookkeeper cheaper than an accountant?
Often, for day-to-day records. An answer page explains the difference in a sentence before it compares prices.
What does a bookkeeper do each month?
A short list answers this best: reconciling accounts, recording expenses, payroll and BAS preparation.
AI Overview and AI Mode
A generated summary above or within the results. It needs factual sections it can quote and a page it can link to.
Why it matters
Why one answer matters more now
Fewer clicks reach the links
When Google shows an AI summary, people click a regular result 8% of the time. Without one, 15%.
Question research, page by page
We start with the questions customers actually ask: your enquiries, the audit questions and the searches that reach your site. We group them by the page that should answer each one, so each page answers a few questions well.
AEO and GEO on the same answer
In search engines AEO aims for the single direct answer. In AI answers GEO aims for mentions and citations. We write each answer once, check it in both places and report the results together.
Measurement
How we measure it
Reported monthly against the baseline from your free audit, so every month starts from the same point.
- 01
Snippets won
Featured snippets and People Also Ask answers you hold.
- 02
Answer coverage
The share of tracked questions where your page is the answer.
- 03
AI Overview citations
How often a summary links to your page, and which pages hold the answers you have lost.
One roadmap
Part of one roadmap
AEO is one of four surfaces plus social. Every monthly plan covers all of them, scoped after your free score or audit.
Questions, answered.
Something else? Ask us directly, we reply within one business day.
What is the difference between AEO and GEO?
AEO works inside search engines and aims for the single direct answer: a featured snippet, a People Also Ask answer or an AI Overview. GEO works in standalone AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Perplexity and aims for mentions and citations. The same well-structured answer can help both, so we write it once, check it in both places and report the results together.
Is AEO the same as AIEO?
No. AEO is about answers inside search engines. AIEO is about whether AI agents and crawlers can reach, understand and act on your website, such as finding a price or booking an appointment. The two work together, but they have separate pages, tests and measures.
Do I need to write new pages to win answers?
Often not. We start by restructuring the pages you already have, so the answer comes first and the detail follows. We add new pages only where a customer question has no page that answers it. That decision follows the question research, not a set number of pages.
How long until I see results?
Technical fixes can show within weeks. Lasting gains in snippets and AI Overview citations usually take 3 to 6 months, depending on your starting point and competition. We report progress monthly from the first month, against the baseline in your audit, and each report shows what changed and why.
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