What Is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)?
What Is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)?
Published on AEO Checker June 14, 2025 by AEO Checker Team
The term Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) was popularized to describe optimizing for this new reality. Digital marketing thought leader Jason Barnard is credited with coining “Answer Engine Optimization” in 2018, foreseeing that as voice search and direct answers grew, marketers would need to move beyond classic SEO. Back then, AEO was often discussed in context of voice assistants (e.g. getting your content to be the one Alexa reads) and featured snippets (the answer box at the top of Google). Now in the mid-2020s, AEO has expanded to encompass all AI-driven search experiences, sometimes under other names like Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), Large Language Model Optimization (LLMO), Large Language Model SEO (LLM SEO), or even AI SEO. But regardless of the name, the goal is the same: to make your content the preferred one for user questions.
The New Industry of AEO
Jason Barnard’s early advocacy of AEO in 2018 was visionary. He noted voice search as a catalyst; today we see AI chat as another. Industry thought leaders like Alan D. Antin (Gartner) are echoing this, with quotes like “Generative AI solutions are becoming substitute answer engines”, forcing companies to rethink how they approach content writing. Content marketing strategies now must consider distribution beyond the click. It’s not just about ranking #1 on Google, but also about being referenced by ChatGPT, by Google’s AI overview, Gemini, Perplexity etc..
