Question research
We build the list of questions your buyers ask assistants — from search data, sales calls, and the engines themselves — and score each by intent and winnability.
AEO · Own the questions that convert
Answer engine optimization: be the answer, not a result
Your buyers ask assistants direct questions and get one answer back. Our answer engine optimization services make sure that answer names you — for the questions that actually drive revenue.
What is answer engine optimization?
Answer engine optimization (AEO) is the practice of winning specific questions in AI assistants and answer boxes — so when someone asks "what's the best X for Y" or "how do I solve Z", the response names your brand or draws on your content. It is question-level work, not keyword-level work.
The mechanics: engines resolve a question against sources they trust for that exact topic. Win the sources, phrase the claims so they can be lifted whole, and the answer follows. Miss either half and you stay invisible, however good your product is.
AEO pairs with generative engine optimization inside our broader AI SEO services — GEO builds your citation base, AEO aims it at the questions worth owning.
How we win a question
Source placement
For each target question we place or improve content on the sources engines consult for it — third-party coverage first, your own pages where they help.
Answer tracking
Each tracked question gets checked across engines monthly: does the answer name you, cite you, or skip you. Progress is visible question by question.
Why question-level beats keyword-level now
Google shows an AI Overview on roughly 45% of searches (Semrush, 2025), and Pew Research measured that when a summary sits on top, users click through to websites about half as often. The click you used to win with a #1 ranking increasingly does not exist.
What still exists is the answer itself. One question, one response, a couple of named sources. Being one of them is a winner-take-most game — which is why we scope AEO by question, price it by question, and report it by question.
Honest caveat: not every question is winnable at every budget. Part of the research step is telling you which ones to skip. From what we've seen, that honesty saves more money than any optimization trick.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as an answer engine?
Anything that returns a composed answer rather than a list of links: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Gemini, Copilot, and voice assistants built on the same models. Classic featured snippets behave similarly and usually come along for free.
How many questions should we target?
Start with 10-20. Enough to matter commercially, small enough that each gets real placement work. Expanding later is easy because the citation base you build for the first set carries over to neighboring questions.
Can you guarantee we become the answer?
No, and nobody honestly can — engines change their sources and their models without notice. What we commit to: measurable movement on tracked questions, full transparency on what was placed where, and dropping questions that prove unwinnable instead of billing you for them.
Does AEO help traditional SEO too?
Usually. The same coverage that feeds answers also carries authority for classic rankings, and question-formatted pages tend to win featured snippets. Several clients started AEO for the assistants and picked up snippet traffic along the way.
What do you need from our team?
A product expert for an hour or two a month, approval on placements that name your brand, and access to whatever question data you have — sales calls, support tickets, site search. We handle the rest.
What our clients say
We picked 12 questions. Four months in, we are named in the answer for 7 of them on at least one engine. Sales says prospects now arrive already knowing who we are.
The question research alone changed our content roadmap. They told us to skip three questions we assumed were must-wins — and showed the data on why. Refreshing.
Solid process, clear tracking. One engine barely moved for us, but the transparency about what was and wasn't working kept my trust.
From the blog
Which questions is your brand losing right now?
The free report shows the top questions in your category, what each engine answers today, and who gets named. Most teams find at least one painful surprise.
Show me my questions