AEO · 6 min
Five years ago the question was "are you on the first page of Google?". Today more and more customers don't open Google at all — they ask ChatGPT, Perplexity or Gemini: "Who's a good dentist in Sarajevo?", "Where can I order workwear in Bosnia and Herzegovina?". The AI answers with two or three recommendations. If you're not in that answer, that customer probably won't find you at all.
What is AEO?
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) means optimising your website and content so AI systems understand, cite and recommend you. Unlike SEO, where you compete for a spot among ten blue links, with AEO you compete for a place in one single answer. The stakes are higher — and so is the reward.
How AI decides who to recommend
- Clarity: AI has to be able to "read" who you are, what you do, where and for whom. Schema markup (structured data) helps too: code labels that say "this is the business, these are the services, these are the prices, these are the reviews".
- Access: crawlers that train models and crawlers that power search and answers serve different purposes. Blocking one bot does not remove you from every AI answer, and allowing access does not guarantee a recommendation.
- Quotability: AI likes content that answers questions directly — short, clear paragraphs, FAQ sections, specific numbers. "A brochure website costs 500–1,800 KM" is quotable; three paragraphs of marketing fog are not.
- Authority: mentions of your brand elsewhere (news sites, directories, reviews) teach AI that you're real and relevant.
Five steps you can take this month
- Add schema markup (Organization/LocalBusiness + FAQ) to your website.
- Check robots.txt — decide deliberately which search and training crawlers you allow.
- Optionally add llms.txt — a proposed summary format for AI tools, not a proven ranking factor. Google Search does not use it.
- Write an FAQ page with the questions customers actually ask — and answer them in the first two sentences.
- Tidy up your Google Business Profile — AI systems use it as a source for local recommendations.
What actually helps most
Useful, original content and verifiable evidence about your business count for more than the amount of markup in your code. Google says AI features in Search need no special optimisation beyond good SEO fundamentals.
Want to know where your website stands right now? The free audit measures AI visibility too → Or take a look at our SEO/GEO/AEO package from 249 KM a month.
