Someone asks a question. One answer comes back, and it is attributed to a single source. AEO is the work of making that source you. We are a UK team doing it properly: answer-first page structure, question research, FAQ and HowTo markup, and measurement across snippets, AI Overviews, People Also Ask and voice.
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2020
Building since
1,000+
Clients served
UK
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4.6/5
Rated on Clutch
Quick answer
Answer engine optimisation, or AEO, is the work of structuring content so that a search or AI system picks it as the answer to a question, rather than one of ten possible answers. It covers Google featured snippets, AI Overviews, People Also Ask, and the spoken replies given by Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant.
The distinction from ordinary SEO is narrow but decisive. Ranking puts you in a list the reader still has to choose from. An answer removes the list. On a phone or a smart speaker there is frequently no second result at all, so the gap between first and second place is the gap between the whole enquiry and none of it.
What wins an answer is mostly format rather than authority. The systems look for a direct response, close to the question, written in a shape they can lift: a short paragraph for a definition, an ordered list for a process, a table for a comparison. A page that buries its answer under an introduction loses to a weaker page that leads with it.
There is a second, newer reason to care. AI Overviews and assistants draw on the same answer-shaped passages, so AEO work tends to pay twice. If you want the broader AI search programme around it, that is covered on our AI SEO page; if you want to be a source inside longer generated answers, see GEO.
What we do
Eight workstreams. Most sites need three or four of them; the audit decides which.
Building the real question set: People Also Ask trees, site search logs, sales call questions and support tickets. Many of the best AEO targets have no keyword volume attached because nobody searched them as a phrase before assistants existed.
Putting the direct answer in the first two or three sentences under each heading, then the detail. This is the single highest-yield change in AEO and it improves the page for human readers at the same time.
Matching the shape to the question: a definition gets a tight paragraph, a process gets an ordered list, a comparison gets a table, a quantity gets a sentence with the number in it. Format mismatch is a common reason a correct answer is passed over.
Structured data that mirrors what is visible on the page, generated from the same source so the two cannot drift apart. We also remove markup that no longer matches its page, which is a quiet trust problem on a lot of sites.
Targeting Google's generated answers specifically: the question types that trigger them, the passage structure they draw on, and the supporting content that makes a site a safe choice to cite on a topic.
Spoken results favour short, complete, plainly worded replies and penalise hedging. We write the answer so it survives being read aloud, which usually means shorter sentences and fewer qualifiers than a written page would carry.
Winning one answer tends to surface the next question. Pages that cover the whole chain hold answers longer than pages that answer once and stop, and they keep the reader on your site instead of sending them back.
Monitoring which questions you hold, which you lost and which newly appeared, across snippets, People Also Ask and assistant replies. Reported monthly in writing, with the changes that caused the movement.
Why this matters
Answer surfaces collapse ten results into one. That is excellent if it is yours and worthless if it is not.
Want to know which answers you are losing, and to whom?
The audit checks the questions your buyers ask, records who currently owns each answer and why, and tells you which are realistically winnable. Free, with no obligation.
In practice
Six question types we target most often. These describe our approach rather than named client work.
The easiest answers to win and the easiest to lose. A tight forty to sixty word definition under a heading that matches the question, placed before any context, takes these more often than a longer and better-researched page that warms up first.
Definition answers captured with a short rewrite
These want an ordered list with short steps, each starting with a verb. HowTo markup helps where it genuinely matches the visible steps. Padding the steps with commentary is the usual reason a good process page is skipped.
Step answers that survive being read aloud
Comparisons want a table with the criteria a buyer actually uses, followed by a plain sentence saying which suits which situation. A comparison that refuses to conclude rarely wins the answer.
Comparison tables that get lifted whole
High intent and widely dodged. A page that gives an honest range with the factors that move it beats one that says “it depends” and asks for a call. You do not have to publish a fixed price to answer the question.
Cost answers that attract buyers rather than browsers
These lean on profile and citation consistency as much as on page content, which is why they are handled alongside local work. Assistants frequently read a directory because the directory data is cleaner than the business's own.
Local answers attributed to you, not a directory
Rules-based questions where the answer is yes, no or it depends on two things. Leading with the conditional and then listing the conditions is what gets these picked up, especially by voice.
Qualifying questions answered before the call
How we work
Four stages. The audit is free and the findings are yours whether or not we continue.
We build the question set, check who holds each answer today, and look at why. On your side we review page structure, answer placement, format mismatch, existing schema and whether the markup still matches the page.
We separate the answers that are winnable with a rewrite from the ones that need authority you do not yet have. You get a prioritised list with the effort against each, and an honest note on the ones we would not chase.
We rewrite the pages answer-first, match format to question type, generate schema from the visible content, and build the pages that cover the unanswered questions. Changes are approved by you before they go live.
Monthly tracking of answers held, lost and newly available, across snippets, People Also Ask and assistant replies, with a written note on what caused each movement.
Clear scope · Regular demos · Full handover
Honest fit
AEO is usually the fastest of the three disciplines to show movement, but it is not right for every site.
The terms, separated
Where AEO sits relative to the other two, and what each one is actually measured on.
| AEO | GEO | Classic SEO | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you win | The direct answer slot | Inclusion in a generated answer | A position in a list of links |
| Surface | Snippets, AI Overviews, People Also Ask, voice | ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Mode, Gemini | Standard results pages |
| Unit of work | The question-and-answer pair | The passage | The page |
| Decided by | Format and directness | Source quality and corroboration | Relevance, links, technical health |
| Reported as | Answers held and lost | Share of answers naming you | Position and clicks |
| Typical horizon | Weeks | Weeks to months | Months |
| Read more | This page | GEO agency | Technical SEO agency |
Sectors
Categories where buyers arrive with a question rather than a product name.
FAQ
What UK buyers ask about AEO before they commit to it.
Still have a question?
Ask us directly — a senior engineer will get back to you.
Ask about your projectAEO is the work of structuring content so that a search or AI system selects it as the single answer to a question, rather than one result among many. It covers featured snippets, Google AI Overviews, People Also Ask and the spoken replies from voice assistants. The aim is to own the answer, not to appear in a list.
Both are in use. We write optimisation because we are a UK company writing for UK readers, but answer engine optimization is the more common spelling internationally and refers to exactly the same discipline. Neither spelling changes the work.
Classic SEO competes for a position in a list of links, which the reader then chooses from. AEO competes to be the answer that removes the need for that list. On voice and on many mobile results there is no visible second place, so the difference between winning and not winning is the whole enquiry.
AEO targets a direct answer to a specific question, including long-established surfaces like featured snippets. GEO targets being one of several sources inside a longer generated answer from a system like ChatGPT or Perplexity. The techniques overlap, especially answer-first writing, but they are measured differently.
Faster than most search work. Format fixes on pages that already rank well can change snippet ownership within weeks, because you are not building authority, you are presenting what you have in a shape the system can use. Contested answers in competitive categories take longer and some are not worth chasing, which we will tell you.
It helps when it genuinely mirrors the visible page and the content is useful. It does not rescue a thin page, and markup that no longer matches what is on screen is worse than none, because it undermines trust in the rest of your structured data. We generate schema from the same content the page shows so the two cannot drift.
No. Google decides, snippets change without notice, and a snippet you hold can be taken by a competitor or removed entirely. What we commit to is doing the work that makes you the best available candidate, and reporting honestly on what you hold and what you have lost.
It is a fair worry and the opposite is usually true. Answering cost, eligibility and process questions plainly filters out people who were never going to buy and brings forward the ones who were. The enquiries get fewer and better, which is what most clients actually want.
A service. SpiderHunts is an agency, so the question research, rewriting, schema and reporting are done by a team. There is no dashboard, no subscription to manage and no software to learn.
SpiderHunts Technologies Ltd, registered at Companies House under number 16718403, with an office at 182-184 High Street N, Office 14607, London E6 2JA. You are invoiced in pounds. The engineering team works from Lahore, which we state openly.
Start here
Send us your site and the questions your buyers ask. We will check who owns each answer now, why they hold it, and which ones are realistically winnable with the pages you already have. The audit is free and the findings are yours.
Thanks — that’s with us.
A senior engineer reads every enquiry and will get back to you shortly.
Book a time that suits you, or send a message and get an answer sooner.