Part of: SEO
AEO for ecommerce stores
Answer engine optimisation (AEO) is writing and structuring your pages so they can be used as the direct answer to a question in search results and AI summaries. It rests on clear answers, sound page structure and ranking well in ordinary search. Some of it is well supported and some is not yet proven, and we say which.
Is this right for you?
Who it is for
Stores and brands whose customers ask questions before they buy, and that already have sound pages and a basic SEO footing to build on.
When it is not
Sites with serious technical or content problems, which need ordinary SEO first. Also anyone who wants a guarantee of appearing in an AI summary, because nobody can give one, and businesses whose customers rarely search for answers before buying.
What is included
- A list of the questions your customers really ask, drawn from your own data
- Answer-first rewrites of key pages and guides
- FAQ and how-to sections where they help a real reader
- Structured data and clean page structure, checked against what is on the page
- A fixed set of questions that we check by hand each month
- A plain report on what changed and what we cannot measure
What AEO is, and what it is not
AEO is about being the direct answer: the short passage a search engine lifts into a featured snippet, an AI summary or a “people also ask” box. It is about your pages and how they answer questions. It is not about whether an AI assistant recommends your brand by name. That is generative engine optimisation (GEO), which is a separate job with different levers.
What the evidence says
AI search is new, and the evidence is thinner than for classic SEO. This is how we sort it.
Likely to help:
- clear, concise answers to specific questions
- FAQ and how-to content that serves a real reader
- structured data and clean, semantic page structure
- ranking well in ordinary search, because AI summaries tend to draw on pages that already do
Not proven:
- that any particular markup makes an AI summary more likely to cite you
- that you can reliably track or steer what an AI summary says
- anything that promises a position in an AI answer
These are working beliefs from observation and from what search engines have said, not settled facts. Google’s own guidance is that the usual good practice for Search applies to its AI features too, and that no special markup is needed to appear in them. We will update this page when the evidence changes.
How we write for answers
Put the answer first. If a page asks “Can I use this jacket in heavy rain?”, the first sentence should answer it, and the detail should follow. That helps a person in a hurry as well as a search engine. We avoid padding, because length by itself does not help a page, and we keep answers accurate and specific to your products. Every page needs something a generic summary could not give: your sizing advice, your testing, your policy.
For stores, the best candidates are usually buying guides, sizing and fit pages, delivery and returns pages, and comparison pages. They sit beside your collection and product pages, which are covered in SEO for ecommerce.
If you serve a local area, the same approach works for questions with a place in them. See local SEO for who that suits.
AEO or GEO: which do you need?
- Choose AEO if people find you by asking questions, and your goal is to have your pages used as the answer.
- Choose GEO if your goal is to be named when someone asks an AI assistant for a recommendation.
- Most stores should do the basics of AEO first. It rests on pages you control and overlaps with ordinary SEO. GEO depends partly on what other sites say about you, which takes longer and is harder to measure.
What we measure
- impressions and clicks for question-style searches, in Search Console
- how a fixed set of agreed questions appears, checked by hand each month
- whether the pages we changed gained or lost ordinary search visits
- indexing and structured data errors found and fixed
Results from AI answers vary between searches, places and days, and tracking tools are limited. We report what we saw, not what we hoped for. We do not promise appearances in AI summaries.
How we do it
Every project is different, so timings depend on its size and complexity. You get a realistic timeline in writing before work starts, and we never promise results by a date.
Step 1: Find the questions
We collect the questions customers ask, from search data, support emails, reviews and sales calls, and group them by the page that should answer them.
Step 2: Check the footing
We check that the pages involved can be crawled, are indexed and are reasonably well placed in ordinary search, because that is where most answers come from.
Step 3: Rewrite to answer first
We put a short, accurate answer at the top of the page, then the detail. We add structure only where it helps a reader.
Step 4: Mark up and test
We add structured data where it matches the page, and check it for errors.
Step 5: Check and report
We check a fixed set of questions by hand each month, record what appears and report honestly, including what we cannot see.
What it costs
Retainers start from £500 per month and cover our services only. They do not include your ad spend, or any software or other subscription costs. One-off optimisation projects are priced by current need or an agreed hourly rate. Our pricing page has the detail.
Questions people ask
What is the difference between AEO and GEO?
AEO is about winning direct answers in search results and AI summaries, so it is tied to your pages and to how they rank. Generative engine optimisation (GEO) is about being named and cited by AI assistants, so it is tied to your brand and what is said about it elsewhere. They overlap, and we keep them apart so you know what you are paying for.
Can you get my site into Google's AI summaries?
No one can promise that. What we can do is make your pages clear, accurate and well placed in ordinary search, which is the footing those summaries tend to draw on.
Is AEO just SEO under a new name?
Partly. Much of it is good writing, clear structure and sound SEO, which is why we treat it as part of SEO. The parts that are new, such as how AI summaries pick sources, are less well understood, and we say so.
Does FAQ markup still work?
It helps search engines understand a page, but Google has limited where FAQ rich results appear. We add FAQ content because it helps readers, not for a guaranteed display. Since 2023, Google has shown FAQ rich results only for well-known government and health websites.
How do you measure AEO?
Partly with Search Console, which shows queries and clicks, and partly by checking a fixed set of questions by hand each month. Reporting on AI answers is limited and results vary from one search to the next. We say what we can see and what we cannot. Google began adding separate AI reports to Search Console in June 2026, for some sites at first. Where they're available, they show how often your pages appeared in AI Overviews and AI Mode.
Do I need to change my whole site?
No. We start with a small number of pages that answer questions your customers really ask, and see what happens before doing more.
Ready to talk it through?
Get a free, top-level audit of your website for SEO, your ad account for PPC or your analytics account. A subject matter expert at Advent reviews it, and we aim to send it within 5 working days of receiving access.