Answer Engine Strategy

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)

by LeadMagic · MIT license · ★ 62 on GitHub

Builds an answer engine optimization (AEO/GEO) plan so content gets cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, and Google AI Overviews: answer-first structure, entity coverage, citation-worthy data, and AI-visibility measurement. Use…

---
name: aeo-strategy
description: >-
  Builds an answer engine optimization (AEO/GEO) plan so content gets cited by
  ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, and Google AI Overviews: answer-first
  structure, entity coverage, citation-worthy data, and AI-visibility
  measurement. Use when the user wants to rank in AI search results or get their
  brand cited by AI assistants. Triggers on: "AEO", "answer engine
  optimization", "AI search", "generative engine optimization", "GEO", "optimize
  for AI search", "get cited by ChatGPT".
license: MIT
compatibility: Claude Code, Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Goose, Hermes, Windsurf, Zed
metadata:
  version: "1.0.0"
  author: LeadMagic
  category: content-seo
  tags: [content-seo, AEO, AI-search, answer-engine, generative-search]
  frameworks:

Overview

AI search engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude) are capturing 10-30% of B2B search traffic. Traditional SEO doesn't optimize for AI answers. AEO ensures your content is the source AI engines cite when users ask questions in your domain. This skill covers the strategy.

Manual install (npx, ZIP)

Claude Codenpx skills add LeadMagic/gtm-skills --skill aeo-strategy -g -a claude-code

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Claude.ai / desktopZip the folder and upload it under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.

Codex, Cursor, other agentsPoint them at SKILL.md. The other files are plain text.

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Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)

Overview

Authoritative Foundations

Google Search Central — AI features and your website — AI Overviews and AI Mode draw on pages that are indexed and snippet-eligible; there is no special markup, so SEO fundamentals decide inclusion.
Google Search Central — SEO Starter Guide — Write people-first content with clear headings and descriptive anchors so pages are easy to crawl, understand, and quote.
Aggarwal et al. — GEO (Generative Engine Optimization, 2023) — In controlled tests, adding citations, statistics, and quotations raised a page's visibility in generative answers; add evidence, not keywords.
schema.org structured data — Mark up organizations, products, FAQs, and authors so engines can resolve entities and attribute answers to your brand.

When to Use

"Optimize for AI search"
"AEO strategy"
"Get cited by ChatGPT"
"Generative engine optimization"
"Rank in AI search results"

Step-by-Step Process

Phase 1: Understand How AI Search Works

AI search engines:

Receive a user query
Search the web for relevant sources (often using Bing/Google APIs)
Read the top sources
Synthesize an answer, citing specific sources
Present the answer with citations

Your goal: be the source they cite. This requires being the most authoritative, clear, and well-structured source on the topic.

Phase 2: AEO Content Principles

Authoritative voice: Cite specific data, name specific experts, reference specific studies. AI engines weight named sources higher.
Clear structure: Use H2/H3 headers that mirror the questions people ask. "What is [X]?" → H2. "How does [X] work?" → H2. "What are the benefits of [X]?" → H2.
Concise answers: Start each section with a 1-2 sentence definitive answer before expanding. AI engines extract these as the "answer snippet."
Source citations: Link to primary sources (studies, reports, official docs). AI engines follow citations to verify claims.
Entity-rich content: Mention specific companies, products, people, and concepts by name. AI engines build knowledge graphs from entities.
Schema markup: FAQ schema, HowTo schema, Article schema. Helps AI engines parse your content structure.

Phase 3: Content Formats AI Engines Prefer

Definitions: "What is [X]?" — clear, authoritative definition within 50 words
Comparisons: "[X] vs [Y]" — structured comparison table, clear recommendation
How-to guides: Step-by-step with numbered steps, clear prerequisites
Statistics/data: "2026 [X] benchmarks" — tables, charts, sourced data
Listicles: "Top 10 [X] tools" — numbered list with structured descriptions
FAQ pages: Question-answer format, grouped by topic

Phase 4: Technical AEO

Indexability: AI engines can't cite content they can't crawl. Ensure your content is publicly accessible (no paywalls, no login walls).
Page speed: AI engines time out on slow pages. Core Web Vitals passing.
Structured data: Implement FAQ, HowTo, Article, and Organization schema.
RSS/API feeds: Make content available via RSS and API for direct ingestion.
LLMs.txt: Create an llms.txt file at your root domain listing your key content pages with descriptions (emerging standard for AI crawlability).

Phase 5: Measurement

AI citation tracking: Monitor whether your content is cited in AI answers. Tools are emerging for this; currently manual sampling works.
Brand mentions in AI: Track whether your brand appears in AI answers vs competitors.
AI-referred traffic: Check referrer headers for AI search engines.
Correlation with traditional SEO: AEO optimization almost always improves traditional SEO rankings too.

Output Format

AEO strategy document with: AI search landscape analysis, content optimization guidelines, content format priorities, technical implementation checklist, and measurement framework.

Quality Check

Before delivering, verify:

All required sections are complete
Output matches the user's stated need
Named frameworks are cited for key recommendations
No vague claims — every recommendation has a specific action
Deliverable is ready for operational use, not just conceptual

Common Pitfalls

Writing for search engines, not humans. Keyword-stuffed content that reads like a robot wrote it. Fix: write for your ICP first, optimize for search second.
Publishing and praying. Creating content without a distribution plan. Fix: every piece gets a 30-day promotion calendar across email, social, and paid.
Ignoring content freshness. 2-year-old content with outdated data and examples still ranking. Fix: quarterly content audit — update or retire stale pieces.

Implementation Depth

Use this section when the user asks for a finished asset, not a high-level explanation.

Diagnostic Questions

What is the primary motion: founder-led, sales-led, product-led, partner-led, or lifecycle-led?
Which ICP tier is the output for: small business, mid-market, enterprise, or mixed?
What proof is available today: customer stories, usage data, third-party validation, screenshots, or none?
What system will execute the work: CRM, sequencer, warehouse, support desk, product analytics, or manual workflow?
What decision will the user make from this output: launch, prioritize, route, rewrite, score, coach, or measure?

Framework Application

Map the recommendation explicitly to the named frameworks in this skill:

AEO Framework: apply only the part that directly improves the requested deliverable.
Google Search Generative Experience Guidelines: apply only the part that directly improves the requested deliverable.
Google Search Central — SEO Starter Guide: apply only the part that directly improves the requested deliverable.

Deliverable Standard

A strong output from this skill includes:

A crisp diagnosis of the current situation
A recommended path with tradeoffs, not a generic list
A concrete artifact the user can use immediately: table, script, checklist, scorecard, sequence, dashboard spec, or implementation plan
A measurement plan with leading and lagging indicators
Risks and edge cases called out before execution

Adaptation Rules

For small business: reduce complexity, shorten time-to-value, and prioritize owner/operator clarity.
For mid-market: include workflow ownership, handoffs, integrations, and enablement assets.
For enterprise: include governance, risk, procurement, stakeholder mapping, and proof requirements.

Execution Artifacts

references/framework-notes.md — AEO content principles, schema checklist, Pattern 25 routing
templates/output-template.md — Deliverable shell for agent output
scripts/check-output.py — Lightweight deliverable validator
references/seo-strategy-playbook.md — Repo root: §8 AEO / AI search overlap
the using-gtm-skills skill — Pattern 25: B2B SEO Stack (step 4)

seo-strategy, pseo-strategy, content-marketing, pillar-pages, faq-seo

1	---
2	name: aeo-strategy
3	description: >-
4	Builds an answer engine optimization (AEO/GEO) plan so content gets cited by
5	ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, and Google AI Overviews: answer-first
6	structure, entity coverage, citation-worthy data, and AI-visibility
7	measurement. Use when the user wants to rank in AI search results or get their
8	brand cited by AI assistants. Triggers on: "AEO", "answer engine
9	optimization", "AI search", "generative engine optimization", "GEO", "optimize
10	for AI search", "get cited by ChatGPT".
11	license: MIT
12	compatibility: Claude Code, Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Goose, Hermes, Windsurf, Zed
13	metadata:
14	version: "1.0.0"
15	author: LeadMagic
16	category: content-seo
17	tags: [content-seo, AEO, AI-search, answer-engine, generative-search]
18	frameworks:
19	- "Google Search Central — AI features and your website"
20	- "Google Search Central — SEO Starter Guide"
21	- "Aggarwal et al. — GEO (Generative Engine Optimization, 2023)"
22	- "schema.org structured data"
23	---
24
25	# Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)
26
27	## Overview
28
29	AI search engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude) are capturing 10-30%
30	of B2B search traffic. Traditional SEO doesn't optimize for AI answers.
31	AEO ensures your content is the source AI engines cite when users ask questions
32	in your domain. This skill covers the strategy.
33
34	## Authoritative Foundations
35	- Google Search Central — AI features and your website — AI Overviews and AI Mode draw on pages that are indexed and snippet-eligible; there is no special markup, so SEO fundamentals decide inclusion.
36	- Google Search Central — SEO Starter Guide — Write people-first content with clear headings and descriptive anchors so pages are easy to crawl, understand, and quote.
37	- Aggarwal et al. — GEO (Generative Engine Optimization, 2023) — In controlled tests, adding citations, statistics, and quotations raised a page's visibility in generative answers; add evidence, not keywords.
38	- schema.org structured data — Mark up organizations, products, FAQs, and authors so engines can resolve entities and attribute answers to your brand.
39
40	## When to Use
41
42	- "Optimize for AI search"
43	- "AEO strategy"
44	- "Get cited by ChatGPT"
45	- "Generative engine optimization"
46	- "Rank in AI search results"
47
48	## Step-by-Step Process
49
50	### Phase 1: Understand How AI Search Works
51
52	AI search engines:
53
54	1. Receive a user query
55	2. Search the web for relevant sources (often using Bing/Google APIs)
56	3. Read the top sources
57	4. Synthesize an answer, citing specific sources
58	5. Present the answer with citations
59
60	Your goal: be the source they cite. This requires being the most authoritative,
61	clear, and well-structured source on the topic.
62
63	### Phase 2: AEO Content Principles
64
65	- Authoritative voice: Cite specific data, name specific experts, reference
66	specific studies. AI engines weight named sources higher.
67	- Clear structure: Use H2/H3 headers that mirror the questions people ask.
68	"What is [X]?" → H2. "How does [X] work?" → H2. "What are the benefits of [X]?" → H2.
69	- Concise answers: Start each section with a 1-2 sentence definitive answer
70	before expanding. AI engines extract these as the "answer snippet."
71	- Source citations: Link to primary sources (studies, reports, official docs).
72	AI engines follow citations to verify claims.
73	- Entity-rich content: Mention specific companies, products, people, and
74	concepts by name. AI engines build knowledge graphs from entities.
75	- Schema markup: FAQ schema, HowTo schema, Article schema. Helps AI engines
76	parse your content structure.
77
78	### Phase 3: Content Formats AI Engines Prefer
79
80	- Definitions: "What is [X]?" — clear, authoritative definition within 50 words
81	- Comparisons: "[X] vs [Y]" — structured comparison table, clear recommendation
82	- How-to guides: Step-by-step with numbered steps, clear prerequisites
83	- Statistics/data: "2026 [X] benchmarks" — tables, charts, sourced data
84	- Listicles: "Top 10 [X] tools" — numbered list with structured descriptions
85	- FAQ pages: Question-answer format, grouped by topic
86
87	### Phase 4: Technical AEO
88
89	- Indexability: AI engines can't cite content they can't crawl. Ensure
90	your content is publicly accessible (no paywalls, no login walls).
91	- Page speed: AI engines time out on slow pages. Core Web Vitals passing.
92	- Structured data: Implement FAQ, HowTo, Article, and Organization schema.
93	- RSS/API feeds: Make content available via RSS and API for direct ingestion.
94	- LLMs.txt: Create an llms.txt file at your root domain listing your key
95	content pages with descriptions (emerging standard for AI crawlability).
96
97	### Phase 5: Measurement
98
99	- AI citation tracking: Monitor whether your content is cited in AI answers.
100	Tools are emerging for this; currently manual sampling works.
101	- Brand mentions in AI: Track whether your brand appears in AI answers vs
102	competitors.
103	- AI-referred traffic: Check referrer headers for AI search engines.
104	- Correlation with traditional SEO: AEO optimization almost always improves
105	traditional SEO rankings too.
106
107	## Output Format
108
109	AEO strategy document with: AI search landscape analysis, content optimization
110	guidelines, content format priorities, technical implementation checklist, and
111	measurement framework.
112
113	## Quality Check
114
115	Before delivering, verify:
116
117	- [ ] All required sections are complete
118	- [ ] Output matches the user's stated need
119	- [ ] Named frameworks are cited for key recommendations
120	- [ ] No vague claims — every recommendation has a specific action
121	- [ ] Deliverable is ready for operational use, not just conceptual
122
123	## Common Pitfalls
124
125	1. Writing for search engines, not humans. Keyword-stuffed content that reads like a robot wrote it. Fix: write for your ICP first, optimize for search second.
126	2. Publishing and praying. Creating content without a distribution plan. Fix: every piece gets a 30-day promotion calendar across email, social, and paid.
127	3. Ignoring content freshness. 2-year-old content with outdated data and examples still ranking. Fix: quarterly content audit — update or retire stale pieces.
128
129	## Implementation Depth
130
131	Use this section when the user asks for a finished asset, not a high-level explanation.
132
133	### Diagnostic Questions
134
135	1. What is the primary motion: founder-led, sales-led, product-led, partner-led, or lifecycle-led?
136	2. Which ICP tier is the output for: small business, mid-market, enterprise, or mixed?
137	3. What proof is available today: customer stories, usage data, third-party validation, screenshots, or none?
138	4. What system will execute the work: CRM, sequencer, warehouse, support desk, product analytics, or manual workflow?
139	5. What decision will the user make from this output: launch, prioritize, route, rewrite, score, coach, or measure?
140
141	### Framework Application
142
143	Map the recommendation explicitly to the named frameworks in this skill:
144
145	- AEO Framework: apply only the part that directly improves the requested deliverable.
146	- Google Search Generative Experience Guidelines: apply only the part that directly improves the requested deliverable.
147	- Google Search Central — SEO Starter Guide: apply only the part that directly improves the requested deliverable.
148
149	### Deliverable Standard
150
151	A strong output from this skill includes:
152
153	- A crisp diagnosis of the current situation
154	- A recommended path with tradeoffs, not a generic list
155	- A concrete artifact the user can use immediately: table, script, checklist, scorecard, sequence, dashboard spec, or implementation plan
156	- A measurement plan with leading and lagging indicators
157	- Risks and edge cases called out before execution
158
159	### Adaptation Rules
160
161	- For small business: reduce complexity, shorten time-to-value, and prioritize owner/operator clarity.
162	- For mid-market: include workflow ownership, handoffs, integrations, and enablement assets.
163	- For enterprise: include governance, risk, procurement, stakeholder mapping, and proof requirements.
164
165	## Execution Artifacts
166
167	- `references/framework-notes.md` — AEO content principles, schema checklist, Pattern 25 routing
168	- `templates/output-template.md` — Deliverable shell for agent output
169	- `scripts/check-output.py` — Lightweight deliverable validator
170	- `references/seo-strategy-playbook.md` — Repo root: §8 AEO / AI search overlap
171	- the `using-gtm-skills` skill — Pattern 25: B2B SEO Stack (step 4)
172
173	## Related Skills
174
175	- seo-strategy, pseo-strategy, content-marketing, pillar-pages, faq-seo
176