AEO is a close cousin of GEO, and people often use the terms interchangeably. The emphasis is on the answer itself: when someone asks a question your business can answer, the page should contain one clear, self-contained response that a person or retrieval system can understand.
In practice that means writing the way people actually ask. Use a descriptive heading, put a direct answer in the first sentence or two underneath, and then add the detail. The structure helps a reader scan the page and gives retrieval systems a clearer passage to evaluate.
Clear formatting can help discovery and extraction, but it does not determine which source an engine selects. The answer still has to be accurate, useful, and supported by the rest of the page and site.
A dentist page with the heading "How much does a crown cost in Milwaukee?" followed by a qualified price range gives a reader a useful answer and gives retrieval systems a clear passage to evaluate.
Go deeper: How to Get Your Business Cited by AI Search (2026).
This is part of the AI visibility work.