After writing over 10k+ blogs, here's what I learned about AEO

Before I proceed, I'm sure by now you know AEO is Answer Engine Optimization, or as some people call it- Ask Engine Optimization.

This is a new term which is used to denote how your contents and the website you're posting to, is affected and shown up on search result.

Let's be honest, nobody reads the whole article & Google knows this too. So with advent of AI they have brough back the updated culture of 'Featured Snippet' with some major changes to it.

Here's a practical example from one of our recent works in January

If you search for 'How Long Does It Take to See Results from ZO Skin Health' you'll see a https://prnt.sc/kVXUiCfFvF8Q

This featured snippet shows the answers and links back to the top 5 articles ranking on SERP on this subject (yes ranking).

The second link that says 'Initial Results (2-4) weeks' as well, links to https://prnt.sc/pcIqWJc2mn3b

Proof that it is our article (highlighted the part being shown in the result): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Wn6bfQESJzYAPFMDmuspygIVxUBTlX_PwBmub2DOmDI/edit?usp=drivesdk

Now 80% of our works were optimized for Google and not exactly for AEO or Snippets because we wanted page views and not quick answers. However for some of our smaller local service clients, & saas, this worked pretty well.

One example of SaaS client where our writing, and optimization worked is https://prnt.sc/Z22PbFLBIr9_

Now that we saw that we can rank on AI overview here are few things you should do to try & optimize your chances.

1. Use proper structured data For example in the first one there was 'ListItem' & for second was 'WebPage' schema added apart from other schemas. It's important that Google knows what's he ranking.
2. Forget writing just after the start I remember doing this 'sandwich formula' of writing info content. Infact one of my early sites that I have sold now, was built on this formula of 'writing answers directly' under the H1 for example: For 'Is it safe to feed leaves to your pet dragon?'

Article starts with-

Pet dragons are one of the most popular type of 'pets' widely accepted globally, due to it's inert nature, and ability to survive in domestic treatment.

Yes, it's safe to feed leaves to your pet dragon, as in their natural habitat, they would anyways have those.

Then.....

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This formula has been history now, and you can answer comprehensively under any headings. A small trick to do this

1. Ask AI to write the topic in detail of 1000 words.
2. Then ask it to summarise the answer in a paragraph of no more than 3 sentences.

You can take inspiration or directly copy that paragraph only as it's written by AI following what AI's prefer to give in snippets nowadays.

3. Always make sure the content is in active voice. Voice search, AI results don't prefer contents written in passive. It's easier to speak in active & so, write in active.

Try these and let me know how it goes?

Keep writing!

Good post man! Totally agree AEO is becoming a big deal now. Been seeing the same with some of my newer sites. Structured data makes a huge difference if you actually want to show up in snippets and AI answers. Also active voice tip is gold most people ignore that. Gonna try that AI summary trick too sounds like an easy win, Appreciate you sharing real examples.

Deep. Thanks buddy… very informative

emiraa said:

Deep. Thanks buddy… very informative

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Thank you

techdigi said:

Good post man! Totally agree AEO is becoming a big deal now. Been seeing the same with some of my newer sites. Structured data makes a huge difference if you actually want to show up in snippets and AI answers. Also active voice tip is gold most people ignore that. Gonna try that AI summary trick too sounds like an easy win, Appreciate you sharing real examples.

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Thank you soo much