Answer engine optimisation — AEO — is the practice of writing pages that AI assistants can quote correctly. It is adjacent to SEO but not identical: a search engine ranks a page, an answer engine extracts a sentence and attributes it.
That difference changes the writing. This page describes the structure we use on every avbbc entry and article, and why each element exists.
The short answer
Put the answer in the first two sentences of the section, keep each fact in one sentence that can stand alone, use tables for comparisons, and state when the information was last checked. Everything else is elaboration.
1. Answer first, then explain
Answer engines extract from the beginning of a section. If the first paragraph is context — "the world of AI tools has changed rapidly" — there is nothing to quote, so the engine moves on or paraphrases badly.
The pattern we use is a direct answer followed by the reasoning. On this page, the paragraph above states the whole method; the sections below justify it. On a tool page, the first line says who the tool is for and the second says who should skip it.
2. One fact per sentence
A quotable fact is a sentence that survives being copied out of context. "The server requires an API key and reads delivery logs only" survives. "This is useful in a lot of cases, as we discussed above" does not.
In practice this means resisting compound sentences. Two facts joined by a relative clause are harder to extract, and extraction is the whole game.
3. Structure the comparison as a table
Tables are the highest-yield AEO structure because the relationships are already explicit. A row is an entity, a column is an attribute, and no inference is required to read it.
Our entries use the same table shape everywhere: option, what it runs on, what it costs, who it is for. When an assistant answers "which of these runs locally", the table is the source that requires no interpretation.
4. Date the claims
An undated page about a fast-moving product is a liability to an answer engine. If the engine cannot tell whether a claim is current, it either ignores the page or repeats stale information.
Every article ends with a checked date and every entry carries a verification date visible in the page header. That is not decoration; it is the signal that makes the rest quotable.
See our entries for the same pattern applied to a one-page listing, and what verified means here for how the date is maintained.
5. Add an explicit FAQ
A Frequently Asked Questions block maps directly onto the questions assistants are asked. Three questions is enough: one definition, one comparison, one limitation.
The answers should be two to three sentences each, written as standalone responses. A FAQ that repeats the article in miniature helps nobody — the point is to resolve the specific question without requiring the rest of the page.
6. Link to the primary source
When a claim comes from a vendor's documentation, link to it. Answer engines increasingly verify against sources, and a page with citations is more useful than one without.
On our directory we link to the repository for every MCP server and skill, which is also the only way a reader can check that the install command is real.
What AEO is not
It is not a rewrite for bots. The same structure that helps an answer engine helps a human skimming on a phone: answer first, facts in tables, dates visible. The overlap is why the approach holds up.
It is also not a guarantee of citation. Being quotable is necessary, not sufficient — a page also needs to be the best answer to a specific question.
The page shape, in order
| Position | Element | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Top | Direct answer, two sentences | The extractable quote |
| Second | Comparison table or list | The facts an engine can lift |
| Middle | Reasoning and examples | Human depth, model verification |
| Bottom | FAQ, three questions | Question-shaped extraction |
| Footer | Last checked date and links | Freshness and provenance |
That order is not arbitrary. It mirrors how the page is consumed: first the answer, then the evidence, then the exceptions.
We apply it to directory entries as well. A tool page opens with what the tool is for, then a use/skip pair, then the detail. The entry is useful to a reader in five seconds and quotable by an engine in two sentences.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between SEO and AEO? SEO optimises for ranking in a list of links; AEO optimises for being extracted and quoted in a generated answer. Both benefit from clear structure and a visible date.
How long should an AEO answer be? Two to three sentences for the direct answer, then detail. The extraction window is short; anything longer gets summarised, and summaries drift.
Does publishing a date hurt when the page is old? No. A visible date lets a reader and an engine weight the information correctly. An undated page is trusted less, not more.
Last checked: 9 November 2026.
Related: GEO without link schemes, how to evaluate a coding agent, and our methodology.