In digital marketing, AEO (answer engine optimization) is the work of getting a brand named, cited or recommended inside AI-generated answers. When someone asks ChatGPT for a good dentist nearby, or asks Google a question that triggers an AI Overview, the engine writes a short answer from sources it trusts. AEO aims to make your business one of those sources.
It sits alongside SEO, content and digital PR. The work covers pages that answer real questions directly, accurate business facts, consistent entity information across the web, and mentions on the third-party sites answer engines already rely on. It also adds a measurement layer: tracking which prompts mention you and which competitors appear instead.
Dental practices are an early example of local businesses investing in this. You can compare the agencies doing AEO for dentists side by side.