If there’s a better use of your budget, I’ll tell you.
Answer engine optimization services
AEOthatputsyourexpertiseinfrontofbuyers
Google now answers the question before anyone scrolls. Make sure the answer comes from you.
I rewrite and structure your pages so Google’s AI Overviews, AI Mode and other answer engines quote you when buyers ask about what you sell. Then I tie those answers to leads, so you can see what they’re worth.
48%of tracked searches now show an AI Overview, up from 30% a year earlierBrightEdge, 2026
2.5B+people use Google’s AI Overviews every monthGoogle, May 2026
Positiononemovedbelowthefold
For years the prize was the top organic spot. Now that spot often sits under an AI Overview that can fill most of a laptop screen. Your hard-won first place is still there. It’s just sharing the basement with the cookie banner.
Most searchers read the answer and stop. The question is whose pages that answer was built from.
The number
What it means
Source
68.01%
of US Google searches ended without a click from January to April 2026, up from 60.45% in 2024
Read the 38% twice. Most of the pages Google’s AI quotes don’t rank in the top ten for that search. A strong ranking helps, but it doesn’t earn the quote on its own. The clearest answer often does.
The 13.7% matters too. AI Overviews and AI Mode mostly cite different sources for the same question. Showing up in one tells you very little about the other, so I track them apart.
Asmallersitecanwintheanswer
That 38% cuts in your favour. If the quote goes to the clearest answer and not the biggest domain, a focused company can get quoted above a much larger one.
It pays off in clicks too. Brands cited inside an AI Overview earned 35% more organic clicks than brands left out on the same searches (Seer Interactive, 2025). The people who do click have already read your answer. They show up warmer.
Plenty of pages rank well and never get quoted. When I look at why, the same few problems come up.
None of this is exotic. It’s mostly writing and structure, done with a clear idea of which questions matter to your revenue.
The page opens with “Welcome to our website” and gets to the answer in paragraph six. AI quotes passages, and it won’t wait that long.
The answer leans on the page around it. Lines like “as mentioned above” make no sense once they’re lifted out on their own.
The facts are vague. “Competitive pricing” and “fast turnaround” give AI nothing to repeat. It can’t quote a shrug.
One page tries to answer six questions and ends up answering none of them well enough to quote.
The buying questions aren’t on the site at all. What does it cost, is it worth it, how does it compare? If you don’t answer those, someone else’s page will.
The schema markup is missing, or it doesn’t match the page, which leaves AI guessing about who you are and what you sell.
Fromquestiontoquotedanswer
Answer engine optimization starts with the questions. I find the questions your buyers ask before they buy, check who Google quotes today, and then make your pages the best answer to each one.
I pull the questions from your Search Console data, Google’s AI answers and People Also Ask boxes, your sales and support teams, and the prompts buyers type into AI tools.
Then I check each one to see if Google shows an AI answer, and whose pages it quotes.
On my desk
Question research across search data, AI answers, and your sales and support notes
AI Overview and AI Mode checks for every question, run more than once
Citation checks to see which pages Google quotes today
Mapping each question to an existing page, or to a gap
On your desk
A question map ranked by how close each question sits to a purchase
For each question, who Google quotes now and why
A list of the questions nobody on your site answers yet
Weeks 2 to 8
Put the answer first
I rewrite your key pages so each one answers its question in the first two or three sentences, in words that still make sense when they’re lifted out.
The rest of the page backs the answer up and moves the reader toward a sale. A great answer that sells nothing is a very polite way to lose money.
On my desk
Answer-first rewrites of your commercial pages
Headings that match the questions buyers ask
Short, self-contained answer blocks
Comparison tables, ranges and specific facts in place of vague claims
Internal links that move readers from the answer to the offer
On your desk
Pages that answer the buying question in the first lines
Answers AI can quote without editing
A clear next step on every page for the reader who wants more
Weeks 3 to 6
Make your facts machine-readable
Google’s AI reads your structured data to confirm who you are, what you sell and where you work. I add schema markup that matches what the page says, check that Google and Bing can crawl and index your key pages, and make sure your basic facts agree across your site.
A word on schema. It helps machines read your facts. It doesn’t turn a weak answer into a strong one, and I won’t sell it to you as if it did.
On my desk
Schema markup (Organization, Service, Product, FAQ where it fits)
Crawl and index checks in Google and Bing
Checks that the key content loads without JavaScript
Consistent company facts across your site
On your desk
Structured data that matches your pages and your offer
Key pages that search engines and AI crawlers can read in full
Ongoing
Fill the answer gaps
Some questions have no good page on your site. I build one page per question, starting with the ones closest to a purchase: pricing explainers, “is it worth it” pages, comparisons, and how-it-works pages for your product or service.
On my desk
New pages for unanswered buying questions
Pricing, comparison and “is it worth it” content
FAQ blocks on the pages where the questions come up
On your desk
A page for every buying question that matters, each with one clear job
Answers in your voice, with your facts, that you approve before they go live
Monthly
Keep the answers current
AI answers drift. A page that got quoted in March can lose the spot by June, often to a newer page with fresher numbers.
Each month I re-check the question set and update the pages that are slipping before I write anything new.
On my desk
Monthly re-checks of every tracked question
A refresh queue led by pages that lost citations
Updates to figures, dates, prices and examples
On your desk
Answers that stay accurate
A short monthly list of what changed and why
Howyou’llknowit’sworking
You get a monthly report that puts answer visibility next to leads.
The share of your tracked questions where Google’s AI quotes your pages, in AI Overviews and AI Mode, month over month.
Search Console impressions and clicks for the pages that answer those questions.
Leads and conversions from those pages, tracked in GA4.
Next month’s changes, in order of what should pay off first.
Google’s AI answers shift from one check to the next, so I check each question more than once and report the pattern across those checks. I’ll also tell you which numbers are solid and which are directional.
Bethebestanswer,ordon’tpublish
A lot of content still gets written to hit a word count. Five hundred words of warm-up, then the answer, then a keyword-stuffed wrap-up for good measure.
Google’s AI skips all of that and quotes the clearest few sentences it can find. If those sentences are yours, you’ve earned the reader’s trust before they ever click. If they aren’t, the word count didn’t matter.
So every page I touch has one question and one job. Answer it better than anyone else, back it with real facts, and give the reader a reason to take the next step. Being quoted is the start. A page that gets quoted and sells nothing is unfinished work.
Resultsworthputtinganamebeside
Different markets, same standard. SEO should make you money, and these did.
Longevity and diagnostics
Jinfiniti Precision Medicine
356 to 9,365 first-page keywords
A founder’s peer-reviewed research, made legible to Google. Monthly organic sessions rose from 5,600 to 78,000.
Chateau Mojo is my SEO and AI search consultancy. I’m Jeremy McWilliams.
I’ve spent 12 years in SEO, including time at an award-winning Montreal agency. My work covers ecommerce, health and wellness, biotech, B2B, and other markets where buyers research hard before they commit.
Most AI SEO companies hand you to an account manager after the sales call. Here, the person on the call is the person doing the work.
Your buyers ask a lot of questions before they buy.
Your site already has some standing in Google, even if it’s modest.
You can confirm real facts, like price ranges, timelines and what’s included, so the answers can be specific.
You care more about leads than about a count of AI Overview appearances.
It’sapoorfitif
Your site can’t be edited.
Your key pages aren’t indexed yet.
You want a guaranteed spot in an AI Overview.
If the basics need fixing first, I’ll point you to my technical SEO work instead. And if answer engine optimization is the wrong spend for you right now, I’ll say so on the call.
Answer engine optimization services make your pages the source that AI-powered search quotes when someone asks a question about what you sell. The work covers which questions to target, how each page answers them, the structured data behind them, and whether those answers bring in leads.
What’s the difference between AEO and SEO?
SEO earns a place in the list of search results, and AEO earns a place inside the answer that sits above them. They share a foundation, since AI answers lean on pages search engines can crawl and trust. AEO adds answer-first writing, question research and tracking of AI answers. I compare the two in detail in AEO vs SEO.
What’s the difference between AEO and GEO?
They overlap, but each one aims at a different kind of answer.
Answer engine optimization (AEO)
Generative engine optimization (GEO)
The goal
Be the direct answer to a question
Be named and cited when AI builds a recommendation
Where it shows up most
Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode, featured answers, voice results
ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude
What moves it most
Clear, specific answers on your own pages
What the rest of the web says about you, plus pages AI can quote
Most companies need some of both. The audit shows which gap costs you more.
Is SEO dead now that AI answers questions?
No. Google still sends most qualified search traffic, and its AI answers are built from web pages it can crawl and trust. Nothing is replacing it. What’s changing is the habit of ranking a page and calling it done, because now the page also has to be the answer.
Do I need AEO if I already rank on page one?
Often, yes. In Ahrefs’ study, most pages cited in AI Overviews didn’t rank in the top ten for that search, so a first-page ranking doesn’t guarantee the quote. If your top pages sit under AI answers that quote someone else, that’s the gap AEO closes.
Can I do AEO myself?
Yes, you can start on your own. Pick your ten most important buying questions, search each one, and note who Google’s AI quotes. Then rewrite your matching page so it answers the question in its first two sentences, with specific facts. Where it gets harder is scale, tracking and knowing which answers are worth money.
How long does answer engine optimization take to work?
Rewritten pages can start showing up in Google’s AI answers within a few weeks of being recrawled. A full set of priority pages usually takes two to three months to rewrite and settle. I’ll tell you which questions I expect to move first before we start.
How much do AEO services cost?
Engagements run on a monthly retainer. The AI Visibility Audit is the starting point. You get the scope and the monthly fee in writing before you commit.
Can you guarantee an AI Overview spot?
No. Google decides what its AI quotes, and the answers change from one search to the next. Anyone who promises a fixed spot is guessing out loud. I can make your pages the strongest answer available, track how often they get quoted, and show you what that’s worth.
Does schema markup help with answer engine optimization?
It helps, but it’s the supporting act. Schema tells machines who you are and what a page is about. The answer itself still has to be the clearest one available. I add schema that matches the page and put most of the effort into the answers.
Which answer engines do you cover?
Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode first, since that’s where most searches happen. I also check ChatGPT search, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot for the same questions. If your buyers lean on another tool, I add it to the tracking.
How do I choose an AEO agency?
Ask to see the question list they would track for you, and how they picked it. Then ask how often they check each question, how they report answers that change, and how they connect citations to leads. A good answer engine optimization agency or consultant can answer all four without reaching for a screenshot.
Findoutwhichanswersyou’remissing
Bring me your site and the three competitors you lose to most. You’ll leave the call knowing which of your buying questions show an AI answer, whose pages it quotes, and which of your pages I’d fix first.
