AI has upended the current model of web publishing. Answer Engine Optimization, or AEO is all the buzz in web publishing circles now, as site visits are no longer a reliable measure of site success. That means compelling content doesn’t necessarily lead to higher traffic. AEO, which is the practice of optimizing content so AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Google AI, and Mistral’s Le Chat surface it as a trusted source, requires your content to feature direct answers to a user's question without a click through to your site.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. The rise of AI answer engines also creates a new opportunity: The best part? You don’t need a massive budget to get started. Whether you’re a scrappy startup, a budget-constrained non-profit, or a small business, there are free and low-cost tools that can help you adapt to this new landscape.

The work you’ve done for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) should pay dividends for AEO as well. Ideally, your site is machine-readable to improve SEO. Here are a few steps to take: 

• Proper use of HTML5 semantic elements and heading tags is a great start. 

• Adding schema.org is essential for content classification, and implementing JSON-LD is critical for AI to “understand” your content.

• Add an LLMS.txt file on the site. An LLMS.txt file is like a robots.txt for AI, guiding AI platforms on how to interact with your site. Drupal has a module, and WordPress has a plugin that allows you to build an LLMS.txt file with your favorite CMS easily.

As an innovative marketer with a limited (or no) budget, how do you get started on AEO? There are three essential elements to focus on. The first is identifying the specific user questions (prompts) your organization should target. The second is creating high-quality content that answers them. The third is monitoring performance across answer engines via your various AEO tools. Citations by answer engines are the new pageviews.

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Check the Google Search Console for the queries that already bring traffic to your site. Once you’ve identified your target prompts, it’s time to build the content that answers them. 

Structure the content to provide clear, concise, and authoritative answers to your targeted prompts. FAQs are a great way to accomplish this goal. Review your website’s FAQs, customer service emails, or social media comments for recurring questions. Baseline your influence using AEO tools. After publishing your optimized content, use AEO tools to track and refine your performance.

AEO tools focus on AI search visibility. They target one or multiple AI platforms (ChatGPT, Gemini, etc.) and provide testing of prompts across AI engines. Properly used, they should increase visibility of your site’s content to AI engines and increase your site’s citations. 

At FastrackPR, we’ve tested out a few low-cost and free tools. The ones we’ve liked the best include:

• Citation Radar provides actionable prompt information, but its competitor analysis is odd. For some reason, it recommended we review “How to Choose the Right Lens Material for Prescription Glasses?“ as a prompt! 

• Otterly AI’s user interface and its brand report are top-notch, but it is not as strong in producing actionable prompt information.

• Ktau.ai’s interface is almost entirely prompt-driven, which took some getting used to on our part. Ktau.ai offers suggested blog or article topics, which we appreciated.

•  GenRankEngine provides actionable prompt data with suggested tactics. It is a bit overly focused on Generative Engine optimization, so we recommend using a tool like Citation Radar or GenRankEngine to target prompts, and then monitor with Otterly or Ktau.ai.

Here’s a quick summary of the products:

Reach out if you’d like help choosing the right AEO/GEO tool for your needs!