Search engines are constantly evolving to provide the best experience for their users. As search trends veer away from scrolling and clicking and towards scanning snippets and asking AI assistants for direct answers, the way you approach visibility online has to change.
This means that traditional SEO tactics devoted to improving SERP rankings and driving site traffic are in need of a serious upgrade.
Enter Answer Engine Optimization (AEO). Today’s most powerful content is designed not only to rank but to answer search queries as directly as possible. AEO focuses on optimizing your site content to do just that.
With over 74% of solution-based queries now answered via an AI overview or featured snippet, it’s vital that you’re the trusted source behind the answer.
In this guide, we’ll walk through the best practical AEO hacks you can apply right now, for content that appears at position zero in 2025.
5 Answer Engine Optimization Hacks
1. Know What Your Audience Is Actually Asking
User intent is the driving force behind a new era of search engine trends. In order to speed up response times, search engine giants like Google are now leveraging AI to answer search queries in seconds, rather than waiting for users to scroll through a list of search results.
As we welcome features such as Google’s AI overview, Google’s search algorithm is constantly searching for content that directly aligns with user intent, rather than high-ranking keywords.
In order to see success as an online player, you must first know what your target audience is actually asking.
Google searches are becoming longer and more conversational. This means that simply creating content around high-ranking keywords such as ‘red handbag’ or ‘leaf blowers’ will no longer secure you a place at the top of the SERPS.
Instead, you need to delve deeper into what solution your audience is looking for.
For example, if you’re a gardening brand, aiming to sell leaf blowers, you must uncover the questions your audience is asking in order to ensure your product pops up as the solution.
Using tools like AlsoAsked, AnswerThePublic, and Google’s "People Also Ask", you can discover some of the most frequently asked questions surrounding your target keyword.
(Image Source: Rob Powell)
As you can see here, search terms relating to the keyword ‘leaf blower’ include ‘what is the most reliable leaf blower brand’ and ‘how much does a good leaf blower cost’.
The key here is to use these questions as a prompt for blog articles, product descriptions, and landing page FAQs. This signals to Google that your content is a direct solution for the search query, raising your chances of appearing in related AI overviews.
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2. Structure Content to Be “Answer-Ready”
Once you’ve worked out which phrases and questions are driving the most traffic to your target keywords, it’s time to create content centered around this.
An AEO-optimized page is likely to include short, punchy answers to relevant search terms, followed by in-depth explanations.
Here are a few tips to consider when creating an AEO-optimized page:
- Title: Title your piece using an umbrella question linking to your topic of choice. Match your H2 and H3 titles to user queries exactly.
- Direct Answer: Ensure that you answer this question straight away. Make this answer direct, no longer than 1-2 sentences.
- Simple Formatting: Use bullet points, numbered lists, and summary boxes where possible to make it easy for Google to spot direct answers.
- Table of Contents: For longer pieces of writing, such as an in-depth blog post, include a table of contents that has clear anchors for each section/question.
- Structured Signals: Incorporate structured signals, such as reviews, FAQ answers, and an expert bio, to enhance credibility as a source.
- Alt Text: For images and infographics, ensure that you have added alt text that explains the visual to the search engine.
Structuring your content to be ‘answer-ready’ is crucial, as search engine algorithms will choose the most direct sources first.
3. Add Context with Real-World Data
Answer Engine Optimization favours credibility, so you should use stats to boost trustworthiness. Adding real-world data to your content could increase your chances of ending up in an AI overview or featured snippet.
For example, a blog post discussing remote working trends is more likely to be selected as a source in an AI overview if it provides the user with valuable insights, such as a relevant statistic.
Here is a blog post snippet unlikely to be included in an AI-powered search result:
“Remote working is on the rise. This continues to offer significant benefits for both employees and employers, including increased flexibility, improved work-life balance, and cost savings.”
While this is factually accurate, it fails to add any value to an AI overview answer. There is little to no context to back up the claim of ‘remote working is on the rise’, making it less dependable as a source.
Here is the same blog snippet after being AEO optimized:
“In 2025, over 60% of professionals now work remotely at least part-time, according to remote work statistics. This continues to offer significant benefits for both employees and employers, including increased flexibility, improved work-life balance, and cost savings.”
This version includes a date and a relevant stat for context. It also hyperlinks the source of the statistic, making it easy for the search engine to pull the snippet for an AI overview.
4. Optimize for Featured Snippets
If you want your content to be AEO-friendly, another brilliant hack to adopt is creating content directly for featured snippets.
Features snippets are similar to AI overviews and appear in a Google Search result as a special result box, otherwise known as ‘position zero’. These boxes highlight the best sources for a user question, providing quick and relevant answers to user queries.
(Image Source: Backlinko)
For websites, gaining a featured snippet position can significantly increase visibility and organic traffic.
To begin crafting content fit for a featured snippet position, you’ll want to start by optimizing your keyword use. Featured snippets are twice as likely to show up when people search for long-tail keywords, so it’s important to refer back to tools like AlsoAsked to generate ideas for long-tail questions that include modifiers like “what,” “why,” and “how”.
Next, it’s time to answer the question. For the best chance of appearing in a featured snippet, ensure that your direct 40-60 word answer is at the top of the page. Ensure that your answers are direct and universally applicable to appeal to a broad audience. You can go into more detail later.
Another top tip for securing a featured snippet is implementing a Schema markup. Schema markups help a search engine better understand your content, in turn increasing your chances of appearing in a featured snippet.
Using structured data, a schema markup offers clear signals to search engines like Google about your content's context and can boost your chances of appearing in these featured search result positions.
The key here is to choose the right markup language for your content. For example, if you opt for a recipe schema, you’ll enhance recipe pages with information like ingredients, cooking time, and ratings that can be displayed in a featured snippet.
As you can see above, simply feeding a search engine extra data about your content can improve the way it appears in an online search. It’s no surprise that featured snippets generate 35% of all clicks.
5. Prioritize Mobile & Voice Optimization
62% of search engine traffic comes from mobile devices in 2025. Of these searches, a further 27% of the global online population uses voice search on a day-to-day basis.
It’s no secret that mobile searching trends are the driving force behind the introduction of AI overviews and featured snippets on Google.
In fact, in most cases, Answer Engine Optimization is often triggered by voice search when users need quick access to direct answers.
Therefore, mobile and voice optimization is essential if you want to secure a position as a source in an AI overview.
When it comes to voice search, keep your answers conversational. Imagine a user talking to Siri or Alexa, and think about how a device may respond. Refrain from adding complicated language, and try to answer questions in no more than 40-60 words.
Google will also choose sources based on their appeal to a mobile audience. While your content may be a match for an AI-powered snippet, it won’t be chosen if the website itself is not accessible on a mobile device.
To combat this, ensure that your website adapts to different screen sizes and orientations, and buttons and links are easy to interact with on touchscreens. Better still, try to optimize and compress visuals to improve loading speed for quick and easy access to your content.
Answer Engine Optimization Is a Long Game - But Worth It
In 2025, a whopping 84% of marketers are using AI to align web content with search intent.
Search engine success now means answering real questions, rather than simply optimizing content for singular keywords.
While the battle to work your way up to the top of SERPs is becoming harder than ever before, AI-powered overviews and featured snippets are giving businesses new ways to rank their content.
To stay visible, your strategy should focus on clarity, structure, and genuinely helpful answers. Following these Answer Engine Optimization hacks, you’ll not only appeal to modern-day search engines, but to real people.
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