# Answer engine optimization

URL: /workflows/plays/aeo · Id: `play:aeo`

> Answer engine optimization makes a Startup the cited source when answer engines respond to a Customer’s question, with a dated fact on every Page.

A [Customer](/business/nouns/customer) who asks an answer engine about a [Problem](/business/nouns/problem) reads one answer and a few cited sources. A [Startup](/business/nouns/startup) whose [Page](/business/nouns/page) is cited wins the visit, and keeps earning citations for months at no media cost.

## Ratings
| Dimension | Rating | Reads |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Scalability | 5 of 5 | very high: higher grows further with spend or automation |
| Cost | 1 of 5 | very low: lower costs less per Customer |
| Latency | 3 of 5 | medium: lower answers sooner |

## Budget
| Property | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tier | $0 |
| Minimum effective budget | $0 a month |

## How it runs
Each week the [Content Lead](/agents/marketing/content-lead) samples a panel of tracked prompts, shared across sibling Startups. Where a rival is cited, the cited source picks the fix: a listing, a data pitch, a disclosed community answer or an honest comparison Page.

A Page publishes only when it carries one dated fact no other Page holds. Citation share is read 28 days later.

## Processes
Runs as [Content marketing](/workflows/processes/content-marketing), accountable to the [Marketing Team](/agents/marketing).

Also sold as a Service: [Demand generation](/systems/integrations/upstreams#demand-generation).

## Fits
| Fits | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Family | demand |
| Shelf | Compound: builds an engine that keeps growing (Grow) |
| Moves | [Organic share](/agents/marketing#organic-share) |
| Motions | [b2b](/business/motions/b2b), [b2c](/business/motions/b2c), [b2d](/business/motions/b2d), [b2a](/business/motions/b2a), [b2h2a](/business/motions/b2h2a) |
| Venues | [ChatGPT](/workflows/plays#chatgpt), [Perplexity](/workflows/plays#perplexity), [Gemini](/workflows/plays#gemini), [Claude](/workflows/plays#claude), [Google AI Overviews](/workflows/plays#google-ai-overviews) |
| States | [Building](/business/lifecycle/states/building), [Live](/business/lifecycle/states/live), [Repeatable](/business/lifecycle/states/repeatable), [Scale](/business/lifecycle/states/scale) |

## Loop
| Step | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Hypothesis | Pages with a dated fact get cited by answer engines and raise organic share within a quarter. |
| Measure | [Organic share](/agents/marketing#organic-share) over 90d, at least 100 observations |
| Learn | The learn step reads the Readout, records Evidence and a Decision, and drafts the next Variant. |

## Example
A Startup selling a payroll-tax [Dataset](/business/nouns/dataset) tracks 40 prompts such as “employer tax rates by state”. A forum thread is cited for six of them, so the Content Lead publishes one rate table per state, each row dated and sourced. Within a month the Startup is cited on 22 of the 40 prompts.