AEO by platform: get cited by AI search
Answer Engine Optimization makes AI engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI cite your content. The steps are the same everywhere — structured data, AI-crawler access, llms.txt, answer-first content — but the implementation depends on your platform. Pick yours below.
Shopify ships Product schema on most themes and lets you edit robots.txt.liquid and add an llms.txt via an app proxy.
WordPress gives full control via themes and plugins — schema (Yoast/Rank Math), robots.txt, and an llms.txt via a small must-use plugin or root file.
Webflow supports custom-code embeds for JSON-LD and meta, but limited arbitrary file paths — llms.txt often needs a reverse proxy.
Wix offers SEO settings and custom code (via Velo/embeds) but limited control over robots.txt and file paths.
Squarespace supports code injection for JSON-LD and meta, but restricts custom file paths — llms.txt usually needs a proxy.
Framer supports custom code and meta per page and exports fast static sites, which suits AI crawlers well.
Next.js gives full control — the Metadata API, generateMetadata, a robots.ts/route, and server-rendered JSON-LD make it the most AEO-capable stack.
HubSpot CMS supports custom head HTML in templates for JSON-LD and exposes robots and content settings.
Frequently asked questions
What is AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)?+
AEO is the practice of optimizing content so AI answer engines — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Copilot — cite and recommend it. It relies on structured data, AI-crawler access, llms.txt, and answer-first content, and complements traditional SEO.
How is AEO different from SEO?+
SEO optimizes for ranking in traditional search result pages. AEO optimizes for being quoted inside an AI-generated answer. AEO leans more heavily on structured data (JSON-LD), crawler permissions for AI bots, llms.txt, and concise, factual, answer-shaped content.
Does AEO depend on my platform?+
The fundamentals are the same everywhere, but how you implement them differs by platform — robots.txt control, where you inject JSON-LD, and whether you can host an llms.txt. The per-platform guides below cover the exact steps for Shopify, WordPress, Webflow, Next.js, and more.