seo-aeo-best-practices

# AI/AEO Considerations

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) prepares content to be selected as authoritative answers by AI systems like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Bing Copilot.

## How AI Selects Answers

AI systems evaluate content based on:

1. **Clarity:** Is the answer direct and easy to extract?
2. **Authority:** Is the source trustworthy?
3. **Comprehensiveness:** Does it fully address the question?
4. **Recency:** Is the information up to date?
5. **Structure:** Can the AI parse and understand it?

## Content Structure for AI

### Direct Answers First
Lead with the answer, then explain.

**Bad:**
> The history of JavaScript dates back to 1995 when Brendan Eich... [500 words later] ...JavaScript runs in the browser.

**Good:**
> JavaScript is a programming language that runs in web browsers. It was created in 1995 by Brendan Eich...

### Clear Headings
Use descriptive H2/H3 headings that match user questions.

**Bad:** "Overview" → "Details" → "More Information"
**Good:** "What is X?" → "How does X work?" → "When should you use X?"

### Lists and Tables
AI extracts structured information more easily than prose.

```markdown
## Benefits of Structured Content

# EEAT Principles

Google's EEAT framework (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) guides how content quality is evaluated. This applies to both SEO rankings and AI answer selection.

## The Four Pillars

### Experience
First-hand or life experience with the topic.

**Signals:**
- Personal anecdotes and case studies
- "I tested this" content
- Real-world results and screenshots
- User-generated reviews

**Implementation:**
- Include author bios with relevant experience
- Add "About the Author" sections
- Feature customer testimonials
- Show real examples, not just theory

### Expertise
Knowledge and skill in the subject area.

**Signals:**
- Credentials and qualifications
- Depth of content coverage
- Technical accuracy
- Citations to authoritative sources

**Implementation:**
- Display author credentials
- Link to primary sources
- Cover topics comprehensively
- Keep content technically accurate and updated

### Authoritativeness
Recognition as a go-to source in the field.

**Signals:**
- Backlinks from respected sites
- Mentions in industry publications
- Social proof and follower counts
- Brand recognition

**Implementation:**
- Build thought leadership conte

# Structured Data (JSON-LD)

Structured data helps search engines and AI understand your content. JSON-LD is the recommended format.

## Why Structured Data Matters

- **Rich snippets:** Enhanced search result appearance
- **Knowledge panels:** Featured information boxes
- **AI training:** Better content understanding
- **Voice search:** Answer selection for voice queries

## Common Schema Types

### Article / Blog Post

```typescript
import { Article, WithContext } from 'schema-dts'

const articleSchema: WithContext<Article> = {
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Article",
  headline: post.title,
  description: post.excerpt,
  image: post.image?.url,
  datePublished: post.publishedAt,
  dateModified: post.updatedAt,
  author: {
    "@type": "Person",
    name: post.author.name,
    url: post.author.url
  },
  publisher: {
    "@type": "Organization",
    name: "Your Company",
    logo: {
      "@type": "ImageObject",
      url: "https://example.com/logo.png"
    }
  }
}
```

### FAQ Page

```typescript
import { FAQPage, WithContext } from 'schema-dts'

const faqSchema: WithContext<FAQPage> = {
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "FAQPage",
  mainEntity: faq

# Technical SEO Checklist

Essential technical SEO elements for modern web applications.

## Table of Contents

- Metadata
- Sitemaps
- Canonical URLs
- Redirects
- Performance
- Robots.txt
- International SEO

## Metadata

### Title Tags
- Unique per page
- 50-60 characters
- Primary keyword near the beginning
- Brand name at the end (optional)

### Meta Descriptions
- Unique per page
- 150-160 characters
- Include call-to-action
- Contain relevant keywords

### Open Graph
```html
<meta property="og:title" content="Page Title" />
<meta property="og:description" content="Description" />
<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/image.jpg" />
<meta property="og:url" content="https://example.com/page" />
<meta property="og:type" content="article" />
```

### Sanity + Next.js Implementation

```typescript
export async function generateMetadata({ params }): Promise<Metadata> {
  const { data } = await sanityFetch({
    query: PAGE_QUERY,
    stega: false,  // Critical: no stega in metadata
  })
  
  return {
    title: data.seo?.title || data.title,
    description: data.seo?.description,
    openGraph: {
      images: data.seo?.image ? [{
        url: urlFor(data.seo.imag

---
name: seo-aeo-best-practices
description: SEO and AEO best practices for metadata, Open Graph, sitemaps, robots.txt, hreflang, JSON-LD structured data, EEAT, and content optimized for search engines and AI answer surfaces. Use this skill when implementing page SEO, technical SEO, schema markup, international SEO, AI-overview readiness, or improving content for Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and similar assistants.
---

# SEO & AEO Best Practices

Principles for optimizing content for both traditional search engines (SEO) and AI-powered answer engines (AEO). Includes Google's EEAT guidelines and structured data implementation.

## When to Apply

Reference these guidelines when:
- Implementing metadata and Open Graph tags
- Creating sitemaps and robots.txt
- Adding JSON-LD structured data
- Optimizing content for featured snippets
- Preparing content for AI assistants (ChatGPT, Perplexity, etc.)
- Evaluating content quality using EEAT principles

## Core Concepts

### SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Optimizing content to rank well in traditional search results (Google, Bing).

### AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)
Optimizing content to be selected as authoritative answers by AI sys