AEO is the work of structuring pages so that one passage fully answers one question, which makes it easy to lift into an answer box or AI summary. This article shows what that passage looks like, using sentences Perplexity actually wrote about real businesses.
What an AI answer takes from a page
When Perplexity recommends a business, it gives reasons. The reasons are short, plain facts: where the business is, how long it has been trading, what it does and what it costs. On 28 September 2026 we asked Perplexity "best <trade> in <town>, UK" for 40 pairs of UK towns and local trades (accountants, dentists, estate agents, physiotherapists and solicitors) and read every answer. The quotes below name no business; they are word for word.
- "Independent Bridgwater agent operating since 1990" (best estate agent in Bridgwater, UK)
- "Newark-based chartered accountancy and business-advisory practice serving clients across sectors" (best accountant in Newark, UK)
- "Independently owned and operating since 1963; combines estate-agency work with chartered-surveyor heritage." (best estate agent in Folkestone, UK)
- "a local guide indicates entry-level Burnley pricing can start around £55/month plus VAT" (best accountant in Burnley, UK)
One passage, one question
A passage that gets lifted answers one question completely, without depending on the sentences around it. If the answer needs the previous paragraph to make sense, an engine has to rewrite it, and it may pick another page that says the same thing more directly.
Google's documentation for featured snippets says plainly that you cannot mark a page for selection: "Google systems determine whether a page would make a good featured snippet for a user's search request, and if so, elevates it." Its page on AI features adds: "There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary." So there is no tag to add. What you control is whether the answer is on the page, stated so it can stand alone.
How to write the passage
- Put the question in the heading and the answer in the first sentence. Under "How much does a boiler service cost in Poole?", the first sentence gives the price. Background comes after, not before.
- State the facts an answer uses as reasons. Where you are, since when, what you do, for whom, and what it costs from. Write them as sentences, not only as icons, badges or a footer.
- Make each fact checkable. An address with a postcode, a year, a named service, a price with its unit. Vague claims ("years of experience", "competitive prices") give an engine nothing to quote.
- Keep one topic per passage. A paragraph that covers opening hours, prices and a history of the company answers three questions badly. Split it into three.
- Use lists and tables as HTML. Steps, prices and comparisons in real lists and tables can be read directly; the same content in an image cannot.
- Cite your sources. The research paper that introduced the term GEO (Aggarwal et al., "GEO: Generative Engine Optimization", 2023) tested rewriting methods on generative engines and found that adding quotations, statistics and cited sources helped visibility, while keyword stuffing did not.
Before and after
Here is a typical "About us" paragraph, written for this article:
We are a passionate, friendly team with years of experience, dedicated to delivering outstanding results for every client.
Nothing in it can be quoted as a reason. The same paragraph, answer-first:
We are a plumbing and heating company based in Poole, Dorset, trading since [year]. We service and repair gas boilers and fit new ones. A standard boiler service costs from £[price].
Every sentence in the second version is a fact of the kind Perplexity used in the answers above. The words in brackets are for your own figures; this is an example, not a real business.
Your page is not the only source
An answer is built from several pages, and your own site is usually only one of them. In our study of 158 Perplexity answers about UK local businesses, all 103 basic-mode answers about local services cited at least one directory or review site, and 151 of the 158 answers cited at least one of the named businesses' own websites (full study and data). So write the passage on your site, then make sure the same facts, in the same words where possible, appear on the directory profiles that answers in your trade cite.
What not to do
- Do not stuff the town name or the trade into every sentence. It reads badly and, in the GEO paper's tests, it did not help.
- Do not hide text or write instructions aimed at AI models. We do not do this for clients either.
- Do not promise a result. No one can guarantee that an AI engine will name a business: answers change between runs.
Method
- Quotes: Perplexity answers to "best <trade> in <town>, UK" for 40 pairs of UK towns and local trades, one run each, 28 September 2026. Quotes chosen so that they name no business; wording unchanged.
If you want to see which facts Perplexity uses about your business today, request a free check.