AEO content principles are the writing and formatting rules that make your pages eligible for AI citation. The five core principles are: write the answer first, attribute every claim to a named source, use scan-friendly headings and lists, name every entity explicitly, and write confident declarative sentences. Applying these rules to your existing pages can improve AI citation probability without creating new content. Start with Quick Wins AEO to prioritise where to begin.
The 5 Core AEO Content Principles
Each principle targets a specific mechanism in AI passage retrieval and citation selection. Together they form a complete writing standard for AEO-optimised content.
5 AEO Content Principles
Click any principle or hit Play to learn the rule and why it works.
Answer-First Writing
State the complete answer in the first 1-2 sentences of every informational page section. Never make the reader scan for the answer.
Before and After Rewrites
See each principle applied to real content examples. Toggle between the before and after versions to understand exactly what changes and why it improves citation probability.
Before and After: AEO Content Rewrites
Problem: Begins with the topic rather than the answer. AI cannot extract a passage because the answer is not present.