Where classic SEO optimizes a page to rank in a list of links, AEO optimizes it to be the answer itself. The unit of competition changes: instead of ten blue links, an answer engine composes one response and cites a handful of sources. AEO is the discipline of becoming one of those sources.
In practice AEO means leading with direct answers, using question-style headings, adding FAQPage structured data that matches visible text, keeping key content in server-rendered HTML, and maintaining a consistent, machine-resolvable identity. Pages built this way are dramatically easier for engines to lift and attribute.