Step 1: find pages that rank but never get quoted
Filter Search Console for queries in positions 1-8 with click-through rates below the expected curve. Those are queries where something else - a snippet, an AI Overview, a People Also Ask card - is resolving the intent. Every one of them is an AEO ranking you can take back without earning a single new link.
Step 2: rewrite the opening of each target section
Put a question-shaped heading at the top, then a 40-60 word answer that stands alone with no pronouns pointing backwards. Include one concrete number, threshold, or name in that answer - specificity is what separates the quoted paragraph from the ignored one.
Step 3: add the format the engine actually wants
Check the current answer format on the SERP. If it is a list, publish a 4-8 item ordered list. If it is a table, publish a two-column table. Matching the incumbent format is the single highest-leverage change in AEO, because engines rarely swap format when they swap source.
Step 4: make the markup unambiguous
FAQPage for question clusters, HowTo for procedures, Article with a clear headline and dateModified everywhere else. Markup does not force extraction, but it removes the guesswork that makes an engine skip your page for a cleaner competitor.
Step 5: strengthen the entity signals around the answer
Answer engines prefer sources they can identify. A named author with credentials, an About page, consistent organization schema, and citations to primary sources all raise the confidence score attached to your passage.
Step 6: measure the right thing
AEO improvement shows up as CTR lift at a flat position, more impressions on question-form queries, and more citations in AI answers. If you only watch average position, a successful AEO project will look like it did nothing.