Everyone in the King of AEO contest is chasing the answer. Down under, I start with the question.
AEO, Answer Engine Optimisation, is about getting your business named when someone asks ChatGPT, Google or Perplexity a question. But if you don't know the question, you can't own the answer. The question came before the answer, so QAEO comes before AEO. The real King of AEO asks the question first.
QAEO, Question and Answer Engine Optimisation, has five steps:
- Ask: find the exact questions customers ask AI about your business and area
- Answer: publish clear, plain-English answers to each one
- Back it up: make the same facts appear across trusted sources, reviews and news
- Mark it up: use structured data and consistent business details so search engines understand who you are
- Re-ask: ask the same questions every month and record who the AI names
I'm testing it on my own business first, in public. On 6 October 2026, when Google's AI Overview was asked "Who does AI integration in Cairns?", it named seven local providers, and Cairns IT Guy wasn't one of them. That's my starting line. One day after my first press release, Bing's AI answer to the same question listed Cairns IT Guy first. Google, ChatGPT and the rest are next. Every month I'll re-ask the same questions and publish the results on the QAEO page.
And to the reigning King of AEO: fancy a Q&A-off? Whoever asks the better question takes the crown.
Watch the official music video:
Chris McIntyre
Founder, Cairns IT Guy · the Cairns AI Guy