Optimizing AEO: How I Built an AI-Readable Portfolio

Introduction

With the rise of AI-driven search and answer engines, optimizing for AI-Enabled Optimization (AEO) has become as crucial as traditional SEO. Unlike SEO, which focuses on ranking in search results, AEO ensures your content is easily understood and retrieved by AI models to provide direct answers to user queries. In this post, I’ll share how I built an AI-readable portfolio, making it efficient for both search engines and AI models.

Structuring Content for AEO

A well-structured portfolio is key to making content machine-readable. Here’s how I approached it:

• Clear Hierarchy: Organized content using headings (<h1> to <h3>) to create a logical flow.
• Concise Summaries: Each section starts with a brief summary to help AI grasp the key points.
• Schema Markup: Implemented structured data (JSON-LD) for better indexability.
• Question-Answer Format: Used an FAQ section to align with how AI-driven assistants fetch data.

Performance Optimization

Speed and responsiveness play a vital role in AEO. I optimized performance by:

• Using Astro and TailwindCSS to build a lightweight, fast-loading site.
• Implementing lazy loading for images with Astro’s <Image> and <Picture> components.
• Serving preloaded JSON data instead of making repeated API requests.
• Applying static site generation (SSG) to reduce server dependency.

AI-Friendly Formatting

AI-driven search engines prioritize content that is:

• Well-structured: Short paragraphs and bullet points enhance readability.
• Direct and informative: Avoids fluff, making answers extractable.
• Minimal yet effective: Uses clear fonts, good contrast, and readable typography.

Minimalist Visuals and UI

Instead of cluttering the site with unnecessary visuals, I focused on:

• Essential graphics only: Profile picture, project covers, and icons.
• Dark mode support: Ensuring readability in all viewing conditions.
• Accessible design: Making sure the site works across devices and screen sizes.

Mobile and Voice Search Readiness

Since many users interact with search engines via voice, I made my portfolio:

• Fully responsive, adapting to different devices.
• Optimized for voice queries, ensuring content is easily read aloud by AI assistants.

Conclusion

Optimizing for AEO isn’t just about tweaking search keywords—it’s about making your content easily interpretable by AI systems. By structuring information effectively, improving performance, and keeping the design minimal yet functional, I built a portfolio that’s optimized for both humans and AI.