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AEO is changing the way buyers buy (and the kind of content they’re consuming)
AEO is changing how people buy products. Instead of turning to Google, they’re turning to AI clients like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. In fact, a new G2 survey found that 93% of software buyers said AI search has changed the way they conduct research. It’s also predicted that by 2027, the majority of search queries will be answered by agents.
So, this is drastically changing the kinds of content that teams are creating, with the goal to match the content channel to the question type:
“How does X work?”
Tutorials
Walkthroughs
Product demos
“What do users think of X?”
Community reviews
Comparisons
Q&A
“X vs. Y: Which should I buy?”
Buying guides
Ranked lists
Reviews
“What are the best X for Y?”
Roundups
Listicles
Category rankings
“What’s the leading solution for X?”
Trade press
Analyst coverage
Earned placements
The takeaway: Content needs to be high-intent and give high-trust signals. Content that answers specific questions related to your brand gets cited. Content that talks about your brand does not.
AEO is rooted in what other people have to say about you, not what you have to say about you
AEO is not to be confused with SEO (to be honest, I thought they were interchangeable myself). The major difference to note is what it pulls from and how it works. LLMs collect information and form an opinion on you based on how others talk about you. So, where SEO is the domain authority you control, AEO is the domain authority others control.
The goal of SEO is to build domain authority to rank higher in search engines. The algorithm ranks who links to you and how many. The content of the anchor text matters, but the surrounding narrative does not. SEO work is primarily done on-site through your owned content—think landing pages, blogs, etc. SEO measures page rank, impressions, click-through-rate (CTR), and page sessions.
On the other hand, the goal of AEO is to share how your brand is described everywhere LLMs learn from. The algorithm reads the full narrative around your brand—the context, sentiment, and framing in third-party content. And not just that you’re mentioned, but what’s said. AEO work is primarily done off-site, usually through third-party mentions. AEO measures mentions, share of voice, citations, sentiment, and referrals.
The takeaway: To win at AEO, your brand needs to be talked about. And not just by you, but by third parties. That’s how LLMs form an opinion about you.
AEO renders gated content basically useless
Gated content is invisible to AI engines, which means any insight locked behind a form is out of the running for citations, summaries, and the answers your buyers are already getting from AI.
That changes the strategy for content that has traditionally lived behind a gate. Ebooks, white papers, and case studies were created to establish authority. But if they can't be found, referenced, or cited, they aren't doing that job anymore.
Trust and authority are built long before someone is ready to buy, and increasingly, they're built through content that shows up in AI-generated answers, Slack threads, internal decks, and vendor evaluations.
The takeaway: Ungate most of your trust-building, top-of-funnel content and gate access to people. Workshops, private communities, product demos, and benchmarks tied to active buying motions still make sense behind a gate because mutual intent already exists.
AEO depends on the quality of the narrative and content, not just keywords
Winning with AEO is about owning the story, which means the content surrounding your brand matters just as much as how it is mentioned. The difference from SEO is that AEO is query-based, so the answers that surface clearly answer the questions users are asking. This means using descriptive headlines, clear language, and leading with the answer rather than burying it.
Additionally, consider follow-up questions or FAQs your audience might be looking for, and incorporate them into your content. But the true secret sauce? Interviews and SME insights. Yes, they take time to gather, but they are key in differentiating your content from both your competitors and other generic AI-written slop.
Another thing to note is that AI prefers fresh content, so be sure to regularly refresh key pieces, especially if they were purpose-built for AEO. That said, it works fast—much faster than SEO typically does, so you’ll start to see whether or not your efforts are working almost immediately.
The takeaway: AI won’t respond to AI-generated content, so take the time to focus on the quality of the content you’re creating. The key is to get cited, which means being a credible source.
AEO pulls from the entire web, not just your website
Where SEO focuses entirely on your website, LLMs pull from the entire web. Hence, your site is just a fraction of your influence. That said, your influence needs to feel like it’s everywhere—social, affiliates, external blogs, videos, industry publications, podcasts, etc. In fact, up to 85% of AI brand visibility is driven by third parties.
LLMs decide who gets mentioned based on consistent mentions, credible third-party signals, and buyer intent language. AI recommendations build buyer trust, leading to more brand mentions and stronger AI positioning.
The takeaway: Visibility is important. The more places your brand is, the better. Your content strategy should account for this and should be prioritized if AEO is a priority for you.
So what does this mean for you?
If I could take away one thing from all of this so far, it’s that getting your brand name out there matters. So all the brand-building and visibility that gets put on the back burner needs to be prioritized. I’m talking about incorporating tactics into your brand strategy, like Reddit, earned media (podcasts, press, etc.), and influencer/affiliate marketing.
TL:DR; Your brand needs to be everywhere.
To figure out where you stand, ask your favorite AI client about your brand to see what it surfaces (I’m starting to incorporate this into my content audits for clients to see what it surfaces and where there are opportunities to improve the narrative). It’s eye-opening to see what it pulls and where it pulls it from (it’s even fun to do for you, too, to see how AI perceives you).
AEO is just one element of your content engine. If you’re a brand looking to build a content engine from scratch or reconfigure it to respond to changing buyer behaviors, let’s chat.