Answer Engine Optimization

Become the brand AI recommends.

We help B2B companies improve how they appear across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, and Google AI, so they are more likely to be cited, recommended, and considered when buyers are making decisions.

Fig. 01 — Answer pathLive
BUYER QUERY“WHO SHOULD I USE?”CHATGPTPERPLEXITYGEMINICLAUDEGOOGLE AIVENDORVENDORYOUR BRANDRECOMMENDED

Your brand should sit inside the answer path, not beside it.

The Shift

Your buyers are asking AI before they visit your website.

Search is shifting from “show me ten links” to “give me the answer.”

When buyers use AI to research a category, compare vendors, or decide who to trust, the brands inside that answer gain consideration early.

If you are absent, your competitors can shape the decision before the buyer ever reaches your site.

Fig. A · Zero-click
QUERIESANSWERSITE

Most searches never reach your website.

~60% of searches now end without a click-through, SparkToro / Datos, 2024.

Fig. B · Entry point
BUYERCHATGPTCLAUDEPERPLEXITYGEMINI

A billion buyers ask ChatGPT first.

ChatGPT alone sees 1B+ weekly active users deciding before they compare vendors, OpenAI, 2025.

Fig. C · Close rate
TRAFFICAI REFERRALCLOSED

AI referrals close 2–4x more often.

Leads arriving via an AI recommendation close at 2–4x the rate of average traffic, Semrush, 2025.

Definition

AEO is not just SEO for ChatGPT.

Answer Engine Optimization improves the signals that influence whether AI systems understand, cite, recommend, and accurately represent your brand.

Fig. 02 — Signal system4 inputs
01
ENTITY

Technical clarity

Help AI systems discover and understand your company.

02
PASSAGESCITED

Content coverage

Build useful answers around the questions buyers actually ask.

03
BRAND

Third-party authority

Strengthen the external sources that validate what your company says about itself.

04
VISIBILITY

Measurement

Track visibility, citations, recommendation share, competitors, and brand perception.

AI UNDERSTANDING
CITATION
RECOMMENDATION
Diagnosis

Most AI visibility problems start with weak signals.

Fig. 03 — Visibility gap6 findings
01

AI does not clearly understand what your company should be known for.

02

Competitors have stronger authority outside their own websites.

03

Important buyer questions are not covered well enough.

04

Existing content gets traffic but is rarely used in AI answers.

05

Third-party sources give AI incomplete or inconsistent information.

06

Nobody is tracking the searches that actually influence buying decisions.

The System

A system for building AI visibility over time.

Fig. 04 — AI visibility systemContinuous
01

Audit

Understand where you stand, where competitors are winning, and which buyer searches matter most.

02

Foundation

Strengthen the technical and structural signals AI systems use to understand your brand.

03

Content

Build and improve the pages that answer high-value buyer questions.

04

Authority

Strengthen the third-party sources and signals that support your credibility.

05

Measure

Track what changed, identify what is working, and adjust the strategy accordingly.

Repeat — return to 01
Capabilities

The parts of your AI presence that influence the answer.

01

AI Visibility Research

  • Current visibility and share of voice
  • Competitor benchmarking
  • Buyer-query research
  • Citation and source analysis
  • Brand perception analysis
02

Technical AEO

  • Schema and entity clarity
  • Crawl and indexation review
  • Sitemap and robots hygiene
  • Structured data
  • Internal linking
  • AI discoverability
03

Content & Query Coverage

  • Commercial pages
  • Comparison content
  • Buyer guides
  • Decision-stage content
  • FAQs
  • Existing page improvements
04

Citation & Authority

  • Relevant third-party mentions
  • Industry sources
  • Directories and review platforms
  • Backlink opportunities
  • Off-site authority
05

Brand Positioning

  • Inaccurate or outdated narratives
  • Consistency across important sources
  • Trust and proof signals
  • How AI describes your company
06

Measurement & Attribution

  • AI visibility
  • Prompt rankings
  • Citations
  • Competitor share of voice
  • AI referral traffic
  • Qualified inbound where measurable
Evidence

AI recommendations are built from more than your website.

AI systems form their view of your company using information from across the web. That is why AEO cannot be solved with blog posts alone.

The goal is to strengthen the overall body of evidence supporting who you are, what you do, and why you should be recommended.

Fig. 05 — Authority network9 signals
WEBSITEEDITORIAL MENTIONSREVIEWSCOMMUNITIESDIRECTORIESYOUTUBE & PODCASTSEXPERT CONTENTNEWS & PRSTRUCTURED DATAYOUR BRAND
Proof

What measurable progress looks like.

Fintech / Agency Spend Management

Starting point

Four indexed pages, no blog, no sitemap in Google Search Console, and no visibility in AI search. Buyers researching the category found only competitors.

What changed

We fixed the technical foundation first — sitemap, robots, llms.txt, metadata, heading structure and internal linking — then built the content and citation coverage for the prompts buyers actually use.

Result

In 90 days Opal went from invisible to the most cited brand in its key topic clusters, ranked #1 in Google AI Overviews, with inbound leads climbing alongside.

Metric 01
339

Tracked AI brand mentions (13x)

Metric 02
3.9%11.2%

Share of AI voice

Metric 03
06.86K

Impressions from Google AI features

Engagement

What the first 90 days looks like.

Days 1–30

Baseline + foundation

  • Establish your starting point
  • Map priority buyer searches
  • Identify competitive gaps
  • Strengthen the technical foundation
  • Build the initial roadmap
Days 31–60

Build + publish

  • Launch priority content
  • Improve existing pages
  • Strengthen external authority
  • Expand citation opportunities
  • Measure early movement
Days 61–90

Expand + compound

  • Double down on what is working
  • Expand into additional buyer searches
  • Strengthen weaker signals
  • Improve competitive gaps
  • Connect visibility to inbound where possible

The full program follows this same foundation, growth, and compounding structure.

Fit

AEO works best when buyers research before they buy.

Strong fit

  • B2B SaaS
  • Technology companies
  • Financial and professional services
  • High-consideration purchases
  • Brands with meaningful search demand
  • Categories where buyers compare several options

Probably not a fit

  • No established market demand
  • Little or no website foundation
  • Looking for guaranteed rankings
  • Looking for a one-time AI trick
FAQs

Frequently asked questions

AEO improves how your company is understood, cited, and recommended by AI-powered search platforms.

Free AI Audit

See how AI sees your brand today.

We will show you where you appear, where competitors are winning, and where we would focus first.