A recent
Marketing Insider compared answer engine optimization (AEO) to real
estate. Just like you can’t sell a house with leaky plumbing, you can’t win at AEO if your website’s technical infrastructure is broken.
It’s true that winning at
AEO requires a solid technical foundation like llms.txt files, schema markup, and accessible crawl depths. Still, a website can have pristine architecture, but if the content is hollow and generic,
it’s like a house without a “For Sale” sign. Fixing infrastructure is only part of a winning strategy.
From Scrabble to Jeopardy!
The old SEO playbook was a
bit like Scrabble. Marketers would anticipate phrases their target audience might search, then arrange them across their sites to match the grid.
AI answer engines like Gemini, Perplexity, and
ChatGPT flipped the board and switched the game to Jeopardy! Engines crawl for deep context and relevancy and process complex clues before delivering the final answer -- which looks a lot like a
human B2B referral -- to the user. For example, a software recommendation from a colleague won’t regurgitate website verbiage, it’ll focus on what worked for them and why. AI engines map
connections the same way.
The Test for AI Visibility
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Search Google for a mid-funnel query about your solution (e.g., “Best partner management platform”). If you
don’t appear in the AI Overview, blue links, or AI chat, you need more than clean schema markup.
The SERP probably shows you comparison articles, Q&As from sites like Reddit and
Quora, and user forum threads. This a roadmap to the peer-to-peer dialogue LLMs pull from, and a guide to changing your content strategy accordingly:
Build competitive pages: Explicitly
compare your platform to competitors on your site. AI engines love context-rich "Brand vs. Competitor X" pages over pricing grids.
Optimize for direct queries: Swap generic titles for
direct questions (e.g., "The Evolution of CRM" becomes "How Do I Fix Data Silos in Sales Operations?"). Add FAQs and "Key Takeaways" at the top of posts. These structured answer blocks give LLMs
instant context without scanning entire pages.
Double down on listicles: Get mentioned in third-party industry roundups (e.g., "Top 5 Tools for Growth Teams"). AI engines place immense
value on this content, regardless of a site's domain rating.
Dominate peer-to-peer platforms (Reddit, Quora, LinkedIn): These sites house the unfiltered human consensus AI engines
crave. Seed these data layers by posting thoughtful answers to industry pain points or sharing text-only breakdowns of common execution failures.
Fund Evidence, Not Activity
Beyond content and infrastructure, AEO requires a commercial strategy shift. Even if top-of-funnel activity looks good in a report, it’s a waste of money if it’s not feeding the
pipeline. Shift budget to actions that find potential customers before they ever land on your website. Prospect actions to watch include attending industry events, posting questions on public forums,
or even interacting with competitors’ content.
The future belongs to the enterprises that move past automated volume, code their fundamentals, and use human strategy to capture direct,
un-copiable audience attention.