AEO Strategies Mega-Guide (2026): 32 Ways to Optimize for AI Search

The State of Search Marketing in 2026: SEO Is Becoming AEO

The shift from traditional search to answer engines isn’t a distant future—it’s happening now. By 2026, the search marketing landscape will be fundamentally reshaped by this transition. Here’s how we can visualize the change:

1. LLM Usage Is Exploding: The adoption rate of Large Language Models (LLMs) for information retrieval has been meteoric. Users are increasingly turning to conversational AI for complex questions, product recommendations, and summaries, bypassing traditional search methods.
2. OpenAI’s ChatGPT Is the Early Leader: ChatGPT achieved unprecedented user growth, establishing itself as a household name and setting the standard for conversational AI. Its widespread use has conditioned millions of users to expect direct answers over lists of links.
3. Google’s Gemini, xAI’s Grok, and Anthropic’s Claude Are Rapidly Gaining Ground: The market is not a monopoly. Google is integrating its powerful Gemini model directly into its search results. Elon Musk’s xAI is leveraging the real-time data of X (formerly Twitter) to power Grok. This multi-platform environment means a successful AEO strategy cannot focus on just one answer engine.
4. Traditional Google Searches Are Not Decreasing (Reportedly): While reports suggest raw search volume remains stable, this statistic can be misleading. The critical change is in user behavior. With AI Overviews and rich snippets answering queries directly on the search engine results page (SERP), click-through rates (CTR) to organic results are declining for many query types. The value of a #1 ranking is diminishing if the user gets their answer without needing to click.
5. Demand for AEO Tools Is Exploding As Traditional SEO Software Struggles to Transition: Classic SEO tools built to track keyword rankings and backlink counts are becoming insufficient. The new frontier requires tools that can track visibility within AI answers, monitor brand mentions in generative responses, and analyze entity recognition. This gap is fueling demand for a new generation of AEO-focused software.

As someone who has been customer-facing with SEO and AEO clients for years, I have never seen anything shake up the digital marketing landscape more dramatically and quickly than the introduction of LLMs and AI search features like Google’s AI Overviews. In the last six months, all my current clients have asked about AI search, and every new client that found me say they were specifically searching for an AEO expert to help them (although some of them used other terms like “AI SEO” or “GEO.”

AEO Strategy Components

A robust AEO strategy is a multi-faceted approach that integrates technical precision with high-quality content and strategic outreach. The core pillars of a successful AEO campaign are:

1. Your Website Structure (IA) and Page Choice: How your site is organized and the pages you choose to build.
2. Website Content: The quality, depth, and type of information you provide.
3. Digital PR: Building authority and earning mentions across the web.
4. Social Media and Discussions (UGC): Engaging in the platforms where real-time information is generated.
5. Structured Data and Technical Considerations: Speaking the language of machines through code.
6. KPI Tracking: How to measure and report on AEO success.

We will explore each of these components in detail throughout this guide.

Website Structure (Information Architecture) and Landing Page Strategies for AEO

Your website’s Information Architecture (IA) is the bedrock of your AEO strategy. A flat, disorganized site is incomprehensible to an LLM trying to determine your expertise. To be seen as an authority, you must build a comprehensive and logical hierarchy of pages that covers your entire business landscape.

Why is a deep page structure crucial for AEO:

• They rank for high-intent keywords: Pages dedicated to specific services, products, or solutions naturally target long-tail, high-conversion keywords.
• These are the highest converting page types: Users looking for a “CRM for manufacturing companies” are much further down the buying funnel than those searching for “what is a CRM.” Dedicated pages capture this high-intent traffic.
• You “check the box” for LLM recommendations: When an LLM processes a query like “What’s the best welding robot for automotive assembly?”, it scans its knowledge base for entities that specialize in “welding robots” AND “automotive industry.” By having dedicated pages for your products, use-cases, and the industries you serve, you provide clear, structured signals that you are a relevant and authoritative match for the query.

B2B SaaS Website Example

A B2B SaaS company selling project management software should move beyond a single “Features” page. A strong AEO structure would include:

• Product/Service Pages: A main page for the software, plus dedicated pages for different pricing tiers (e.g., “Enterprise Plan,” “Business Plan”).
• Solutions/Use-Cases: Pages targeting how people use the software, such as “Project Management for Marketing Teams,” “Software for Agile Development,” or “Task Management for Remote Work.”
• Industries: Pages demonstrating expertise in specific verticals, like “Project Management for Construction,” “Software for Healthcare Administration,” or “Tools for Financial Services.”

Multilingual Website Example

Dialpad exemplifies an excellent multilingual AEO strategy. Their success is built on a few key principles:

• Excellent IA (Folder Structure): They use clear URL structures like /fr/ for French and /jp/ for Japanese, making it easy for search engines to understand the language and region of each page.
• Targeted Translation: They don’t just translate their homepage. Their top-performing product and solution pages are professionally translated and localized for their key international markets.
• Consistent Internal Linking: Pages within the French section of the site link to other French pages. This keeps users and search crawlers within a consistent language experience, reinforcing regional authority.
• Easy Language Toggling: A user-friendly language switcher allows visitors to easily navigate to their preferred language, improving user experience.

Law Firm Website Example

A niche law firm like one specializing in maritime law can use site structure to dominate its vertical. An effective structure includes:

• Optimized Homepage: The homepage clearly states their main practice area (maritime law) and top service locations (e.g., Seattle, Portland).
• Dedicated Location Pages: A unique page for every office location and major port or area they serve.
• Dedicated Practice Area Pages: Specific pages for every type of case they handle, such as “Jones Act Claims,” “LHWCA Claims,” and “Wrongful Death at Sea.”
• Dedicated Client Pages: Pages that speak directly to their target clients, like “Legal Help for Offshore Workers,” “Representation for Longshoremen,” and “Claims for Commercial Fishermen.”

B2B Industrial Website Example

SKS Welding Systems (sks-welding.com) provides a masterclass in AEO for the industrial sector:

• Clear Homepage Navigation: The homepage acts as a hub, immediately linking to their top products and solutions.
• Granular Page Dedication: They have distinct pages for every type of robot they sell, the specific use-cases they address, and the industries they specialize in.
• Detailed Schema Markup: They use structured data on their pages to explicitly tell search engines what each product is, its specifications, and its applications.
• Robust Multilingual Strategy: All key pages are professionally translated into multiple languages, including English and German, to capture a global market.
• Optimized Imagery: They feature numerous high-quality images of their products, complete with descriptive filenames, detailed descriptions, and optimized alt text, providing another layer of information for answer engines.

Best Content Strategies for AEO

Content for AEO must be precise, authoritative, and directly answer user questions. The goal is to create content that is so useful and well-structured that an AI engine chooses it as the definitive source. Prioritize creating content that targets users who are close to making a purchasing decision.

• Focus on high-intent content first: Target transactional and commercial investigation keywords. These are the queries users make when they are actively evaluating solutions and are ready to buy.
• Create high-conversion topic clusters: Across most industries, certain content formats consistently drive conversions. These include direct comparisons with your competitors, comparisons between your own products or service tiers, detailed industry pricing guides, and how-to content that solves a problem using your product.
• Build interactive tools: Free, valuable tools are powerful assets for AEO. For example, a telecom company could offer a “Monthly Bill Calculator” that estimates costs based on call volume, number of users, and feature needs. This not only provides immense value but also captures highly qualified leads and serves as a linkable asset.

The following content tactics are consistently effective for my AEO clients, which includes websites in niches like law, B2B SaaS, manufacturing, cosmetic surgeons, marketing agencies, and even an Ecommerce website in the health/wellness niche.  

Competitor Comparisons and Reviews

This content tactic involves creating detailed, honest comparisons between your product and your competitors’ products. For example, a page titled “[Your Product] vs. [Competitor A]” or “Best [Product Category] Software: [Your Product], [Competitor A], and [Competitor B] Compared.” These pages directly capture users in the final stages of their decision-making process. To be effective, they must be balanced and genuinely helpful, not just a sales pitch. Acknowledge your competitors’ strengths while clearly articulating your unique advantages.

Price Guides

Creating a detailed pricing guide for your industry is a powerful AEO strategy. Why? Because nearly every B2B and B2C buyer searches for pricing information before they engage with sales. If you are not transparent about costs, you risk letting your competitors or third-party review sites control the pricing narrative. A comprehensive guide that explains the factors that influence price (e.g., number of users, feature tiers, implementation fees) establishes you as a transparent, trustworthy authority. Even if you don’t list specific prices, explaining *how* pricing works in your industry is incredibly valuable content.

Helpful Listicles (Prioritizing Commercial Intent Topics First)

Listicles, or articles structured as lists (e.g., “7 Ways to Improve X,” “Top 5 Tools for Y”), are highly effective for AEO because they are easy for both humans and machines to parse. Prioritize listicles that address commercial-intent topics. Instead of “5 Fun Facts About Marketing,” create “5 Marketing Automation Tools That Integrate With Salesforce.” This targets users looking for a solution. For further reading on creating effective, research-backed content, you can explore resources like SES Research.

Link Magnets and Free Tools

A “link magnet” is a piece of content or a tool so valuable that other websites naturally want to link to it. Free tools are the ultimate link magnets. They provide ongoing utility to users, generate high-quality backlinks, and position your brand as an innovative leader. A great example is iPullRank’s QFA (Questions, Facts, and Answers) tool, which helps marketers identify key entities and questions related to a topic—a perfect tool for the AEO era that also serves as a powerful promotional asset for their agency.

Glossaries

Creating a comprehensive glossary of industry terms is a foundational AEO tactic. It establishes your website as a definitive resource for your niche. Each definition can be a standalone piece of content that answers a specific “What is…” query. By internally linking from glossary terms to your relevant product or service pages, you create a powerful web of contextual relevance that helps both users and answer engines understand the full scope of your expertise. A prime example is Cairrot’s own AEO glossary, which helps define the very field it operates in.

Best Digital PR Strategies for AEO

Digital Public Relations, which includes link building, has always been a cornerstone of SEO. For AEO, its importance is magnified. Answer engines rely on signals of authority and trust from across the entire web to validate information. When reputable websites link to or mention your brand, it acts as a vote of confidence, telling LLMs that your content is credible and worthy of being featured in an answer. A strong digital PR strategy ensures that the web’s consensus about your brand aligns with the narrative you want to project.

Online Press Releases

This tactic involves the regular publication and distribution of press releases that communicate your company’s news, achievements, and desired narrative. For AEO, press releases serve as a tool to inject your brand and key messages into the news ecosystem, which is a primary source for many LLMs.

• Strategy: Regularly release press releases that paint your desired narrative about your company, such as new product launches, partnerships, or market research findings.
• Linking: These press releases should always link back to your website multiple times. Use varied anchor text and link to different relevant pages (e.g., link a new product name to its product page, and your company name to the homepage).
• Frequency: Small companies should aim to publish a press release at least once every six months. Larger brands, especially in competitive spaces like B2B SaaS and Industrial, should publish one every 2-3 months to maintain a steady stream of authoritative signals.

Traditional Link Building

Traditional link building tactics remain vital for AEO, as each link is a signal of authority. A diverse link profile from relevant, high-quality sites is essential.

• Direct Outreach: Manually contacting webmasters of relevant sites to request a link to your valuable content (like a tool or a guide).
• Broken Link Building: Finding broken outbound links on other websites and suggesting your own relevant content as a replacement.
• Partnerships (Link Trades): Collaborating with non-competing businesses in your ecosystem to exchange links in a way that is natural and valuable to users.
• Outsourcing: Engaging a specialized link building agency to scale your outreach efforts.
• Social Media Profiles: Treat your social media profiles as a source of foundational links. Ensure every profile links back to your website.
• Directory Profiles: Claim and fully optimize your company profiles on high-authority review and directory websites like G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius. These are powerful trust signals.

Repurpose Content on Multiple Websites

If you own or operate multiple web properties, you can strategically repurpose content across them to maximize your footprint. This is an advanced tactic that requires care to avoid duplicate content penalties. The key is to ensure the content on each site is substantially unique. As a rule of thumb, changing at least 50% of the wording, and especially the headers and subheadings, is often enough to be considered unique by search engines.

Example: Asbestos.com is a lead generation website operated by a network of law firms. Similar informational content about asbestos-related diseases and legal options appears on the main site as well as the individual websites of the partner firms. The content is re-written and tailored for each site. This way, if any of the associated websites win a featured placement in an AI search, the lead benefits the entire network.

Social Media and Discussions (UGC) for AI Search

Answer engines, particularly real-time ones like Grok, rely heavily on public discussions and User-Generated Content (UGC) to understand current events, opinions, and sentiment. Your social media presence is no longer just for engagement; it’s a critical data source for AEO. Claim and optimize your profiles on all major platforms, ensuring they link back to your website. Your content strategy should be a mix of direct promotion (linking to your site) and valuable, non-promotional content that builds authority and community.

How to Use X (Twitter) for SEO/AEO

X is the primary source of real-time information for xAI’s Grok. Content published here can appear in AI answers within minutes. The key is to turn your expertise into conversational content. Transform blog posts, data, and insights into engaging threads (a series of connected posts that tell a story). This format is highly readable and feeds directly into Grok’s knowledge base, positioning your profile as an authority on your topics.

Reddit (and Industry Forums) for AEO

Reddit is a treasure trove of authentic human conversations, questions, and product opinions, making it a prime data source for almost all LLMs. For AEO, the strategy is not to spam links, but to become a genuinely helpful member of relevant subreddits. Answer questions, provide expert advice, and subtly mention your brand or product only when it is a genuinely useful solution. Being upvoted as a helpful resource sends powerful signals of trust and relevance to answer engines monitoring these discussions.

How to Use LinkedIn for SEO/AEO

LinkedIn is the definitive platform for B2B authority. For AEO, it’s about demonstrating professional expertise. Publish articles, share insightful posts about your industry, and encourage your leadership team to build their personal brands. When an LLM looks for an expert or authoritative company in a professional context, the depth and quality of your company’s and employees’ LinkedIn activity serve as strong validation signals.

How to Use YouTube for SEO/AEO

YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine, and its video transcripts are fully indexed and used by Google’s AI. For AEO, this means creating videos that explicitly answer common questions in your industry. Use clear, descriptive titles (e.g., “How to Set Up a VPN for Your Small Business”). Speak clearly and structure your video logically, as the auto-generated transcript becomes a text-based document that the AI can parse. How-to guides, product demonstrations, and expert interviews are highly effective formats.

How to Optimize Meta (Facebook, Instagram, Threads) for AEO

While Meta’s platforms are more of a “walled garden,” public posts and business page information can still be indexed and contribute to an LLM’s understanding of your brand’s popularity and public sentiment. Ensure your business page is fully filled out with accurate information, a link to your website, and a clear description of what you do. Use these platforms to build community and share content that reflects your brand’s identity. Positive public engagement and shares can be indirect signals of brand authority.

Structured Data for Technical AEO (Schema Markup and LLMS.TXT)

If content is what you say, structured data is how you say it in the language of machines. Schema markup and emerging standards like llms.txt are critical for AEO because they remove ambiguity. They allow you to explicitly tell answer engines what your content is about: this is a product, this is its price, this is an organization, this person is the author. This clarity is essential for being correctly interpreted and featured by AI.

A file like llms.txt, similar to robots.txt, is an emerging standard to give instructions to LLM crawlers. This can be managed automatically on platforms like WordPress with dedicated AEO tools such as Cairrot, simplifying technical compliance.

Schema Markup for SaaS Companies

For a SaaS company, the goal of schema is to define your software as a solution to specific problems.

• Homepage schema: Use Organization schema to define your company, logo, social profiles, and contact information. You can nest Product schema to highlight your main software offering.
• What to use on product/service pages: SoftwareApplication schema is essential. Use it to specify the application category (e.g., BusinessApplication), operating system compatibility, and pricing. Use offers to detail pricing plans.
• How important is article / author schema?: Very important. Use Article or BlogPosting schema on your blog posts, and nest Author schema with a link to an author bio page. This builds topical authority and trust, showing that your content is written by real experts.
• Should SaaS companies make dedicated pages for their leadership team?: Yes. An “About Us” or “Leadership” page with individual bios for key team members, marked up with Person schema, adds a powerful layer of E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust).
• Does schema need to be on every page?: No, but it should be on every page that represents a key entity. Your homepage, product pages, blog posts, and about page are the highest priorities.

Schema Markup for B2B Industrial Companies

For industrial and manufacturing companies, schema helps define complex physical products and their applications.

• Homepage schema: Use Organization schema (or a more specific type like Corporation). Clearly define your legal name, address (for local signals), and what you do in the description.
• What to use on product/service pages: Product schema is paramount. Use it to specify the product’s name, SKU, model number, and technical specifications using the additionalProperty attribute. If you sell a machine, describe its function, capacity, and the industry it’s for.
• How important is article / author schema?: Crucial for case studies and technical papers. Marking up a whitepaper with Article or TechArticle schema, and citing the engineer who wrote it with Author schema, establishes deep technical expertise.
• Should these companies make dedicated pages for their leadership team?: Yes. Highlighting the experience of your lead engineers, plant managers, and executives with Person schema builds immense credibility.
• Does schema need to be on every page?: Focus on the pages that define your core entities: your company (homepage), your products (product pages), and your expertise (articles/case studies).

Schema Markup for Ecommerce Websites

For ecommerce, schema is non-negotiable. It directly powers rich snippets in search results and provides critical data to answer engines.

• Homepage schema: Use Organization and/or WebSite schema to define your brand and enable features like the sitelinks search box.
• What to use on product pages: Product schema is the most important. It must include the product name, image, description, and offers (which contains price, priceCurrency, and availability). Also, use AggregateRating to display star ratings, a massive trust signal.
• How important is article / author schema?: Very important for the blog or content marketing section. A blog post reviewing or explaining how to use a product should be marked up with Article schema. This helps you capture informational queries related to your products.
• Should these companies make dedicated pages for their leadership team?: It’s a good practice for brand building and trust, especially for smaller or founder-led brands. Use Person schema on an “Our Story” or “About the Founder” page.
• Does schema need to be on every page?: Every product page MUST have Product schema. Every blog post should have Article schema. The homepage should have Organization schema. Use it wherever an important entity is being described.

KPI Tracking for AEO

Measuring the success of AEO requires a shift in mindset and tools. Traditional SEO KPIs like keyword ranking are becoming less relevant in a world of click-less answers. The new focus is on visibility and influence within the AI-generated responses themselves. This section is inspired by modern approaches to measuring AI visibility, such as those discussed in the AEO community.

To effectively track AEO, you need a combination of specialized tools and a new set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

Core AEO KPIs:

• AI Visibility / Share of Answer: This is the most important AEO metric. It measures how frequently your brand, products, or content are mentioned or cited in AI-generated answers for your target queries. Specialized AEO tracking tools are required to monitor this.
• Branded Mentions in AI Responses: Tracking the raw number of times your brand name appears in answer engine results. This is a measure of brand presence and recall.
• Citation Clicks: When an answer engine cites your website as a source with a link, tracking the clicks on that link is a direct measure of AEO-driven traffic. This can be tracked using UTM parameters.
• Unlinked Brand Mentions: Monitoring discussions on social media, forums, and news sites where your brand is mentioned without a link. These mentions still contribute to the AI’s understanding of your authority.
• Keyword Visibility in AI: Instead of just tracking your rank, track whether your domain is used as a source for the AI answer for a given keyword.

Secondary & Supporting KPIs (Leading Metrics):

• Organic Traffic to High-Intent Pages: While overall traffic might fluctuate, an increase in organic traffic to your core product, service, and solution pages is a strong positive signal.
• Conversion Rate from Organic Traffic: Are the users who find you via search (even if influenced by an AI answer first) converting into leads or customers? This remains a critical business metric.
• SERP Feature Ownership: Tracking how often you appear in People Also Ask boxes, featured snippets, and other SERP features, as these are often direct data sources for AI Overviews.

The right tools are essential. Look for modern AEO platforms that can actively query answer engines, parse the results, and report on your visibility within them, moving beyond the limitations of traditional rank trackers. WordPress users may enjoy this resource from WordPress Dynamics covering 33 AI SEO Tools and Plugins ->