AEO Archives - Riman Agency

Answer Engine Optimization. Articles adapted from Tarek Rimans book Intro to Answer Engine Optimization (2nd Edition).

AI for SEO — Briefs, Gaps, and Rankings in 2026

TL;DR

AI changes SEO at three stages — keyword and gap discovery, content briefing, and ongoing optimization. Master all three and you’ll ship 3–5× more SEO content at higher quality. Google’s SERPs are now AI-generated summaries; topical depth, entity coverage, and genuine expertise win. The biggest mistake is publishing pure AI content at scale — it actively hurts rankings in 2026.

What This Guide Covers

An AI-augmented SEO workflow that holds up against Google’s AI Overviews and SGE. You’ll get the three-stage workflow (discovery → briefing → optimization), the 20-minute brief that doubles writer output, the ongoing-optimization moves that move page-2 rankings to page 1, and the boundaries that keep you from publishing content that gets penalized. Built for SEO managers and content leads who want to ship more without lowering quality.

Key Takeaways

AI transforms SEO at three stages: discovery, briefing, optimization.
A 20-minute AI-assisted SEO brief beats a 60-minute manual one — writers double their output.
Treat SEO content as a living asset: monthly freshness audits, quarterly internal linking reviews.
Never publish pure AI content at scale — human editorial is non-negotiable in 2026.
Author bylines and entity markup matter more in the AI-summary era.

The AI-Powered SEO Workflow

Stage	Tool	Output
Discovery	MarketMuse, Clearscope, Frase + LLM	Gap list, intent map
Briefing	Clearscope or Frase + LLM	Structured brief with H2s and entity list
Drafting	Human writer + LLM assist	On-brand article, human-edited
Publishing	CMS + schema markup	Page with structured data
Optimization	Search Console + LLM	Monthly freshness, quarterly internal linking

Stage 1: Discovery

AI-powered discovery is faster and broader than manual keyword research. Two plays cover most use cases:

Gap analysis. Tools like MarketMuse, Clearscope, and Frase compare your topic coverage against top-ranking pages and surface what’s missing — sub-topics, questions, entities, related concepts.
Intent mapping. Ask your LLM to cluster the likely search intents (informational, commercial, navigational, transactional) for a target keyword and outline content that serves each. Useful when one keyword has multiple search reasons.

Stage 2: The 20-Minute Brief

A great SEO brief used to take an hour. With AI it’s 20 minutes and arguably better:

Run the target keyword through Clearscope, Frase, or MarketMuse to get the entity list, target word count, and related terms.
Use an LLM to turn that output into a structured brief — H1, H2 outline, internal link suggestions, “questions to answer” pulled from People Also Ask.
Review the brief for strategic fit (does it match positioning? is it on-brand?). Edit accordingly.
Send to the writer. The writer spends time writing, not researching — roughly double the throughput.

Stage 3: Optimization — Ongoing, Not One-Time

The biggest shift in 2026: SEO content isn’t “published and done” — it’s “published and monitored.” AI makes continuous optimization affordable:

Freshness audits monthly. Feed the article + current top-3 SERP pages into an LLM. Ask: “What’s in the top-3 pages that’s missing from ours? What’s stale in ours?”
Internal link opportunities quarterly. Ask the AI to scan your blog index for pages that should link to this article and don’t.
Query-to-article matching. Use Search Console data plus an LLM to identify queries your page is ranking on page 2 for, then optimize specifically to move them to page 1.

What NOT to Do with AI in SEO

Don’t publish pure AI content at scale. Google’s guidelines penalize it; quality is usually low; audiences learn to expect slop. Human editorial is non-negotiable.
Don’t fake expertise. Author bylines should be real people with real credentials. Generative bios with fake headshots are a brand and regulatory risk.
Don’t neglect entity and schema markup. AI-generated content with no structured data is invisible to AI-generated search summaries (Google AI Overviews, SGE).

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Mass thin AI content. Worked briefly in 2023; actively hurts rankings in 2026.
Skipping the human edit. AI drafts get published as drafts and read like drafts.
Treating SEO as one-time work. Without monthly maintenance, rankings decay quietly.
Ignoring AI Overviews. If your content isn’t structured to be cited by AI summaries, you’ll lose visibility even when you rank.

Action Steps for This Week

Pick your top 3 pages ranking on page 2 for valuable queries.
For each, run the freshness audit + gap analysis prompts.
Update the content based on findings — add missing entities, refresh stale claims, shore up missing sub-topics.
Expect movement in 30–60 days.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will Google penalize AI-assisted content?

Google penalizes thin, low-value content regardless of source. AI-assisted content with human editorial, real expertise, and original insight ranks fine. Pure AI content at scale doesn’t.

How much can I let AI draft?

Outline plus first draft is fine. Final content needs human voice, opinion, and verified specifics. The 30–40% pre-AI human time still makes the difference between published draft and shipped article.

What’s the best AI SEO tool?

Clearscope or Frase for briefs and gap analysis; combine with Claude or ChatGPT for outlining and editing. Surfer SEO is a strong alternative if you want content scoring built into the workflow.

Should I write for AI Overviews and SGE?

Yes — clear answer-first structure, strong entity markup, and authoritative bylines are how you get cited in AI-generated search summaries. The same moves that work for AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) work for AI Overviews.

How often should I refresh content?

Monthly for top-priority pages; quarterly for the rest. Set calendar reminders or build a workflow that surfaces refresh candidates automatically.

Sources & Further Reading

Google’s E-E-A-T quality guidelines.

Want to go deeper? This guide draws on the playbook in Tarek Riman’s An Introduction to Marketing & AI 2E.

About Riman Agency: We design AI-augmented SEO programs that ship 3–5× more content at higher quality. Book an SEO audit.

← Previous: 8-Tool Stack | All AI marketing articles | Next: AI for SEM →

May 10, 2026/by Tarek Riman

Founder Marketing & Visibility: SEO + AEO + GEO for the AI Era

AEO, AI, Entrepreneurship

In 2026, you don’t market a business. You make it findable, citable, and trustworthy on every surface where buyers go looking. Visibility runs on three engines simultaneously: SEO (classic Google rankings), AEO (Answer Engine Optimization for AI Overviews), and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization for ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini). Plus brand and community. Old SEO tactics actively hurt you now. The new playbook: original data, sharp opinion, structured pages, evidence everywhere.

Key Takeaways

Visibility = SEO + AEO + GEO + email + community. Run them in parallel.
Original data, sharp opinion, and structured content beat volume every time.
Citations are the new links. Brand mentions, Wikipedia, Reddit, and reviews compound for years.
Email is the only audience you truly own. Start the list on day one.
Paid is surgical, not a foundation. Brand defense, bottom-of-funnel, and retargeting earn their keep.

The Visibility Triangle

Engine	What it is	What it rewards
SEO	Classic Google organic rankings	Topical authority, original data, structured content, links
AEO	AI Overviews, AI Mode, voice assistants	Direct answers, schema, citations, clear structure
GEO	ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, agents	Brand mentions, citations across the web, distinctive content

SEO That Still Works in 2026

Topical authority — build clusters of 10–20 pages on a single tight topic before going broad
Original data — your own surveys, benchmarks, case studies, screenshots
Schema markup — FAQ, HowTo, Article, Product, LocalBusiness, Review
Internal linking — still one of the highest-leverage tactics
E-E-A-T signals — author bio, credentials, real photos, citations
Page speed and mobile — still the floor

AEO — Answer Engine Optimization

Lead with the answer. Direct answer in first 1–2 sentences of every section.
Use clear question-based H2/H3 headings — mirror real queries.
Keep paragraphs short. AI summarizers chunk content.
Add structured data — FAQ schema, HowTo, Article.
Cite primary sources. AI engines preferentially cite content that itself cites well.
Update dates visibly. Stale-looking pages get demoted.

GEO — Generative Engine Optimization

Brand mentions across the open web — get cited in industry roundups, podcasts, newsletters.
Distinctive language — AI engines retrieve based on semantic distinctiveness.
Reddit, Quora, Stack Overflow, Hacker News — heavily weighted in training and retrieval.
Wikipedia presence (where appropriate and earned) — strongest single GEO signal.
First-party data publishing — your benchmark gets cited because it can’t be sourced anywhere else.

Smart Fun Fact: By 2026, 8–15% of new B2B SaaS customers had “met” the brand inside an AI assistant before visiting the site. The number is climbing fast — and most companies still don’t measure it.

The Citation Stack

Layer	Example	How to earn it
Your own content	Pillar pages on your site	Write the canonical resource on your topic
Earned third-party content	Industry blog roundups, podcast appearances	Original data, opinion, outreach
Reference platforms	Wikipedia, Crunchbase, Reddit, G2, Trustpilot	Be real, be findable, be reviewable
Knowledge graphs	Google Knowledge Panel, AI engine memory	Compounds from layers 1–3 over time

Email — The Channel That Always Wins

Every other channel is rented. Email is owned. The single most defensible asset a small business has.

Start the list on day one. Even before product launch.
Send weekly. Less and you lose deliverability; less than monthly and you lose the relationship.
Have a real point of view in every send.
Track replies, not opens. Open rates are noisy now.
Segment by behavior, not just demographics.

Paid — What Still Works

Brand search defense — always. If competitors bid on your brand, bid back.
Bottom-of-funnel intent keywords — “[competitor] alternative,” “best [category] for [niche].”
Retargeting — still high ROAS for warm audiences.
Content amplification — promote your best organic post to lookalike audiences.
Avoid: cold prospecting at scale on Google or Meta with no creative differentiation.

Common Mistakes

Treating SEO, AEO, GEO as separate strategies — they’re three views of the same content.
Volume content — cheap, generic AI content actively gets demoted in 2026.
Skipping email — every algorithm change is a reminder it’s the only audience you own.
Measuring only traffic — brand search, citation share, email subscriber growth tell you more.
Trying to be everywhere — pick two channels and go deep.

60-Day Visibility Sprint

Days 1–7 — Audit site. Find top 10 pages by traffic and conversion. Refresh with AEO structure.
Days 8–21 — Pick 3 pillar topics. Map 10 cluster pages each.
Days 22–35 — Publish first original-data piece. Pitch to 20 newsletters and podcasts.
Days 36–42 — Set up email properly. Welcome sequence, weekly newsletter, segmentation.
Days 43–52 — Audit brand presence on Reddit, G2, Trustpilot, Wikipedia, AI engines.
Days 53–60 — Set up brand-search defense and bottom-of-funnel paid.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the difference between SEO, AEO, and GEO for founders?

SEO earns rankings on Google. AEO earns citations inside AI Overviews and answer engines. GEO earns mentions inside generative AI responses. All three run on overlapping content but optimize for different surfaces.

Should I focus on SEO, AEO, or GEO first?

All three from the same content. Write pillar pages with direct-answer leads, FAQ schema, original data, and clear structure. The same page serves all three engines if optimized right.

Why is email still important when AI search exists?

Because email is the only audience you own. AI Overviews + algorithm changes redistribute traffic constantly. Your email list is yours forever — direct line to readers without platform interference.

What kills SEO in 2026?

Volume thin content, AI-spun articles with no original insight, link farms, exact-match keyword stuffing. Google’s helpful-content updates penalize these aggressively. Cite primary sources, add original data, write for humans first.

How do I get cited by ChatGPT and Claude?

Brand mentions across the open web (Reddit, Quora, podcast transcripts, news), distinctive language and original frameworks, Wikipedia presence (where earned), and first-party data nobody else has. AI engines preferentially cite the canonical source.

Should founders run paid ads?

Yes — surgically. Brand search defense, bottom-of-funnel intent, retargeting. Avoid cold prospecting at scale. Paid is amplification, not foundation.

Sources & Further Reading

Tarek Riman — The Entrepreneur Guideline (2nd Edition)
Riman Agency AEO 2E series — full 29-chapter playbook

Work With Riman Agency

Riman Agency runs SEO + AEO + GEO programs for founders. Get in touch for a 60-day visibility sprint.

Part 7 of our 22-part series. Previous: Building AI-Native Products. Up next: Sales in the AI Era.

May 10, 2026/by Tarek Riman

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): 20 Plays to Get Mentioned by AI

AEO, AI, AI Marketing

A new discipline is being born in real time. Being cited in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini answers is becoming as important as ranking in Google — and the early movers are winning categories. Most brands haven’t started optimizing for AI engines. The window is open in a way that Google SEO hasn’t been open for twenty years. 20 practical moves for becoming the brand AI engines name and recommend.

Key Takeaways

AI engines reward direct-answer intros, question-format headings, FAQ/HowTo schema, and entity coverage.
Original research and named frameworks are citation magnets — “According to [your brand]” is the most valuable sentence pattern in GEO.
Brand entity recognition (Wikipedia, Wikidata, schema, consistent bios) is a 2–3 year compounding investment.
Track citation share monthly across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini — most brands don’t.
Start with #162 (track AI engine citations) and #163 (create quotable statements).

20 Practical Moves at a Glance

#	Play	Best when	Expected result
161	Optimize for AI Overviews	Any SEO-active content team	30+ AI Overview citations
162	Track AI engine citations	Forward-looking marketing teams	40%+ citation share achievable
163	Create quotable statements	Category thought-leadership plays	~500 inquiries/year from citations
164	Build answer-engine structure	Technical or help content teams	20–25x AI referral traffic
165	Monitor ChatGPT/Perplexity/Claude mentions	Brands with outdated AI descriptions	15%+ demo rate lift
166	Optimize FAQ for answer engines	Categories with common questions	20%+ FAQs gain AI citations
167	Build topical authority for AI engines	Building ownership of a niche	15x inbound in one topic
168	Create original research (citable)	PR + thought leadership combined	100+ earned citations per report
169	Structure content for RAG retrieval	Technical and developer content	40%+ developer-side discovery
170	Optimize for conversational queries	Opening a new acquisition channel	10K+ monthly visits from AI
171	Build brand entity recognition	Established but under-recognized brands	Brand search impressions +40%
172	Create direct-answer intros	All future-facing content teams	3x AI citation rate
173	Use claim-evidence-source pattern	Research and data-driven content	Top-cited source in your niche
174	Track AI share-of-voice	Modern marketing leadership	3x category share-of-voice
175	Correct AI-engine misinformation	Brands with inaccurate AI descriptions	AI descriptions corrected in 30–60 days
176	Optimize for multi-modal search	Image-rich product catalogs	4x visual search traffic
177	Build authoritative landing pages	Consultants/experts with niches	One page = 40%+ of traffic
178	Generate testimonial-rich content	Review-signal-positive categories	45+ AI-sourced demos/month
179	Optimize for voice assistants	Local service businesses	8–10x voice-driven calls
180	Create AI-friendly product pages	DTC and ecommerce brands	5–7% revenue from AI engines

Highlights

Optimize for AI Overviews

Direct-answer intro (2–3 sentences), question-format H2s, FAQ/HowTo schema, cite original sources. A B2B SaaS restructured 40 high-traffic articles — citations in AI Overviews grew from 3 to 29 in 90 days; AI Overview clicks rose ~6,400 monthly visits.

Create Original Research

Surveys and data reports = citation magnets. An HR-tech startup published a 1,500-person original survey — cited in 140+ articles, LinkedIn posts, and AI engine responses over 18 months. Report downloads: 11,000+, of which 1,200 became qualified leads.

Build Brand Entity Recognition

Wikipedia/Wikidata, consistent NAP, Knowledge Graph entity, structured data. A mid-market SaaS established a Knowledge Graph entity in 4 months; AI engines started naming them correctly — brand search impressions grew 38%.

Create Direct-Answer Intros

First 50 words decide citation. A content team rewrote intros on 60 articles — AI Overview citation rate went from 8% to 31%. Now every new piece is written with AI citation in mind.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the difference between SEO, AEO, and GEO?

SEO earns eligibility (being indexed and rankable). AEO earns selection (being cited inside AI answers). GEO earns mention (being named or recommended in generative responses). All three run together; you need each for full visibility.

Why is GEO a 2–3 year play?

Brand entity strength compounds slowly. Wikipedia entries take time to earn. Cross-surface mentions (podcasts, press, Reddit) build over quarters. The brands establishing entity authority in 2025–26 will benefit for years; this is a now-or-never window.

How do I track AI engine citations?

Manually for free (run 25 priority queries weekly across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, log results) or via paid tools (Profound, Otterly, BrightEdge AI Catalyst). Manual tracking is sufficient for the first year.

What content gets cited most by AI engines?

Original research, named frameworks, comprehensive guides, FAQ pages with crisp answers, and pages with clear claim-evidence-source structure. Vague summaries and SEO-optimized listicles get cited least.

Should I optimize differently for ChatGPT vs Perplexity?

Slightly. Perplexity is citation-forward and rewards original data and methodology. ChatGPT favors recent content and recognized brands. Build one strong foundation; tune format emphasis per engine.

How do I correct AI misinformation about my brand?

Identify quarterly inaccuracies via manual querying. Publish clear correction content with schema. Earn citations to the correct source. AI descriptions typically update within 30–60 days for high-quality corrections.

Sources & Further Reading

Tarek Riman — 500 Ways to Use AI for Your Marketing Strategy in 2026
Riman Agency AEO 2E series — full 29-chapter playbook
Aggarwal et al. — “GEO: Generative Engine Optimization” (arXiv)

Work With Riman Agency

Riman Agency builds GEO programs that compound across years. Get in touch for a 90-day GEO foundation.

Part 9 of our 25-part series. Previous: SEO Fundamentals. Up next: Social Media Strategy.

May 10, 2026/by Tarek Riman

AEO for Bloggers: How to Get Cited by AI Engines

AEO, AI, Blogging

Rankings get you listed. Answers get you chosen and cited. In the answer era, the win isn’t being found — it’s being reference-worthy. AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) is the practice of optimizing content to be cited inside AI-generated answers — Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini. AEO doesn’t replace SEO — it sits on top. SEO earns eligibility. AEO earns selection. Citation-worthy content has four traits: a direct answer up top, structured proof below, evidence and entities, and a clear next step.

Key Takeaways

AEO = becoming the most reference-worthy answer across AI engines.
SEO earns eligibility; AEO earns selection. You need both.
The Citation Triangle: structure × evidence × entities.
The Answer Module is the single most important on-page move.
Citation Share is the new North Star metric — track it weekly.

What AEO Is, Plainly

Answer Engine Optimization is the discipline of making your content the most reference-worthy answer to real questions, across AI and search experiences. It applies to every surface where AI synthesizes a response from sources: Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, ChatGPT Search, Perplexity, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot.

Layer	What it earns	What you optimize for
SEO	Eligibility — being indexed and rankable	Crawlability, relevance, topical depth
AEO	Selection — being cited inside answers	Clarity, evidence, structure, citation-readiness
GEO	Mention — being named in generative responses	Brand entity strength, training-data presence

How AI Engines Choose Sources

An AI engine answering a question goes through five steps:

Interpret — understand the user’s intent and constraints.
Retrieve — pull candidate sources from index, knowledge graph, and (sometimes) the live web.
Fan out — break complex prompts into sub-questions and retrieve across each.
Synthesize — compose an answer from the retrieved sources.
Cite — attribute claims to specific sources (sometimes; not always).

The key insight: at every step, the engine is choosing among candidates. AEO is the practice of being a stronger candidate.

Smart Tip: If you’re not crawlable, you’re not retrieved. If you’re not retrieved, AEO is impossible. SEO foundations matter even more in the AEO era — not less.

The Citation Triangle

Pillar	What it means for a blog post	Concrete moves
Structure	The post is easy for an AI to extract from	Direct answer up top, scannable headers, lists, tables, FAQ section
Evidence	The post backs claims with proof	Statistics, citations, original data, methodology notes, dates
Entities	The post connects to real, recognizable things	Named tools, brands, people, places — with context

The Answer Module — The Single Most Important AEO Move

Every blog post that targets a question should open with an Answer Module. It is the chunk most likely to be lifted into an AI Overview, a ChatGPT answer, or a Perplexity citation. Five-part structure:

The direct answer — 2 to 3 sentences. State the answer plainly. Don’t warm up.
Why it’s true — the evidence or logic, in one short paragraph.
The conditions — when the answer doesn’t apply, or what it depends on.
What to do next — a step or recommendation a reader can act on.
Follow-up FAQ — 5 to 8 specific follow-up questions, each answered in 2–3 sentences.

Smart Fun Fact: Posts with a clear Answer Module in the first 200 words get cited in AI Overviews at roughly 3x the rate of posts that bury the answer. The structure is doing the work.

Writing Citation-Friendly Content

Lead with the answer in the first 2–3 lines
Use clear H2/H3 structure with question-formatted headers
Include a short summary or takeaway box at the top
Use comparison tables when the question involves trade-offs
Cite specific numbers with sources
Define key terms inline — AI engines reuse definitions verbatim when they’re crisp
Add a glossary, methodology, or ‘how we know this’ section
Update dates and stats; AI engines bias toward fresh information

Myth Buster — Myth: If I add an FAQ section, my post will get cited.
Reality: FAQ helps, but it’s table stakes. Citations go to posts with structure plus evidence plus entity strength. FAQ alone isn’t a strategy.

Schema Markup for AEO

Schema type	When to use it
Article	All blog posts — the default for editorial content
FAQPage	Posts with a clear question/answer structure
HowTo	Step-by-step tutorials and process content
BreadcrumbList	Most pages — helps engines understand site structure
Person / Author	On author pages — strengthens E-E-A-T author entity
Organization	Homepage — establishes the publishing brand entity

Citation Share — The New North Star

Rankings tell you where you appear in a list. Citation Share tells you how often you’re chosen.

Citation Share = your citations ÷ total citations across a fixed query set.

Building a Citation Share workflow:

Pick 25 priority queries — 10 informational, 10 commercial, 5 branded.
Each week, run them across Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, and Perplexity.
Record: which engine showed an answer, who was cited, who was mentioned, what was the dominant source.
Track your share over time — weekly is enough; monthly is fine.
By month 6, target appearing in some answer for 25–40% of priority queries.

Different Engines, Different Behaviors

Engine	What it loves	What you optimize for
Google AI Overviews	Extractable answers, clear structure, established sources	On-page clarity, schema, topical authority
Google AI Mode	Multi-turn coverage, follow-up questions, comparisons	Topic clusters, follow-up FAQs, comparison pages
ChatGPT Search	Recent content, opinion, recognized brands	Brand-name strength, freshness, distinct point of view
Perplexity	Specific evidence, original data, named experts	Cite-able numbers, methodology, named author entities

Common Mistakes

Adding FAQs and calling it AEO — structure, evidence, and entities all matter; FAQ alone is table stakes.
Optimizing only for Google AI Overviews — ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI Mode reward different things.
Tracking only traffic — in the AEO era, brand search and citation share matter more.
Skipping schema — it’s the cheapest, highest-leverage AEO move.
Burying the answer — if your direct answer is in paragraph 8, you’re writing for archives, not engines.

7-Day AEO Quick Start

Day 1 — Choose 25 priority queries. These become your fixed tracking set.
Day 2 — Capture the answer landscape: for each query, record what’s cited.
Day 3 — Identify what wins citations in your niche.
Days 4–5 — Upgrade three pages with the Answer Module.
Day 6 — Improve eligibility: schema markup, internal linking, technical fixes.
Day 7 — Build a baseline citation tracker. Update weekly.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is AEO?

Answer Engine Optimization — the practice of optimizing content to be cited inside AI-generated answers across Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini. AEO sits on top of SEO; you need both.

What is the Citation Triangle?

Three forces that combine to earn citations: Structure (extractable), Evidence (proof), and Entities (recognizable connections). Missing any one collapses citation share.

What is the Answer Module?

A five-part block at the top of every AEO post: direct answer (2–3 sentences), why it’s true, the conditions, what to do next, and 5–8 follow-up FAQs. Posts with a clear Answer Module get cited in AI Overviews at roughly 3x the rate of posts that bury the answer.

What is Citation Share?

Your citations ÷ total citations across a fixed query set. It’s the most stable, defensible AEO metric because it tracks selection rather than just presence on a SERP. Track 25 priority queries weekly.

Do FAQs alone make a post AEO-friendly?

No. FAQs are table stakes in 2026. Citations go to posts with structure plus evidence plus entity strength — all three. FAQ on its own won’t move the needle.

Which AI engine should bloggers prioritize for AEO?

Google AI Overviews has the largest reach for most niches. ChatGPT has the widest behavioral footprint. Perplexity has the highest leverage per user because it’s citation-forward by design. Build one strong foundation; tune format emphasis per surface.

Sources & Further Reading

Riman Agency AEO 2E series — full 29-chapter playbook
Tarek Riman — Intro to Answer Engine Optimization (2nd Edition)
Semrush, Ahrefs — AI Overviews studies

Work With Riman Agency

Riman Agency builds AEO programs for B2B, services, and creator brands. Get in touch if you want a measurable AEO program in 30 days.

Part 8 of our 16-part Blogger Guideline series. Previous: SEO Foundations. Up next: GEO — Generative Engine Optimization.

May 10, 2026/by Tarek Riman

The AEO Toolkit: Worksheets, Checklists, and Dashboards You Can Use This Week

AEO, AI

AEO gets easier when you stop thinking in tactics and start thinking in kits, loops, and scorecards. This is the print-and-use chapter: copy-paste templates, role-based checklists, and a measurement system that runs in a spreadsheet. Seven assets in the Starter Pack: query set, weekly tracker, Answer Page template, Topic Kit workflow, Technical Readiness checklist, PR/community loop, exec scorecard. A team that tracks 50 queries weekly in Google Sheets outperforms a team that bought a $40K/year platform and uses it sporadically. Pick one template this week, adopt it, build from there.

Key Takeaways

Seven assets in the AEO Starter Pack cover 90% of the work.
Use the Starter Pack in the first 30 days; add governance and exec scorecard at 90 days.
A spreadsheet used weekly beats a platform used sporadically.
Templates are scaffolding, not dogma. Adapt them to your team.
Pick the asset most useful to you this week. Print it. Pin it.

How to Use This Toolkit

First 30 days — build the Query Set, stand up the Weekly Tracker, adopt the Answer Page template.
First 90 days — add the Topic Kit workflow, Technical Readiness checklist, Community Loop.
Year one and beyond — use the Governance template and Exec Scorecard to translate your work into language leadership can act on.
Mini-Glossary — send to anyone joining the team.

1) The AEO Starter Pack (Seven Assets)

If you only implement seven things from this entire AEO series:

Fixed Query Set (50–100 queries).
Weekly Citation and Mention Tracker.
Standardized Answer Page Template (Answer Module + Proof + Reusable Block + FAQ Ladder).
Topic Kit workflow (flagship + comparison + evidence + distribution pack).
Basic Technical Readiness checklist.
PR and community loop to feed questions and earn trust.
One-page Executive Scorecard.

Smart Tip: Teams don’t fail because they lack knowledge. They fail because they lack a repeatable system.

2) Worksheet — Build Your AEO Query Set

Step A — Choose Five Clusters (Your Answer Territory)

Pick clusters connected to revenue or strategic value: comparisons (“X vs. Y”), best-for-scenario (“best X for Y”), troubleshooting (“why does X happen?”), ownership (“how to maintain, choose, use”), and branded-plus-scenario (“Brand + best for…”).

Step B — Balance the Set

Roughly 30% comparison/best-for, 30% informational, 20% troubleshooting, 20% branded-plus-scenario or decision queries.

Step C — Metadata Columns

Cluster • Query • Persona • Intent • Business Value (1–5) • Current Status (ranked / cited / mentioned / absent) • Target URL.

3) Dashboard — Weekly Visibility Tracker

Columns to copy:

Date • Query • AI Overview present (Y/N) • Featured Snippet (Y/N) • PAA (Y/N) • Forum/community (Y/N)
Your Presence (Cited / Mentioned / Not present) • Your Cited URL
Top Cited Competitors (1–3 domains) • Winning Format Observed • Notes

Calculate weekly: citation rate, mention rate, citation share, competitive gap by cluster.

Smart Tip: Rankings tell you where you are. Citation share tells you who the engine trusts to speak.

4) Template — The Answer Page Standard

H1 matching the query or topic
Answer Module (2–3 lines, first screen)
Decision Rules (“Choose A if…”)
Reusable Block (table, steps, checklist, comparison grid)
Proof Block (“how we know” + boundaries)
FAQ Ladder (6–10 short Q&As)
Conversion Bridge (tool, checklist, recommendation, quote, booking)
Internal Links (hub, evidence, comparisons)

Answer Module Micro-Template

Direct answer (2–3 lines) • Best for (one line) • Changes when (one line) • Next step (one line).

5) Template — The Topic Kit

A flagship Answer Page
A comparison asset (table + decision rules)
An evidence asset (definitions, benchmarks, methodology)
An FAQ ladder (6–10)
A distribution pack: 3 social posts, 1 help-first community response, 1 PR angle + quote

Smart Tip: If you build Topic Kits, you build compounding visibility. If you build random posts, you build clutter.

6) Checklist — Technical Readiness

Crawl & Index

Key pages indexable (no accidental noindex/blocks)
Canonicals correct and consistent
Redirect chains avoided
Sitemaps clean (no junk pages)

Rendering & Structure

Critical content visible without heavy client-side dependency
Headings used properly (H1, H2, H3)
Tables and lists render cleanly

Representative Pages

List of top pages you want engines to use
Low-quality pages controlled (noindex, canonical, or consolidation)

7) Checklist — PR for AEO

Compounding Assets

Data page (even small original benchmarks)
Methodology page (“how we evaluated”)
Glossary or definitions page
Quote bank (20–40 quotable lines)
Seasonal or recurring report

Distribution Rules

Link to evergreen trust anchors, not fragile campaigns
Avoid hype language; use citable claims with boundaries
Track authority placements and whether they reference your evidence assets

8) Checklist — Community-to-Content Loop

Weekly Loop

Capture top 20 questions from community/social
Tag by intent, persona, cluster
Move top three recurring questions into the backlog
Publish one answer-style post (decision rules, checklist, myth-busting)
Convert one question into an FAQ entry or new Answer Page

Help-First Response Template

Short answer (two lines) • trade-offs (3 bullets) • decision rule (1–2 lines) • boundary (“changes when…”) • optional link to evidence asset (not a product page).

9) Checklist — Conversion Bridges

Intent	Best bridge
Informational	Checklist, “next questions,” or glossary link
Comparison	A table + a recommendation tool
Troubleshooting	Step-by-step fix + “still stuck?” CTA
Transactional	Direct CTA (book, quote, buy) with minimal friction

Bridge quality test: can the user take a confident next step within 30 seconds?

10) Governance Template — Risk Tagging & Approval Paths

Risk Level	Examples	Approval Path
Low	Definitions, general education	Editor + SEO checklist
Medium	Comparisons, pricing ranges, performance claims	Editor + SME
High	Regulated or safety-critical content	Editor + SME + compliance/legal

Smart Tip: AEO content gets reused. Governance isn’t bureaucracy — it’s protection against amplified mistakes.

11) The AEO Exec Scorecard (One Page)

Run monthly. Fields:

AI Overview incidence rate on the query set (%)
Citation rate (%)
Citation share (%)
Mention rate (%)
Top winning clusters (where you lead)
Top losing clusters (where competitors lead)
Engaged sessions on upgraded pages
Conversion rate and assisted conversions from upgraded pages
What shipped this month (Topic Kits and evidence assets)
Next month’s focus (three bullets)

12) Mini-Glossary

Term	Definition
AEO	Answer Engine Optimization. Optimizing for visibility inside AI answers.
GEO	Generative Engine Optimization. Often used similarly, with focus on generative systems.
AI Overviews	Summary answers displayed in Google search experiences.
AI Mode	A conversational, follow-up-driven search experience.
Citation share	Your citations ÷ total citations on a query set.
Mention rate	How often your brand appears, linked or unlinked.
Answer Module	The short “direct answer” block near the top of a page.
Proof Block	A short “how we know” section with boundaries and criteria.
Topic Kit	The repeatable package: answer + comparison + evidence + distribution.
Entity	A “thing” engines recognize: brand, product, concept, person, place.
Verification click	A click made to confirm or compare beyond the AI summary.

Action Checklist

Pick one template this week and put it into use.
Build the 50-query Query Set first — it powers everything else.
Adopt the Answer Page Standard for the next five pages your team ships.
Stand up the Weekly Tracker; assign one named owner.
Add the Exec Scorecard to your monthly leadership meeting.
Send the Mini-Glossary to anyone new joining the team.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s in the AEO Starter Pack?

Seven assets: a fixed Query Set, a Weekly Tracker, the Answer Page Standard, the Topic Kit workflow, the Technical Readiness checklist, the PR + Community loop, and the one-page Executive Scorecard. Together they cover 90% of the work.

Do I need a $40K AEO platform to start?

No. A spreadsheet tracked weekly outperforms a platform used sporadically. Build the Query Set and Weekly Tracker in Google Sheets first. Add tooling once the manual workflow is consistent.

Which template should I implement first?

The 50-query Query Set. It powers every other template. Without a fixed query set, your tracker has nothing to track and your reports tell different stories every month.

How long does it take to stand up the Starter Pack?

30 days for the first three (Query Set, Tracker, Answer Page Standard). 90 days for the next three (Topic Kit, Technical Readiness, Community Loop). The Exec Scorecard goes live as soon as you have one month of tracking data.

Should I adapt the templates or use them verbatim?

Adapt. The templates are scaffolding, not dogma. The structure (Answer Module + reusable block + proof + FAQ + bridge) is durable; the specifics should fit your team and vertical.

How do I get leadership to fund AEO?

Use the Executive Scorecard. Three slides — visibility (citation rate + share), competition (you vs. top 3), business impact (conversion rate + assisted conversions on upgraded pages). Numbers leadership can act on, not vibes.

Sources & Further Reading

Google Analytics & Search Console — free measurement infrastructure
Google Looker Studio — dashboarding
The full 29-part AEO series on Riman Agency

Work With Riman Agency

Riman Agency installs the full Starter Pack — query sets, trackers, templates, scorecards — for clients across B2B, services, e-commerce, and publishing. Get in touch if you want a working AEO program in 30 days. Thank you for reading our 29-part adaptation of Intro to Answer Engine Optimization: From SEO to AEO (2nd Edition) by Tarek Riman.

Final part (29 of 29) of our AEO series. Previous: AEO Case Studies. Start the series at the beginning: What Is AEO?

May 10, 2026/by Tarek Riman

AEO Case Studies: How Real Teams Win Citations, Traffic, and Trust

AEO, AI

Read these for the pattern, not the specifics. Then ask: which situation looks most like mine — and what’s the first step I’d borrow? Seven composite case studies across SaaS, law, DTC, consulting, e-commerce, healthcare publishing, and a cautionary tale. The cross-cutting pattern: winners lead with the answer, invest in first-party data, and decouple clicks from visibility. Six of seven cases saw flat or declining traffic alongside growing citation share and brand outcomes — plan for both curves.

Key Takeaways

Every winning case led with the answer, added first-party data, and layered in credentials.
Plan for the decoupled traffic + visibility curves — six of seven saw flat/declining traffic alongside rising citations.
Freshness compounds. Truth Review beats Truth Sprint.
Genuine assets win. Scaled mediocrity loses, fast and publicly.
Don’t copy all seven. Pick one pattern. Steal one tactic. Run a 30-day experiment.

Case 1 — The SaaS Knowledge Base That Became a Citation Magnet

Profile: mid-market B2B SaaS in HR analytics, ~80 employees, strong brand in HR circles but invisible in AI answers.

What they did:

Audited 50 “how do I calculate” queries from AlsoAsked and support tickets; competitors had cleaner answer modules.
Rewrote top 40 KB articles to lead with a 3-sentence Answer Module: definition, formula, worked example.
Added a Proof Layer: one data point from their customer base (anonymized) plus one external source.
Built a calculator widget for five of the most-searched metrics, linked from relevant articles.

Results at 90 days:

Citation share across 50 tracked queries: 3% → 28%.
Direct traffic unchanged; ChatGPT-referred sessions grew from near-zero to ~1,200/month.
Sales attributed 6 pipeline-qualified opportunities in Q2 to “cited in ChatGPT.”

Smart Tip: Knowledge bases are AEO gold if you rewrite them to be citable. Answer Module + first-party data point is 80% of the win.

Case 2 — The Law Firm That Won Local AEO Without Writing Anything New

Profile: 12-attorney personal injury firm serving three mid-sized US cities. Heavy GBP competitor density.

What they did:

Optimized GBPs across all three offices with consistent NAP, detailed categories, weekly Posts answering one common question each.
Added Organization + Person schema with credentials, bar admissions, case outcomes (where legally permitted).
No new content. Added Answer Modules to seven existing practice-area pages, pulled from a paralegal’s intake notes.

Results at 120 days:

AIO citation share on 30 tracked local queries: 0% → 22%.
GBP calls up 31%; website contact-form submissions up 19%.
Managing partner reported being “named specifically” in ChatGPT answers to three consultation leads in one quarter.

Case 3 — The DTC Beauty Brand That Recovered From AIO Traffic Loss

Profile: ~$40M revenue DTC skincare brand, 70% of traffic from organic blog posts on ingredient education.

What they did:

Rebuilt top 25 ingredient pages with a citation-friendly rewrite: direct-answer module + named expert byline (board-certified dermatologist).
Added a proprietary Ingredient Safety Scorecard built from FDA and CIR data, displayed as a structured table.
Published a quarterly “Skin Research Report” with original survey data from 5,000 customers (gated only behind email).

Results at 6 months:

Organic traffic: still down 35% vs pre-AIO baseline (the structural loss is real).
AIO citations grew to appear on 60%+ of tracked ingredient queries, up from near-zero.
Branded search volume rose 28% — citation-first visibility generated the brand awareness previously won by clicks.

Smart Tip: Traffic and visibility have decoupled. The brand lost clicks but won mindshare — and eventually, branded demand.

Case 4 — The Enterprise Services Firm That Discovered ChatGPT Was Their Top-of-Funnel

Profile: global consulting firm, 3,000 employees, selling $500K+ engagements to Fortune 500 CFOs.

What they did:

Ran monthly prompt audits across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini on 40 buyer-intent queries.
Found they were cited in 18% of responses; competitors in 45–60%.
Reverse-engineered: cited competitors had firm-branded research, partner bios with credentials, Wikipedia-adjacent third-party coverage.
Commissioned two pieces of proprietary research, pushed partner thought leadership into HBR and MIT Sloan, built Wikidata entries for top 20 partners.

Results at 12 months:

Citation share across 40 queries: 18% → 49%.
Two Q4 engagements (~$2.4M combined) had first-touch attribution to “ChatGPT recommended you” per the client’s disclosure.

Case 5 — The E-commerce Category That Lost 30% of Clicks and Still Grew Revenue

Profile: home fitness retailer, 40,000 SKUs, $120M annual revenue.

What they did:

Accepted the click loss; stopped trying to optimize for CTR recovery on AIO-heavy queries.
Rebuilt top 30 buyer’s-guide pages to be the source AI cited: comparison tables, “Best For” rules, first-party testing data.
Added ChatGPT-specific landing pages for products most asked about, with UTM tags.
Made product feed available via public API and structured data.

Results at 6 months:

Organic clicks: still down 30%.
AIO citation share on tracked queries: 11% → 54%.
Revenue from affected categories up 12% YoY — fewer clicks, higher-intent clicks, meaningful share of sales from AI-started journeys.

Smart Tip: Don’t chase clicks you can’t recover. Invest in being the cited source; the traffic you get will convert better.

Case 6 — The Healthcare Publisher That Rebuilt Editorial for AEO

Profile: independent medical information site, 2M monthly readers, 8-person editorial team with medical reviewers.

What they did:

Added visible Medical Reviewer byline + credentials block to every article, linked to Person schema page.
Instituted a quarterly Truth Review: every article over 10K pageviews re-checked against current guidelines, confirmed/updated/archived.
Built a Condition Hub for 50 common conditions with a consistent template (each section a standalone Answer Module).

Results at 9 months:

AIO citation share on tracked medical queries: 8% → 31%. Did not catch Mayo Clinic but became the clear #4–5 cited source.
Truth Review caught 14 articles out of date; two corrections became the AI-cited version within 30 days.
Traffic flat YoY — a win in a vertical where most publishers lost 20%+.

Case 7 — Cautionary Tale: The Startup That Tried to Shortcut AEO With AI Content

Profile: seed-stage fintech-adjacent startup, 12 employees, trying to build organic visibility cheaply.

What happened:

Founders decided AEO was “just writing AI likes” and used GPT-4 to generate 200 articles in two months.
Google’s March 2025 helpful-content update de-indexed 60% of the content within one cycle.
Citation share in AI answers: zero. AI systems cited the original sources their generators were trained on, not the derivative site.
Domain authority dropped 14 points. Six months and ~$80K lost.

Recovery:

Deleted 180 of 200 articles.
Commissioned 12 pieces of original research from their own anonymized transaction data, published with named bylines.
Partnered with two industry associations for co-authored content.
12-month recovery: citation share 0% → 9% on a narrower set of 20 queries. Slow, but real.

Myth Buster — Myth: AI-generated content at scale is a shortcut to AEO.
Reality: It’s an anti-pattern. Originality, first-party data, and named expertise are the floor — not the ceiling.

Cross-Cutting Patterns

Winners lead with the answer. Every case that moved the needle rewrote pages to open with a 2–3 sentence direct answer.
First-party data is the sharpest lever. Proprietary benchmarks, customer data, original surveys, testing results compound.
Schema and credentials shift the trust needle. Named experts with Person schema win against better content lacking markup.
Clicks and visibility decoupled. Six of seven saw flat/falling traffic alongside rising citations and brand outcomes.
Freshness discipline compounds. Standing Truth Review cadences win long-term share.
Shortcuts lose. Every case that invested in narrower, genuinely cite-worthy assets beat the instinct to publish more.

How to Apply These to Your Program

Don’t copy all seven. Pick the case most like yours, steal one tactic, run a 30-day experiment.

Content-heavy and losing traffic (DTC, publishers): rewrite top 20 pages with answer modules + proof layer (Cases 1, 3, 6).
Credentialed vertical (law, medicine, finance, consulting): add visible expert bylines, Person schema, one proprietary research asset (Cases 2, 4, 6).
E-commerce: build the buyer’s guide you’d want AI to cite — comparison tables, Best For rules, testing data (Case 5).
And the rule from Case 7: don’t shortcut. AEO rewards genuine assets; it punishes scaled mediocrity.

Common Mistakes

Trying to copy all seven cases at once — Pick one. Steal one tactic. Run a 30-day experiment.
Panicking when traffic falls — Six of seven cases saw flat/declining traffic with rising citations.
Investing in volume to recover from AIO loss — Recovery comes from narrower cite-worthy assets, not more pages.
Skipping first-party data because it feels expensive — Even a small benchmark or 50-respondent survey lifts citations.
Treating Truth Review as one-time cleanup — Make it quarterly and standing.
Confusing AI hallucinations with bad SEO — Improve the source pages AI is summarizing from.

Action Checklist

Identify which case most resembles your situation.
Pick one specific tactic from that case.
Run it as a 30-day experiment with clear before/after metrics.
Track citation share, branded search lift, and conversion quality — not just traffic.
After 30 days, double down or move to the next pattern.
Avoid the Case 7 trap: never scale AI-generated content as a shortcut.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the cross-cutting pattern across the winning cases?

Lead with the answer. Add first-party data. Layer in credentials. All seven winning cases combined these three. The losing case (Case 7) skipped them and tried to scale AI-generated content instead.

Why did most cases see traffic decline alongside citation growth?

The decoupling is structural — AI Overviews answer many queries on the SERP, so clicks drop even as citation share grows. Brands that planned for both curves grew revenue and brand strength even with smaller traffic.

Should I worry if my AEO traffic is down 30%?

Not if your citation share is up. Case 5 lost 30% of clicks and grew revenue 12% YoY because the remaining clicks were higher-intent. Track conversion quality, not just volume.

Can a small business compete in AEO?

Yes — Case 2 (a 12-attorney law firm) and Case 7’s recovery (a 12-employee startup) show that focus and authenticity matter more than scale. Pick a narrow niche, lead with the answer, add first-party data, and ship credentials.

What’s the lesson from the AI-generated content cautionary tale?

Scaled AI-generated content is an anti-pattern. AI engines cite the original sources their generators were trained on — not the derivative site. Originality and named expertise are the floor for AEO, not the ceiling.

How long until AEO investment shows results?

Citations and mentions: 30–90 days. Conversions and pipeline: 60–180 days. Brand-search lift: 90–180 days. Plan for the visibility curve to lead the revenue curve by one to two quarters.

Sources & Further Reading

Pew Research — Google AI summaries
Conductor — AI Overviews analysis
SearchPilot — GEO A/B testing

Work With Riman Agency

Riman Agency runs AEO programs across SaaS, services, e-commerce, and publishing. Get in touch to identify which case pattern fits your business — and ship the first 30-day experiment.

Part 28 of our 29-part AEO series. Previous: E-commerce AEO. Up next: The AEO Toolkit Appendix.

May 10, 2026/by Tarek Riman

E-commerce AEO: Getting Cited When Buyers Ask What to Buy

AEO, AI

AI answer engines are becoming shopping assistants. Being the cited source is the new “ranking position 1.” Transactional queries in AI Overviews grew from under 1% to over 10% in 2025 — the “safety net” for e-commerce is gone. Four query buckets win e-commerce AEO: “best X for Y,” “is X worth it,” comparisons, problem-to-product. Standard product pages are optimized for conversion, not citation. Add “Who this is for/isn’t for,” comparison blocks, use-case matrices, and real FAQs. Reviews are the single biggest e-commerce AEO lever.

Key Takeaways

Transactional AIO triggers grew 10× in 2025 — e-commerce AEO is now.
Four query buckets: best X for Y, is X worth it, comparison, problem-to-product.
Reviews + structured data + category content = the citation moat.
Brand entity matters — “is this brand legit” is now a critical AI query.
Track marketplace vs. DTC citation share separately.

The E-commerce AEO Opportunity (and Trap)

The opportunity: AI answer engines are becoming shopping assistants. The trap: transactional queries triggered AIO less often than informational ones — but that’s changing fast. E-commerce AEO is a now problem, not a future one.

The Four Query Buckets

Bucket	Example	What engines favor
Best X for Y	“Best running shoes for flat feet”	Review sites, Wirecutter-style roundups, Reddit threads.
Is X worth it	“Is the iPhone 17 Pro worth it”	Balanced reviews, user community posts, specific use-case analysis.
Comparison	“Nike Pegasus vs Brooks Ghost”	Honest side-by-side content, often from independent reviewers.
Problem-to-product	“How do I keep my laptop from overheating”	Upstream of purchase but heavily influences consideration.

Product Pages Engines Can Cite

Most product pages have insufficient text, thin descriptions, and no structured comparison data. Engines can’t cite what they can’t parse.

Add a “Who this is for” and “Who this isn’t for” section. Engines love decision criteria.
Include a comparison block: “vs [main competitor]” with 3–5 differentiation points
Add a use-case matrix: each major use case + a one-sentence fit rating
Specs as structured data (Product schema with PropertyValue), not just an HTML table
Genuine FAQ content answering real buyer questions, not marketing questions

Reviews and UGC: The Single Biggest Lever

Brands with thousands of verified reviews and active community presence get cited more than brands with polished content but no social proof.

Use Review schema and aggregateRating on every product. Surface counts and ratings in structured data.
Enable Q&A on product pages and actually answer. Q&A threads get indexed and cited.
Encourage customers to post on Reddit, niche communities, YouTube. Third-party mentions outrank your own copy.
Build a “real customer” content program — unpolished video reviews, long-form written reviews, before/after photos
Monitor and engage on Reddit thoughtfully. Mods punish overt marketing; honest brand presence (clearly labeled) is increasingly welcome.

Category Content: The Hidden Workhorse

Most e-commerce sites invest heavily in product pages and ignore category pages. For AEO, that’s backwards.

Rewrite top 10 category pages to include: buying criteria, decision framework, top picks with reasoning, “how to choose” section
Publish gift guides, seasonal guides, “best of” roundups — they age into durable citation sources
Add an “expert panel” element — quotes from your merchandising team, buyers, or external experts on trade-offs
For every major category, publish one “ultimate guide” (3,000+ words, genuinely useful)

Structured Data: Your Unfair Advantage

E-commerce has more schema opportunities than any other vertical. Use them all:

Product — brand, GTIN, MPN, color, size, weight, material, offers, availability, shippingDetails
Review and AggregateRating on product and category pages
BreadcrumbList on every page to clarify hierarchy
FAQ schema on product and category pages
VideoObject for product videos with transcripts — engines cite videos with clear transcripts
ItemList on category pages to mark up the lineup
MerchantReturnPolicy and shipping details — increasingly cited in “what’s the return policy” answers

The Brand Entity Advantage

Consumers ask “is [brand] legit,” “what does [brand] make,” “where is [brand] based.” If the answers are unflattering, vague, or wrong, you lose consideration before the product page loads.

Ensure your brand has a clean Wikipedia (if you qualify) and Wikidata entry
Maintain an About page with founding story, leadership bios, factory or sourcing locations, certifications
Publish a values/ethics page covering labor standards, sustainability, materials
Monitor what answer engines say about your brand — fix factual errors by improving the sources those answers draw from

Marketplace vs. Owned

If you sell on Amazon, Etsy, Walmart, AND your DTC site, AI answers often cite the marketplace, not yours. Strategy needs to shift:

Optimize marketplace listings with AEO in mind — full specs, detailed descriptions, high-quality Q&A
Ensure DTC has content marketplaces can’t replicate — buying guides, founder stories, extended warranties, custom options
Use DTC for category-educational content; let marketplaces convert where they convert best
Track citation share across marketplaces and DTC separately

The E-commerce AEO Scorecard

Citation share on top 20 “best X for Y” queries per quarter
Citation share on top 10 “X vs Y” comparison queries involving your brand
Review coverage — % of SKUs with 50+ verified reviews
Schema coverage — % of product pages with complete Product, Review, Offer schema
AI-influenced conversion rate — visitors whose first touch includes AI referrer domains

Common Mistakes

Product pages with no decision criteria — Add “Who this is for / isn’t for,” comparison block, use-case matrix.
Reviews seen as reputation only — They rank you, feed AIO summaries, and pre-qualify clicks.
Neglected category pages — Category pages get cited in roundups more than individual product pages.
Partial schema implementation — Product + Review + Offer + MerchantReturnPolicy + ItemList. Incomplete schema closes citation paths.
Letting marketplaces capture all citations — Build content on DTC marketplaces can’t replicate.
Marketing FAQ instead of buyer FAQ — “Does this work in a small kitchen” is real. “What makes this premium” is marketing.

Action Checklist

Pick your top 10 revenue categories. Audit “best X for Y” queries; check who’s currently cited.
Upgrade your top 20 product pages with “Who this is for,” comparison blocks, and use-case matrices.
Complete structured data on every product page (Product, Offer, Review schema at minimum).
Run a Reddit and community audit; identify the top three communities per major category.
Publish one category “ultimate guide” this quarter; refresh one existing category page per month.
Track AI-influenced conversion rate separately.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is e-commerce AEO suddenly urgent?

Transactional queries triggered AIO under 1% in early 2025; that grew past 10% by year-end. The “safety net” — informational queries triggering AI but transactional ones staying clean — is gone. E-commerce AEO is now.

What product page changes have the biggest AEO impact?

Add “Who this is for / isn’t for,” a comparison block vs. the main competitor, a use-case matrix, real buyer FAQs, and complete Product + Review + Offer schema. Engines need decision criteria they can extract.

Why do reviews matter so much for e-commerce AEO?

They rank you, feed AI Overview “users say” summaries (Google pulls exact phrases), and pre-qualify the click. Volume + recency + specificity all matter. Brands with dense, specific reviews outperform brands with polished copy.

Should I focus on product pages or category pages?

Category pages get cited in “best X for Y” roundups more often than individual product pages. Most teams over-invest in product pages and under-invest in category pages — flip the ratio.

How do I compete against marketplace listings?

Build content on DTC that marketplaces can’t replicate: buying guides, founder stories, extended warranties, custom options, expert panels. Track citation share across marketplaces and DTC separately.

How do I monitor my brand entity?

Ask AI engines “is [brand] legit,” “where is [brand] based,” “what does [brand] make.” If the answers are wrong or vague, fix the source pages they draw from — your About page, Wikipedia entry, and brand directory listings.

Sources & Further Reading

Schema.org — Product, Review, Offer, MerchantReturnPolicy
Google Merchant Center — product feed best practices
SE Ranking — AI Overviews research

Work With Riman Agency

Riman Agency runs e-commerce AEO programs — product page upgrades, structured data implementation, category page rebuilds, brand entity work. Get in touch if you want a citation moat across your top 10 categories.

Part 27 of our 29-part AEO series. Previous: B2B AEO. Up next: AEO Case Studies.

May 10, 2026/by Tarek Riman

B2B AEO: Winning Answer Visibility in Long Sales Cycles

AEO, AI

By the time a demo is booked, 60–80% of the purchase decision is made. AEO is how you get cited during that invisible 60–80%. B2B buyers research in private, in AI conversations you can’t see — your shortlist is being formed before any analytics fire. Five query patterns drive B2B AEO: category education, problem-to-solution, vendor comparison, implementation/integration, pricing/procurement. Five content types carry almost all wins. Track AI-influenced deals separately — they typically close 20–40% faster.

Key Takeaways

B2B AEO is category ownership, made measurable.
Five content types carry the wins: pillars, comparisons, implementation guides, ROI templates, specific stories.
Build the People + Product + Process authority triangle.
Integrate AEO with ABM — your target accounts are already using AI.
AI-influenced deals close 20–40% faster. Track them separately.

Your Funnel Starts Before Your Analytics See It

A prospect books a demo, already knows your product, already has a shortlist, already mentions a competitor. “How did you hear about us?” — “a colleague mentioned you” or “I saw you in some comparisons.” What actually happened: they asked an AI, read a few comparison articles, scanned Reddit, and built their shortlist from AI-cited sources. Your analytics saw none of it.

The Five B2B Query Patterns

Pattern	Example	Strategic role
Category education	“What is a CDP” • “How does API-first CMS work”	Early research; high volume; entity association.
Problem-to-solution	“How do I track events across devices”	Buyer has pain, not category yet. Win by naming both.
Vendor comparison	“Segment vs mParticle” • “Best CDP for ecommerce”	Shortlist formation. Not in the comparison = not on the shortlist.
Implementation/integration	“How to integrate Segment with Salesforce”	Mid-funnel; technical champion gold.
Pricing/procurement	“CDP pricing models” • “How to build a business case”	Closest to conversion; champions building internal justification.

The B2B AEO Content Stack

Five content types carry almost all wins. If you don’t have these, build them before anything else:

Category-defining pillars — 2,000–4,000 word pages that become the canonical “what is X” answer
Vendor comparison pages — honest “X vs Y” pages including your competitors. Buyers read these whether you write them or not.
Implementation guides — real code, real screenshots, real time estimates. Champion-driven deals come from these.
ROI and business case templates — calculators, frameworks, downloadable templates that help champions sell internally
Customer stories with specifics — named customers, named problems, named numbers. Generic testimonials don’t get cited.

Why Your Gartner Quadrant Doesn’t Move AEO

Analyst recognition matters for enterprise procurement but rarely moves AEO citations. Engines don’t read Gartner reports — they read the content that discusses Gartner reports, and they cite the sources those articles link to.

Analyst reports themselves are paywalled — engines can’t cite them
Press releases about “Named a Leader in…” rarely get cited — too promotional
What does get cited: third-party articles analyzing the Magic Quadrant, comparison content on G2/TrustRadius/Capterra, neutral thought leadership referencing the framing

Smart Tip: When you earn an analyst placement, commission or pitch at least three independent articles that explain the category landscape. Those articles are what engines cite.

The B2B Authority Triangle

Pillar	What it is	How to build it
People	Executives, engineers, SMEs with publicly visible expertise.	LinkedIn profiles, conference talks, podcasts, bylined articles in trade publications.
Product	Clear documentation, public changelogs, public APIs, developer communities, public roadmaps.	Make product entities legible — they get cited in “how does X work” queries.
Process	How your company works, who your customers are, results they get.	Case studies, methodologies, frameworks. Named processes (“Smith Method”) become citable entities.

Integration With Account-Based Marketing

AEO doesn’t replace ABM — it amplifies it. When your ABM target accounts research, they’re using AI.

Pull query research per ABM industry and role. A VP of Supply Chain asks different questions than a CISO.
Publish role-specific answer content: “how [your category] helps VPs of [function]”
Use sales intent data to identify ABM accounts in active research, then ensure your top-cited content surfaces for their current questions
Equip SDRs to ask “which AI tools did you use and what came up?” — it’s a live intelligence feed

Sales Enablement in the Answer Era

Your sales team now competes with AI answers. If a rep can’t match or exceed what ChatGPT said about your category, credibility dies in call one.

Spend 30 minutes a month reviewing the top 20 buyer queries and what shows up across engines
Arm reps with “what you might have read vs. what’s actually true” talking points
Build a citation library for sales — a Notion page with the pages buyers reference, organized by query
Track deals where the buyer mentioned finding you through AI — cleanest proof of AEO impact on revenue

The B2B AEO Attribution Problem

Last-click attribution will make AEO look worthless. It isn’t — your reporting is looking at the wrong thing.

Add “how did you first hear about us” and “did you use AI tools in your research” to demo forms and closed-won surveys
Look at branded search trend lines alongside citation share. Rising citations usually precede rising branded search by 30–60 days.
Track assisted conversions in GA4 where organic or direct touched the path
Build a pipeline-acceleration metric: avg sales-cycle length for deals where the buyer mentioned AI research vs. those who didn’t

Smart Fun Fact: AEO-influenced buyers typically close 20–40% faster because they’re pre-educated.

The B2B AEO Scorecard

Citation share on category-defining queries (top 20 per quarter)
Citation share on vendor-comparison queries (you vs. top 3 competitors)
Earned bylines, podcasts, third-party articles per quarter per named executive
ABM accounts who self-report finding you via AI in the current quarter
Sales-cycle delta: AI-influenced deals vs. non-AI-influenced

Common Mistakes

Trusting last-click attribution — Add AI-research questions to forms and surveys.
Investing only in analyst recognition — Pair every analyst placement with three independent articles. Engines cite the articles — not the report.
Gated ebooks as AEO assets — Engines don’t cite gated content. Move investment to citable, indexable comparison pages.
Generic case studies — Specifics get cited; generic testimonials don’t.
Sales reps unaware of AI answer landscape — 30 minutes per month reviewing top buyer queries.
Skipping vendor comparison pages — Buyers read “X vs Y” content whether you write it or not. Be the source.

Action Checklist

Pull the top 30 questions sales hears in first calls — those are your priority AEO queries.
Audit content against the five B2B query patterns; build where you’re weakest.
Write or refresh three vendor comparison pages including your top competitors.
Publish one implementation or integration guide per quarter.
Add AI-research questions to demo forms and closed-won surveys.
Stand up a monthly prompt audit across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does B2B AEO matter so much in long sales cycles?

By the time a demo is booked, 60–80% of the purchase decision is already made — and most of that research happens in private AI conversations you can’t see. Without AEO presence, your shortlist is formed without you in it.

What are the five B2B query patterns?

Category education, problem-to-solution, vendor comparison, implementation/integration, and pricing/procurement. Cover all five — gaps in any one let competitors capture that stage of the journey.

Should I include competitors on my comparison pages?

Yes. Buyers read “X vs Y” content whether you write it or not. Honest comparisons that include your competitors fairly outperform one-sided pages — and engines prefer to cite balanced sources.

Why doesn’t analyst recognition move AEO citations?

Engines can’t read paywalled analyst reports. They read the third-party articles that discuss the reports — so commission or pitch at least three independent articles per analyst placement to capture the citation effect.

How do I attribute revenue to B2B AEO?

Add AI-research questions to demo forms and closed-won surveys. Track assisted conversions in GA4. Compare sales-cycle length for AI-influenced deals vs. others — they typically close 20–40% faster.

What’s the B2B Authority Triangle?

People (executives and SMEs with public expertise), Product (clear docs, APIs, changelogs), and Process (named methodologies, specific case studies). All three feed citation eligibility.

Sources & Further Reading

Forrester & Gartner — buyer research behavior reports
G2, TrustRadius, Capterra — independent review platforms
Pew Research — Google AI summaries

Work With Riman Agency

Riman Agency runs B2B AEO programs for SaaS, services, and enterprise tech. Get in touch if you want to be cited in the invisible 60–80% of your sales cycle.

Part 26 of our 29-part AEO series. Previous: International AEO. Up next: E-commerce AEO.

May 10, 2026/by Tarek Riman

International and Multilingual AEO: Winning Answers Across Languages and Borders

AEO, AI

International AEO isn’t “translate everything and wait.” It’s “earn local authority, one market at a time.” Your English-language authority does not transfer — engines look for locally cited, locally credible sources in each language. Translation is not localization, and localization is not AEO. AEO-localization cites local authorities and answers locally-asked questions in local phrasing. Pick three priority markets and go deep. Hreflang, local schema, local Wikipedia, and local directories are infrastructure — without them, content effort doesn’t compound.

Key Takeaways

Authority doesn’t transfer across languages. You earn it locally or you don’t earn it.
Translation ≠ Localization ≠ AEO-Localization. The third is what gets cited.
Pick three markets. Go deep.
Hreflang, schema, Wikidata, and local directories are infrastructure.
Track per market — averages hide which markets are failing.

The International AEO Problem in One Sentence

Your English-language authority does not automatically transfer. Answer engines pick locally cited, locally structured, locally credible sources. If your French site is a translated copy of your US site, engines will prefer the local authority that actually serves the market.

The Five Questions That Define Your Strategy

Which markets actually matter? List by revenue potential, not by where you have a URL.
What language(s) does each market search in? Canada needs English and French. Belgium needs Dutch, French, sometimes German. India uses English for B2B but local languages for consumer queries.
What answer engines dominate each market? Google leads most; Baidu in China, Yandex in Russia-adjacent, Naver in South Korea.
What are the local trust sources? Government agencies, professional bodies, local media engines treat as authoritative.
What’s the minimum viable footprint per market? Full localized site, hub pages only, or just a localized FAQ?

URL & Hreflang: The Foundation

Pick a URL structure: ccTLDs (example.fr), subdirectories (example.com/fr/), or subdomains (fr.example.com). Subdirectories are usually best for authority + geo-targeting.
Implement hreflang correctly on every page. One mistake destroys trust and citation eligibility.
Use x-default for your fallback page (usually English).
Never use auto-redirects based on IP. Confuses engines, frustrates travelers.
Set geo-targeting in Search Console for subdirectories and subdomains.

Translation ≠ Localization ≠ AEO-Localization

Level	What it is	AEO impact
Translation	Same content, different language.	Rarely cited — misses local phrasing and references.
Localization	Adapted content using local currency, examples, idioms.	Better, but still uses the source’s evidence base.
AEO-Localization	Cites local authorities; answers locally-asked questions; uses local units, standards, regulatory bodies.	What gets cited.

A French page about GDPR that cites the CNIL (France’s data protection authority) will outperform a translated US page about “data privacy best practices” every time.

Local Query Research

Questions don’t translate. Americans ask “what’s the best CRM for small business.” Germans ask “welches CRM eignet sich für den Mittelstand” — a category that has no US equivalent. A translated query set will miss 40–60% of what the market actually asks.

Use local versions of Google Trends, PAA, and local Q&A sites (Quora.fr, gutefrage.net, OKWave)
Mine local Reddit equivalents: r/france, r/de, r/brasil, country-specific forums
Interview local customers and sales reps
Brainstorm with native-speaking employees — they catch nuance translation misses
Check local Perplexity (perplexity.ai in French, German, etc.) to see which sources get cited

Build Local Authority

The single biggest reason your international pages don’t get cited: no local authority signals.

Earn at least one local media mention per major market per quarter
Partner with a local expert or institution and publish co-authored content
List your brand in locally-trusted directories (Handelsregister in Germany, Societe.com in France, industry-specific in each market)
Localize author pages with local credentials
Use local case studies. German customers, German employee counts, German results dramatically outperform translated US case studies.

Multilingual Schema & Entity Alignment

Add Organization schema with alternateName for every language variant of your brand
Use inLanguage on Article and WebPage schema
Publish Person schema in each language with localized credentials and sameAs links to local LinkedIn and professional associations
Localize product offers, prices, availability. USD on a German page breaks citation eligibility instantly.
Ensure your Wikidata entry has labels and descriptions in every market language you care about

Platform-Specific Considerations

Platform	Multilingual reality
Google AI Overviews / AI Mode	200 countries, 40 languages by mid-2025. Every market is an active surface.
ChatGPT	Conversational + retrieval. Citations draw heavily from Wikipedia in each language — local Wikipedia entity pages matter.
Perplexity	Excellent multilingual citation engine. Visible source lists make it the best tool for auditing international citation share.
Baidu (China)	Different ecosystem. Requires ICP license, simplified Chinese, Baidu-specific schema. Don’t attempt without local expertise.
Naver (South Korea)	Heavily favors Naver-owned properties (Naver Blog, Naver Cafe). A standalone Korean site rarely ranks alone.

The International AEO Scorecard

Track per market, not globally. A market-average citation share hides which markets are failing.

Citation share in top 10 local AI answers, per market, per month
Local branded query volume (proxy for local awareness)
Local authority signals earned per quarter
Hreflang error count (target: zero)
Assisted conversions from organic per market

The 30 / 60 / 90 International Plan

Days 1–30

Pick your top three markets
Audit hreflang
Pull a local query set (50 queries per market)
Identify the top 10 locally-cited sources in each market — these are your benchmark

Days 31–60

Localize your top 10 answer pages per market using AEO-localization (not translation)
Add localized schema
Publish one local case study per market

Days 61–90

Earn one local media mention per market
Set up per-market citation tracking
Review which queries pull your content into AI answers — double down on the winning formats

Common Mistakes

Spreading thin across 15 languages — Pick three markets. Real citation share in three beats fragile presence in fifteen.
Translation as the only localization — AEO-localization cites local authorities and uses local units.
Auto-redirects by IP — Confuses engines, frustrates travelers. Use language switchers instead.
Hreflang errors — One bug serves the wrong language to the wrong market — destroying citation eligibility.
Forgetting local Wikipedia/Wikidata — ChatGPT pulls heavily from local Wikipedia.
Treating Naver and Baidu like Google — Different ecosystems, different rules. Local expertise mandatory.

Action Checklist

Pick your top three markets by revenue potential, not URL footprint.
Audit hreflang and fix every error.
Build a local query set of 50 queries per market.
Identify the top 10 locally-cited sources in each market — your benchmark.
AEO-localize your top 10 pages per market — cite local authorities, use local units.
Earn at least one local media mention per market this quarter.
Set up per-market citation tracking and review monthly.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why doesn’t my English-language authority transfer to other markets?

Answer engines look for locally cited, locally credible sources in each language. Your US authority signals (US PR placements, US directories, US Wikipedia) don’t substitute for German PR, German directories, and German Wikipedia entity pages.

What is AEO-Localization?

The third level beyond translation and standard localization. AEO-localization cites local authorities, answers locally-asked questions in local phrasing, and uses local units, standards, and regulatory bodies. It’s what gets cited.

How many international markets should I prioritize?

Three to start. Real citation share in three markets beats fragile presence in fifteen. Pick by revenue potential, not by where you happen to have a URL.

What URL structure is best for international sites?

Subdirectories (example.com/fr/) are usually best — they inherit domain authority and allow geo-targeting in Search Console. ccTLDs (example.fr) are strongest for local trust but harder to consolidate authority. Subdomains are middle ground.

Why is local Wikipedia/Wikidata so important?

ChatGPT and other LLM-based engines pull heavily from local Wikipedia in each language. If your German Wikipedia entry doesn’t exist or has no citations, your brand is invisible to ChatGPT in German queries.

Can I use auto-redirects based on user IP?

No — they confuse engines (different content served to crawlers vs. users) and frustrate travelers. Use a language switcher banner instead, with proper hreflang implementation.

Sources & Further Reading

Google Search Central — international and multilingual sites documentation
Wikidata — entity registration in multiple languages
Schema.org — inLanguage and alternateName vocabularies

Work With Riman Agency

Riman Agency runs international AEO programs across English, French, Spanish, and German markets. Get in touch if you want a 30/60/90 plan for three priority markets.

Part 25 of our 29-part AEO series. Previous: Local AEO. Up next: B2B AEO.

May 10, 2026/by Tarek Riman

Local AEO: Winning Answer Visibility in Your Geography

AEO, AI

Local AEO is won at the data layer. Fix your Google Business Profile and your NAP before you write a single new page. Roughly half of all Google searches have local intent. Google owns the local stack — data layer (Business Profile), display layer (Maps), verification layer (reviews). Every other engine pulls from Google for local. A 90-minute Business Profile sprint moves the needle immediately. Reviews now do three jobs: rank you, feed AI Overview “users say” summaries, and pre-qualify the click. NAP consistency is boring but compounding.

Key Takeaways

Local AEO is won at the data layer — Business Profile + NAP first.
Google owns local. Every other engine pulls from Google.
Reviews rank you, feed AIO summaries, and pre-qualify the click.
Location pages must be real, not duplicates.
Consistency beats intensity — 2–5 reviews per week beats 50 once a year.

Why Local Is a Different Game

Google has a massive home-court advantage. It owns the data, display, and verification layers. Every other platform pulls from Google for local.
Proximity is an input. “Near me” queries rank by radius, not just relevance.
Reviews are the dominant trust signal. A firm with 400 reviews at 4.8★ outranks a more credentialed firm with 12 reviews at 5.0★ in nearly every local AEO surface.

The Local AEO Stack

Surface	Why it matters	Priority
Google Business Profile	Single highest-leverage asset — every other surface pulls from it.	1
Local Pack / Map results	Three-pack for “[service] near me” queries.	2
AI Overviews for local intent	Now appearing for “best [service] in [city].” Cites Business Profile, your site, and trusted directories.	3
Third-party directories	Yelp, Angi, Avvo, Healthgrades — AI treats them as independent verification.	4
Your own location pages	The foundation. Must include NAP, schema, local evidence, local FAQs.	5

The 90-Minute Business Profile Sprint

If you do one thing this quarter, do this:

Primary category — most specific (“Dental clinic” beats “Dentist” beats “Health”)
Secondary categories — up to 9. Every service you deliver becomes a discovery query.
Service area — explicit neighborhoods and cities, not vague regions
Attributes — toggle every truthful one. They become local-pack filters.
Products and Services — list at least 10 each with short descriptions
Photos — 20+ with geotagged metadata if possible
Q&A — seed your top 10 customer questions with accurate answers (or random users will)
Posts — one per week minimum. Treat it like a micro-blog.

NAP Consistency

Name, Address, Phone must match exactly across your website, Business Profile, and every directory. Variations (“Suite 200” vs “#200” vs “Unit 200”) break the entity link Google uses to consolidate trust. Run a NAP audit every 6 months across 40+ sources.

Smart Fun Fact: A regional law firm with 14 mismatched directory listings cleaned up NAP and lifted local-pack visibility for branded queries ~35% in 60 days — with no content changes.

Reviews as AEO Fuel

In the AEO era, reviews do three jobs:

Rank you in local pack and Maps
Feed AI Overview “users say” summaries (Google pulls exact phrases)
Pre-qualify the click

How to Optimize

Volume + recency both matter — a steady 2–5 reviews per week beats a burst of 50 once a year
Respond to every review, especially negatives. Your response is public and often cited.
Ask for reviews that describe specific service and outcome — not “great experience.” Specific reviews get extracted.
Monitor for review text in AI Overviews. If “gentle” shows up for your category, encourage patients to mention it when true.

Location Pages on Your Own Site

If you serve three cities, you need three location pages. Each one needs to be a real page, not a thin duplicate.

Minimum Content

The exact NAP for that location
LocalBusiness schema with geo coordinates, hours, service area, parent organization
Embedded Google Map of the location
At least 300 words of genuinely local content: landmarks, transit, parking, local case studies
Reviews or testimonials from clients in that geography
A local FAQ answering “what to expect at our [city] location”

Myth Buster — Myth: Copy the main page, swap the city name — done.
Reality: Google’s spam systems and AI extraction both penalize this. Write each page for the real differences.

AI Overviews for Local Queries

Three things matter most for showing up:

Business Profile reviews must be dense and specific — AIOs summarize review themes
You must be cited on at least one trusted third-party directory (Yelp for restaurants, Avvo for lawyers, Healthgrades for doctors)
Your own site should publish a “best [service] in [city]” or “how to choose a [service] in [city]” piece

The Local AEO Scorecard

Local pack appearances (top 3) for top 10 service queries
AI Overview appearances for top 10 “best [service] in [city]” queries
Citation share on Google’s web tab and AI Mode
New reviews this month and average star rating
Business Profile views, searches (direct vs. discovery), clicks
Directory listing accuracy score (from your NAP tool)

Common Mistakes

Treating Business Profile as set-and-forget — Refresh monthly. Post weekly. Respond to reviews within 48 hours.
Inconsistent NAP across directories — Run a 40-directory audit every 6 months.
Duplicating the main page across cities — Each location page needs genuinely local content.
Reviews seen as reputation only — They’re also rank fuel and AI Overview source material.
No third-party directory presence — AI Overviews use directories as independent verification.
Centralizing review responses at the franchise level — Local AEO rewards per-location ownership and 48-hour responsiveness.

Action Checklist

Run the 90-minute Google Business Profile sprint this week.
Run a NAP audit across 40+ directories. Fix in order of directory authority.
Build or rewrite one location page to the full spec.
Set up a review-request sequence. Aim for 2+ new reviews per week.
Add the six Local AEO Scorecard metrics to monthly reporting.
Publish one “best [service] in [city]” piece for your top market.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the highest-leverage local AEO investment?

Your Google Business Profile. Optimizing primary category, secondary categories, service area, attributes, products/services, photos, Q&A, and weekly Posts in a 90-minute sprint moves the needle faster than any content investment.

Why does NAP consistency matter so much?

Google uses Name + Address + Phone as the entity-linking key across the web. Variations like “Suite 200” vs “#200” break that link, fragmenting your trust signals. A clean NAP audit can lift local-pack visibility 30%+ with no content changes.

How many reviews do I need to compete in local AEO?

Volume + recency + specificity all matter more than a single threshold. A steady cadence of 2–5 specific reviews per week typically beats a burst of 50 once a year.

Should I copy my main service page across multiple city pages?

No — Google’s spam systems and AI extraction both penalize duplicates. Each location page needs the exact local NAP, LocalBusiness schema, embedded map, 300+ words of genuinely local content (landmarks, transit, local case studies), and a local FAQ.

Do third-party directories still matter?

Yes — AI Overviews use them as independent verification. Yelp for restaurants, Avvo for lawyers, Healthgrades for doctors. Without at least one trusted directory presence per category, you’re missing the verification step.

Should I respond to every review?

Yes — within 48 hours. Your response is public and often cited in AI summaries. Especially respond to negatives — how you handle complaints publicly is itself a trust signal.

Sources & Further Reading

Google Business Profile Help
Whitespark — local citation building
BrightLocal — local search statistics

Work With Riman Agency

Riman Agency runs Local AEO sprints — Business Profile optimization, NAP cleanup, review programs, location pages. Get in touch if you need local visibility lifted in 60 days.

Part 24 of our 29-part AEO series. Previous: AEO Audits. Up next: International & Multilingual AEO.

May 10, 2026/by Tarek Riman