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- OP #286: AEO, The Hottest Topic You Need To Know
OP #286: AEO, The Hottest Topic You Need To Know
Darren Herman
February 11, 2025
Well, last week was not my best week. I had the flu and was pretty much down and out. Luckily, I’m on the other side of that now and while not 100%, I’m materially better and excited to get back into the world. Getting sick sucks but it’s also a good reminder to take it slow sometimes.
One bright part of last week was a proud dad moment when my 16-year old son asked me if he could join the Take-Two financial earnings call. My wife and I took a double take when he asked and I quickly signed him up at the Take-Two investor relations site. Fast forward to last Thursday at 4:30p, I was working from home (flu) and he came into my home office and sat on my couch and logged in to Strauss Zelnick and the Take-Two team talking about the most recent quarter. My son was interested to hear how a game publisher (and developer) talks about their games and was keenly focused on GTA VI, the highly anticipated game that should take the industry by storm in Q4 2025. After the call was over and all the analysts finished their questions, I asked him if he understood everything. He said he understood every-other word… which is a great start!
I figure we’ll start with a few links…
How Much Does a Super Bowl Ad Really Cost? A Lot More Than $8M (Fast Company). Why this piece? Because these articles usually short change the total cost of a Super Bowl ad as creative, strategy, and production are not typically part of the media rates that are published. The cost of creating and producing the spot could be in the millions of dollars and rival the cost of media.
Speaking of Super Bowl ads, have you seen the top performance SB ads this year? We’ve used EDO tracking on some of our businesses and really like how they measure ad performance.
Apple Launches New ‘Invites’ App (MacRumors) Well, if you know me personally, you probably know my mother has been in the invitations business for over 40+ years. Yes, she still makes those wedding, bat mitzvah, holiday, and other types of invitations and stationary. Over the last two decades, I’ve been warning her that she’s on the wrong side of history but she keeps trucking… producing many gorgeous paper invitations for events of all sizes. Well, we always knew that Evite, PaperlessPost, Minted, and others were her digital competition… enter… Apple. Oy.
The Sims Turned Players Into Gods. And Farmers. And Vampires. And Landlords. (NYT) Another one that if you know me personally, two games that defined my childhood were Sim City and the Oregon Trail. Defining my childhood goes rather hyperbolic, but you know what I mean. Will Wright was the creator of Sim City so this story is quite incredible (to me).
The AI Creative stack by @iamshackelford with a little too much promotion of his own investment, but still good nonetheless. Take a peek if you have a moment. I suspect many of you will.
5 hours podcast on DeepSeek, China, OpenAI, Nvidia, xAI, AI Megaclusters, and more with Dylan Patel and Nathan Lambert on Lex Fridman’s podcast. I did not spend all five hours with it but I did listen to much of it and found it interesting. For those who want to geek out, go for it.
My pal Dylan Collins, fellow entrepreneur in the gaming space posted a link to the top Roblox game, “Brookhaven,” sold to a couple of private equity firms. This hits close to home as my daughter has been a Brookhaven participant and it’s great to see investors who understand that Roblox is a platform and ecosystem.
Happy Tuesday everyone and thank you for subscribing. Anyone planning on going to Shoptalk in March ?
Darren
SEO vs. AEO: The Next Frontier in Digital Discovery
What CMOs Need to Know
Regardless of b2b or b2c, the rise of AI-driven search is changing how potential customers discover brands. Traditional SEO is no longer enough—Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Perplexity are reshaping the way people get answers. These models don’t just list websites; they generate recommendations, pulling from sources they trust. If your brand isn’t optimized for these AI-driven engines, you risk losing organic visibility and high-intent traffic. Marketing teams must prioritize Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) now to stay competitive in a future where AI is the first point of interaction. The brands that master AEO will lead the next era of digital discovery.
The SEO Era: Dominating the Search Engines
For the past two decades, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has been a cornerstone of digital marketing. Brands obsessed over rankings on Google, fine-tuning their content, site structure, and backlink profiles to capture organic search traffic. Now, we’re entering a new era—one where search engines aren’t the only game in town. Enter Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), the strategic approach to ensuring that large language models (LLMs) recommend your brand when users query AI-driven chat interfaces.
If SEO defined the early internet economy, AEO may well define the next. I’d place a bet on that.
The Rise of LLMs and AI-Driven Chat Interfaces
Large language models (LLMs) power the new wave of AI-driven search experiences. Unlike traditional search engines, which return a ranked list of links, LLMs generate answers, synthesize insights, and often cite sources.
Here’s how some of the biggest players are structuring their answer engines:
Google Gemini: Google’s AI integrates with search but also delivers direct answers within its Gemini app.
ChatGPT (OpenAI): Powered by GPT-4, this AI pulls from vast datasets and, in the case of its premium versions, integrates with live web search.
Perplexity AI: A hybrid model that leverages multiple sources, including Bing and open web data, to provide cited responses.
Meta’s Llama: Used in various AI applications, contributing to a broader AI ecosystem.
As these platforms grow, more search activity is shifting away from search engines and into AI-driven “answer engines.”
The Shift from Search to Answer Engines
Data already suggests that younger users, in particular, are changing how they search. Instead of “Googling” a question, they ask AI-driven assistants. Some key trends:
AI-powered searches are replacing traditional queries.
Product discovery is shifting—instead of searching for “best running shoes,” users ask ChatGPT or Gemini, “What are the best running shoes for marathon training?”
AI-generated responses filter out many traditional search results.
For brands, this is both an opportunity and a threat. Organic search traffic remains one of the highest-converting channels, and if a brand is omitted from an LLM’s recommendations, it could lose valuable customer interactions.
Where Do LLMs Get Their Signal?
Unlike Google’s traditional algorithms, which rely on crawling and ranking web pages, LLMs synthesize data from a variety of sources:
Public web data: Sites indexed by search engines.
Citations from high-authority sources: Wikipedia, news publications, and expert content.
Brand websites and structured data: Company-provided information.
User reviews and third-party databases: Aggregated sentiment from sources like Trustpilot, Reddit, and G2.
API integrations and proprietary partnerships: Data partnerships that power some responses.
Understanding these inputs is critical to influencing how LLMs perceive and recommend your brand.
How Can Brands Optimize for AEO?
To ensure visibility in AI-driven answer engines, brands need to proactively shape their digital presence. Here are 10 practical strategies:
Optimize for structured data: Use schema markup to help LLMs understand your brand, products, and services.
Publish authoritative content: AI models prioritize sources with clear expertise. Develop in-depth, high-quality articles and FAQs.
Ensure strong brand mentions: The more a brand is cited in reputable online sources, the more likely it is to be referenced by an LLM.
Monitor AI-driven search results: Regularly test prompts in ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity to see how your brand is referenced.
Claim and optimize knowledge panels: Google’s Knowledge Graph and similar databases influence AI outputs—ensure accuracy.
Encourage third-party reviews and discussions: AI models pull from forums, reviews, and social media—active engagement matters.
Provide AI-friendly FAQs: Answer common questions about your industry and products in a structured, clear format.
Leverage Wikipedia and Wikidata: These sources play a crucial role in AI-generated knowledge bases.
Submit to trusted directories: LLMs source data from databases like Crunchbase, LinkedIn, and industry-specific repositories.
Stay adaptable: Just as SEO evolved, AEO will change rapidly—ongoing monitoring and adaptation will be essential.
Conclusion: AEO as the Next Marketing Imperative
SEO isn’t going away, but AEO is emerging as a parallel discipline. Marketers who master AEO will ensure that their brands remain discoverable—not just in search results, but in the AI-powered interfaces where more users are seeking answers.
Just as SEO was a defining challenge (and opportunity) for marketers in the early days of Google, AEO will be a defining challenge for marketers in the era of AI.
At our Growth Summit almost two weeks ago now, this was a hot topic. Two companies to keep check out as you keep your brand on the right side of history: Evertune and Scrunch.
OP Links
Below are a few articles I came across this past week that I found interesting. While I may not agree with everything in each one, I think they're worth a read. If you stumble upon an article you think I or the Operating Partner community would enjoy, feel free to share it with me. Of course, I reserve the right to decide what gets featured in the OP.
OpenAI Has Undergone It’s First Ever Rebrand (Wallpaper)
Tech Giants Double Down On Their Massive AI Spending (WSJ)
Americans Jittery Over Inflation, U Michigan Survey Suggests (WSJ)
What An “America First” Diet Would Really Look Like (The Atlantic)
Soft Is The New Hard (Rishad Tobaccowala)
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