Question 1

When should you add more prompt sets or competitors to your AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) monitoring?

Accepted Answer

You should add new prompt sets to your AEO monitoring based on what is most important to your business, such as launching a new product, expanding to a new region, or targeting a new customer persona. When adding competitors, you should focus primarily on your core, biggest, and most active competitors. You do not need to worry as much about smaller players if they do not have active content. Monitoring your largest competitors helps you track their brand visibility and potentially discover new strategies they are using.

Question 2

How do you maintain executive support for AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) when results are not meeting expectations?

Accepted Answer

Maintaining executive support during periods of low AEO results requires having productive conversations before you even begin the work. You need to help executives understand what is realistic and present a clear plan for how you intend to close the gap. It is important to frame the effort as a collaboration by outlining the resources you need and the timeline for execution. Being clear about your needs and rationale before leadership sees the numbers makes it much easier to maintain their support.

Question 3

How much week-over-week volatility is normal in AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) data, and when should you take action?

Accepted Answer

A normal volatility gap in AEO data typically falls within the 5 to 10% range. It is recommended to wait for some stability, which usually takes about one to two weeks, before taking significant action based on the data. However, if you see large drops of 20 or 30%, that is a sign to investigate potential issues. These larger drops could indicate that your website is blocking bots, your content is not being indexed, or there has been a fundamental change in how answer engines access context.

Question 4

What are the early signals that an AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) strategy is working?

Accepted Answer

In the first sixty to ninety days of building an AEO practice, you do not have to wait a long time to see an impact. You will know the strategy is working if your visibility has increased and you are getting cited more frequently. Ideally, you will also see an improvement in sentiment. These early signals indicate you are on the right track before the bigger metrics begin to move.

Question 5

What should you do if your AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) dashboard shows lower numbers than expected after a month?

Accepted Answer

If your AEO numbers are lower than expected after a month, the first thing to know is that you are not alone, as this is common for most practitioners. The situation is easily changeable, and you can see improvements within days or weeks. Before getting overly worried, you should review the prompts you are tracking to ensure they accurately reflect your business. You may simply not be tracking the right prompts for your specific needs.

Question 6

What separates teams that get real value from AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) monitoring from those that abandon it?

Accepted Answer

Teams that succeed with AEO monitoring typically have top-down leadership buy-in that answer engines matter, supported by the fact that there are two billion weekly active users on these platforms. Successful teams also acknowledge that AEO and SEO are not equal. Because answer engines make recommendations based on consensus, teams must optimize and amplify their content across many different external sources, not just on their own website.

Question 7

How is the relationship between AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) and traditional SEO (Search Engine Optimization) evolving?

Accepted Answer

Traditional SEO and AEO are increasingly becoming one and the same, reflecting how people search now. Search engines like Google are adding more entry points into AI search within their traditional search boxes. Because of this convergence, it is highly recommended to focus on strategies that live in the overlap between SEO and AEO. Any effort that benefits both disciplines should be prioritized.

Question 8

How can you translate AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) visibility data into metrics that executives care about?

Accepted Answer

Translating AEO visibility into executive-relevant metrics is challenging because users typically do not convert in the same session they discover you, leaving a gap in the middle of their journey. This makes it very difficult to directly link revenue to awareness without proper attribution. The most successful technique to overcome this is using self-reported attribution. This involves directly asking leads, prospects, and customers how they heard about your business.

Question 9

How do you build a sustainable AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) practice when the field is still evolving?

Accepted Answer

Building a sustainable AEO practice in a changing field requires being selective about what you test, as you can only evaluate a limited number of things. It is recommended to look for trusted AEO experts, follow their work, and pay attention to the experimentation and research they share. If a particular approach sounds interesting, you should add it to your portfolio of experiments. This approach allows you to find an edge that may not exist in more mature disciplines like traditional SEO.

Question 10

What is AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) and why is a structured approach important for it?

Accepted Answer

AEO, or Answer Engine Optimization, is an emerging and important marketing discipline that requires a structured approach to build impact and sustainability. Because it is a newer field, implementing a strategy means doing pioneering work without a fully established playbook. Without a proper structure to sustain your efforts, you lose the compounding effect that makes AEO valuable. This structure involves knowing what you are measuring, understanding why metrics move, and knowing what actions to take when they do not.

Question 11

What are the core principles for building a lasting AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) strategy?

Accepted Answer

Building a lasting AEO strategy relies on consistency, intentionality, and communication rather than having perfect data or a dedicated team. It requires staying committed to the process even when progress feels slow. You must get clear on what the data is actually telling you and be able to make a strong case for the work. This includes advocating for the strategy even before you have long-term results to point to.

Question 12

What is brand sentiment and why is it important for Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)?

Accepted Answer

Brand sentiment is the largest part of your overall score, accounting for forty possible points in the evaluation. It reflects how positively or neutrally answer engines characterize your brand when generating responses. A strong score means the engines describe you positively, while a weak score indicates descriptions are neutral, mixed, or lack favorable framing. Because it is worth the most points, it has the greatest room for improvement, which you can achieve by creating content that actively shapes your brand characterization and directly addresses any common misconceptions.

Question 13

How to use the HubSpot AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) grader tool to evaluate a brand

Accepted Answer

To evaluate your brand, head to the HubSpot AEO grader website at hubspot.com/aeo-grader, which is free and does not require an account. Once there, you will see a short form where you need to enter your company name and location. You must also describe what your business offers in the product or services field and select your industry from the provided options. Finally, click the Grade My Brand button to allow the tool to analyze your website, identify competitors, and research your audience.

Question 14

What is brand recognition in Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and how can a company improve it?

Accepted Answer

Brand recognition is a dimension scored out of twenty that measures how consistently answer engines identify your brand across different queries. A strong score indicates that engines recognize you with confidence and reference you from quality sources, while a weak score means mentions are sparse and confidence is low. To improve this metric, you need to build a stronger presence across the authoritative sources that AI engines trust. This includes securing placements in industry publications and gaining credible third-party mentions to validate your identity.

Question 15

How can a company improve its share of voice against competitors in AI answer engines?

Accepted Answer

Share of voice is a ten-point dimension that compares how often your brand appears relative to competitors for the same types of queries. A weak score, including a zero, means competitors are dominating the responses your buyers see or you are not appearing at all. A strong score shows that you appear more frequently than your competitors in relevant AI answers. To improve this metric, you must identify which competitor-winning prompts matter most to your business and build content that specifically targets those informational gaps.

Question 16

What does presence quality measure in AI search visibility and how can a brand strengthen it?

Accepted Answer

Presence quality is a dimension scored out of twenty that measures the depth and accuracy of how your brand is described by answer engines. It goes beyond simply whether you show up, focusing instead on whether the descriptions are detailed and accurate rather than surface-level, generic, or outdated. If engines know your name but lack deeper context, your presence quality score will be weak. To strengthen this dimension, you should create comprehensive content that thoroughly explains your products, specific use cases, and key differentiators.

Question 17

How to interpret a HubSpot AEO grader score and access the full AI visibility report

Accepted Answer

Your overall AEO grader score should not be benchmarked against perfection, as it is simply a starting line to measure future progress. The most important step is understanding where each of the five dimensions sits so you can determine which informational gaps are worth closing first. To keep a record of your baseline, you should write down your scores and take note of your lowest-performing dimension. You can then download the full PDF report by clicking Unlock Insights in the upper right corner, entering your email, and saving the document for future reference.

Question 18

What results and metrics does the HubSpot AEO grader provide for AI search visibility?

Accepted Answer

After the AEO grader analyzes a brand, it provides a total score out of one hundred for three specific answer engines. The results are broken down by ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini to show how each platform views the company. This total score is built upon five distinct dimensions of AI visibility that evaluate different aspects of your online presence. These scores serve as a baseline to help you understand exactly where your brand currently stands and where improvements are needed.

Question 19

How is the market score dimension evaluated in Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)?

Accepted Answer

The market score is evaluated out of ten points and reflects how answer engines categorize your position within your specific market. It determines whether your business is seen as a niche entity, an established company, or a recognized category player. A strong score means you are described as established and well-positioned, whereas a weak score indicates your market position is unclear or strictly labeled as niche. You can improve this score by creating targeted content that clearly defines your market category and your specific place within it.

Question 20

What is the difference in pre-populated setup data between HubSpot AEO subscription types?

Accepted Answer

The data pre-populated during setup depends entirely on your specific subscription level. If you use Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise, the tool draws on your CRM data, customer records, deal activity, and contact properties to generate suggestions. If you use the standalone version, suggestions are instead based on your brand details and industry patterns. Regardless of the subscription, the setup flow consists of four steps and uses the exact same monitoring engine. Users on the standalone version will need to rely more heavily on their own buyer research to build a strong prompt set.

Question 21

How to select products and ideal customer profiles (ICPs) in step three of HubSpot AEO setup

Accepted Answer

Step three requires you to review and select your products and ideal customer profiles, also known as ICPs. You will see a list of products on the left side of the screen and a list of ICPs on the right side. For the initial setup flow, you must choose exactly one product and one ICP to focus on. The tool uses this specific combination to automatically generate your initial prompt set. You can always add more products and ICPs later once the initial setup is fully complete.

Question 22

Best practices for writing effective prompts in HubSpot AEO

Accepted Answer

A good prompt in HubSpot AEO needs to be highly specific and deeply focused on the buyer's actual needs. It should be structured as a query where a specific brand would logically appear in the AI-generated answer. For example, a strong prompt might ask for the best solution for a particular persona with a specific use case. Generic educational questions are not recommended because they lack a competitive angle and will not yield useful tracking data. By ensuring your prompts are targeted and buyer-focused, you will receive much more actionable insights from the monitoring engine.

Question 23

How to review and manage AI-generated prompts in the final step of HubSpot AEO setup

Accepted Answer

In the fourth and final step, you are presented with an AI-generated set of prompts based on your earlier product and ICP selections. You must review each of these generated prompts carefully to ensure they are specific and buyer-focused. During this review, you can accept the prompts that fit your strategy, edit those that need refinement, or completely remove the ones that do not apply. Once you finish managing this list, the setup process is complete and data collection begins automatically. Your dashboard immediately goes live, allowing you to prepare for building out a larger prompt library.

Question 24

How to configure brand recognition in step one of HubSpot AEO setup

Accepted Answer

During step one of the setup, you must confirm exactly how your brand should be recognized by the tool. The Brand Name Variations field will be pre-populated with suggested entries, which are the exact, case-sensitive strings the tool scans for in AI-generated answers. You should review these entries and add any alternate names, acronyms, or common misspellings that apply to your brand. You must also remove any variations that do not accurately represent your business. Finally, you can add an additional domain if you are tracking a secondary site, confirm if your business is B2B or B2C, and click Next.

Question 25

How to view and edit an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) in HubSpot AEO

Accepted Answer

To view the contents of an Ideal Customer Profile during setup, you simply click on its name in the list. This action opens a panel that displays various demographic and firmographic details about that specific audience. The panel shows information such as location, business type, job titles, interests, industries, company size, and revenue range. You must carefully review these details and edit anything that is inaccurate before continuing the setup process. Ensuring this data is correct is crucial because it directly influences the prompts generated in the final step.

Question 26

How to start the setup process for HubSpot AEO

Accepted Answer

To begin setting up HubSpot AEO, navigate to the left sidebar menu and click on Marketing. From that menu, select AEO to reach the starting page. You will need to enter your brand name into the Brand field and your website domain into the Domain field. Once you click Get Started, the tool will take a moment to analyze your brand and gather information from your website. It will also automatically identify competitors and research your audience before moving to the first step.

Question 27

How to choose competitors in step two of the HubSpot AEO setup

Accepted Answer

In step two, you will review a pre-populated competitor list that includes domains and name variances generated from your brand and industry. It is very important to note that your AEO competitors may not be the same as your standard SEO competitors. You should look for the brands that actually dominate AI responses in your specific category. The best practice is to aim for three to five competitors to ensure you get meaningful comparison data. Keeping the list to this size prevents your share of voice analysis from being spread too thin.

Question 28

How to edit the competitor list during HubSpot AEO setup

Accepted Answer

While reviewing the competitor list in step two, you have several options to customize the brands you track. You can click Edit to manually adjust a specific competitor's domain or name variances. If a pre-populated competitor is not relevant to your business, you can easily click Delete to remove them from the list completely. Additionally, you can click Add More Competitors to manually input tracking details for brands that the tool missed. Once you are fully satisfied with your customized competitor list, you simply click Continue to move on.

Question 29

What criteria should be used to evaluate an AI tracking prompt before adding it to an Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) platform?

Accepted Answer

Before saving any prompt, whether written manually or generated by AI, you should run it through three specific checks. First, verify if a real buyer would actually type the exact phrase into an AI tool like ChatGPT or Perplexity. Second, determine if the question reflects a genuine buying decision instead of basic curiosity. Third, ensure the prompt has a competitive angle where a specific brand would logically appear in the response. If a prompt fails any of these three checks, you should rewrite it or skip adding it entirely.

Question 30

How should I manage and maintain an Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) tracking prompt library over time?

Accepted Answer

Your prompt library should be treated as an actively managed asset that requires ongoing review and refinement. As your tracking data matures, you must regularly evaluate the performance of your queries. You should proactively add new prompts whenever you identify gaps in your coverage or audience segments. Conversely, it is important to remove any prompts that consistently fail to generate competitive responses or brand visibility. Adjusting your tracked queries in this manner ensures your strategy evolves effectively alongside your business goals.

Question 31

What are the prompt tracking limits for HubSpot Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and Marketing Hub subscriptions?

Accepted Answer

The initial number of prompts you can track depends entirely on your specific subscription tier. Marketing Hub Pro and the HubSpot AEO standalone product both include a starting limit of twenty-five prompts. Meanwhile, Marketing Hub Enterprise users receive a higher starting allocation of fifty prompts. However, these numbers are merely starting points rather than strict, unchangeable limits. You can expand your tracking capabilities at any time by purchasing additional prompt packs, and there is no maximum cap on how many packs you can add.

Question 32

What is the process for manually adding a tracking prompt to an Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) platform?

Accepted Answer

Manually adding a prompt is ideal for queries gathered directly from buyer interactions, sales calls, support tickets, or keyword research. To begin, select the "Manually Add Prompts" option within the dashboard menu. You will then need to type your specific query into the designated prompt field. After entering the text, assign the prompt to a specific product and an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). Finally, click the "Add Prompt" button to save it to your tracking library.

Question 33

How to manage negative brand sentiment in AI-generated search responses?

Accepted Answer

Unlike traditional SEO, sentiment is a crucial metric in AI visibility because a brand can be mentioned frequently but characterized negatively, which is worse than having zero mentions. To manage negative sentiment, brands must first diagnose the specific areas of their product or service that are generating the negative feedback, as it typically concentrates on genuine customer issues. Instead of simply creating more content to counter the narrative, brands must address the root cause of the problem. Once the underlying issues are corrected, brands can then create new content to inform the public about the improvements, similar to how Domino's addressed their recipe issues before launching a marketing campaign.

Question 34

How to tell if an AI visibility score change is a normal fluctuation or a serious issue?

Accepted Answer

AI visibility scores are inherently more volatile than traditional organic rankings, making it challenging to interpret data movements. To distinguish between normal fluctuations and serious changes, marketers should spend time analyzing the data over a few weeks or months to become familiar with its natural peaks and valleys. Additionally, utilizing a free tool called AEO Sensor can provide a volatility score based on how answer engine responses are changing across various prompts. If the volatility score is elevated and visibility changes, it indicates a wider model shift rather than an issue specific to the brand. However, if visibility shifts dramatically while volatility remains calm, it likely signals an issue that requires action from the marketer.

Question 35

How is reading AEO (answer engine optimization) data different from traditional SEO dashboards?

Accepted Answer

Reading AEO data requires a fundamentally different approach compared to how marketers are traditionally trained to read SEO dashboards. AEO metrics are inherently volatile by design and are closely connected to one another. The objective is not to eliminate movement or overreact to every dynamic shift in the data. Instead, marketers must focus on understanding what the movement means by accumulating enough data over time to identify accurate trend lines and draw informed conclusions.

Question 36

How do AI citations compare to traditional search rankings for brand visibility?

Accepted Answer

When HubSpot first began monitoring its AI visibility against competitors, a significant divergence was found between traditional search rankings and AI citations. Some brands had mediocre traditional search rankings but possessed a high volume of citations in AI responses, while the inverse was also true. Visibility remains the most important metric, but citations are the next critical area to address if visibility is high but citations are lacking. Answer engines that pull more information directly from a brand's own website tend to generate higher sentiment because the brand is presenting itself positively.

Question 37

What is the goal of optimizing a brand for AI answer engines?

Accepted Answer

The ultimate goal of optimizing for answer engines is to make them act as the brand's best sales representative. To achieve this, the answer engines must first mention the brand, which is tracked through the brand visibility metric. Beyond just being mentioned, the engines must portray the brand in a positive light, which is measured by the sentiment score. Finally, the engines need to talk about the brand more frequently than its competitors, a metric known as share of voice. When all three of these metrics are strong and improving, it indicates the answer engines are successfully acting as a highly effective sales rep.

Question 38

How are brand visibility, sentiment, and share of voice scores calculated in AI search dashboards?

Accepted Answer

Visibility dashboards calculate three main metrics to help make answer engines act as a brand's best sales representative. Brand visibility is the percentage of answers that mention the brand, serving as the foundational metric. Sentiment is measured by analyzing the words surrounding the brand mention to determine if the context is positive or negative. Share of voice is a relative measure that calculates what percentage of time a brand is mentioned in comparison to its competitors. A successful strategy involves increasing brand visibility and share of voice while maintaining a high positive sentiment.

Question 39

Why do AI answer engines give inconsistent results for the same prompt on different days?

Accepted Answer

Answer engines rarely behave consistently because the underlying models are probabilistic rather than deterministic, meaning statistical variations cause different outcomes for each query. Additionally, the context of a user's session plays a significant role; if a user asks the answer engine other questions between sessions, the context changes even if the exact words of the prompt remain the same. This altered context causes the engine to use different context hints to generate an answer, leading to variability. To account for this, it is necessary to consistently send prompts to the engines daily and analyze the resulting trend lines rather than isolated data points.

Question 40

What is the AEO Sensor tool and how does it help interpret AI visibility data?

Accepted Answer

The AEO Sensor is a free tool accessible without a login or paywall that helps marketers understand fluctuations in AI visibility data. It monitors how answer engine responses change across a wide range of prompts tracked for the HubSpot AEO customer base and generates a volatility score. This score acts as a gut check to determine if a change in a brand's visibility is due to a broader model shift or specific to the brand itself. If volatility is elevated during a visibility change, it suggests a wider model shift occurred. Conversely, if visibility changes while volatility remains calm, the issue likely stems from the brand's own performance.

Question 41

How do AI answer engines form perceptions of a brand?

Accepted Answer

Answer engines develop perceptions of a brand by training on data from places where people are actively talking about the company. This means that common customer objections or complaints heard on sales calls and support tickets are often picked up by the AI. When prospective buyers ask tools like Claude or ChatGPT about a brand, they may receive these negative perceptions before ever interacting directly with the company. Identifying these perceptions provides marketers with the necessary motivation and collateral to correct underlying issues.

Question 42

What are the main steps to implement an Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) strategy?

Accepted Answer

Activating an AEO strategy involves three primary steps to ensure accurate tracking and performance. First, it is necessary to audit the current standing of the brand in answer engines. Next, marketers must configure their tracking tools to monitor the right metrics. Finally, they need to validate that the setup is accurately capturing the intended data. Completing these steps ensures the strategy is built on a solid foundation before using specific software tools.

Question 43

How to access prompt data and visibility metrics in an AEO dashboard?

Accepted Answer

You can easily navigate to your prompt data using the main navigation interface. First, locate the left sidebar menu on your screen. From there, click on the Marketing section to reveal additional options. Next, select AEO from the available menu items. Finally, click on Prompts to view your detailed visibility data, competitor positioning, and engine inclusion metrics.

Question 44

What is a dense AI response landscape in Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)?

Accepted Answer

A dense AI response landscape occurs in industries where answer engines are already heavily crowded with multiple well-known brands. In this environment, the competitive landscape closely mirrors traditional search engine results. The primary metric to focus on here is your share of voice among established competitors. Your objective is not merely to appear in the results, but to appear more consistently than others. Furthermore, you must strive to be presented in a more favorable context compared to the other brands showing up for the same queries.

Question 45

How to optimize for a sparse answer engine landscape in Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)

Accepted Answer

In a sparse landscape, AI coverage is thin and the brands that appear are often simply those with enough credible content rather than the strongest market players. Your primary job in this scenario is not to fiercely compete for a massive share of voice. Instead, you should focus on ensuring your business is present and accurately characterized in the few responses that do exist. For instance, local service providers might only see one or two firms mentioned in an AI response. The key to success is making sure your business is one of those mentioned and that the framing remains highly favorable.

Question 46

How to define Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) goals for a business

Accepted Answer

Your Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) goals should be built specifically around your own business needs and market. It is a common mistake to adopt the framework or metrics of another company, whether it is a well-resourced enterprise or a smaller competitor. Measuring success by someone else's definition can lead to ineffective strategies. Before setting these goals, you should research the current AI conversations happening within your specific industry. This ensures your objectives accurately reflect how your business can uniquely benefit from answer engine visibility.

Question 47

What is the recommended timeline for evaluating Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) goals and progress?

Accepted Answer

A proper timeline for evaluating your Answer Engine Optimization goals is typically between thirty to ninety days. To make this evaluation possible, your goals must be highly specific and actionable rather than vague aspirations. Simply stating a desire to show up more in AI answers does not provide a measurable benchmark. Instead, you should set concrete targets, such as increasing citation frequency for three specific queries by the end of a given quarter. This specific timeframe allows you to assess progress realistically while acknowledging that AEO is a continuous, iterative process.

Question 48

How to get executive leadership support and buy-in for an Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) strategy

Accepted Answer

To gain support from your leadership team, you must connect your AEO goals directly to the business outcomes they already care about. If your executives closely track the sales pipeline, you should frame AEO as a method for driving top-of-funnel visibility during the consideration stage. Alternatively, if they prioritize brand awareness, you can link the frequency of AI citations directly to overall brand mentions. Goals that fail to align with these pre-existing business priorities are unlikely to survive budget reviews. By establishing this clear connection, you demonstrate the tangible financial and strategic value of optimizing for answer engines.

Question 49

What impact did ChatGPT's release have on SEO and content marketing strategy?

Accepted Answer

When ChatGPT came out, Aja Frost immediately realized that the way people discover information was going to fundamentally change. As HubSpot was a pioneer of inbound marketing and had long gotten much of its demand from organic search, it was clear they needed a new strategy. The second realization was that this shift wasn't about getting traffic anymore—it was about getting mentioned, since people don't click when using LLMs and get all information within the LLM itself.

Question 50

What external data sources should marketers use for AEO besides their own website?

Accepted Answer

Marketers should expand beyond their website to additional sources like social media, YouTube, and other platforms. Since answer engines triangulate multiple data sources to reach consensus, having a presence across various platforms helps convince the answer engine that your brand is the right one. Relying solely on your website is insufficient because it doesn't create the consensus that answer engines need to confidently mention your brand.

Question 51

What new knowledge is required for AEO that didn't exist in traditional SEO?

Accepted Answer

The way answer engines generate responses is totally different from how Google Search creates a page of results. This required a nuanced understanding of how LLMs work, what they train on, what they look for, and what they don't look for. It also required a ton of experimentation because much of this information simply didn't exist, so the team had to figure it out for themselves through trial and error.

Question 52

How have AI-generated answers changed online visibility for businesses?

Accepted Answer

AI-generated answers have fundamentally changed what it means for a business to be visible online. Answer engines don't just reward pages that rank; they reward content that directly answers questions. This distinction changes how content is created, structured, and measured. It requires a new way of thinking about visibility and a willingness to challenge strategies that used to work in the traditional SEO era.

Question 53

Why are AI answer engine searches considered long-tail queries?

Accepted Answer

The average number of words in a prompt on answer engines like ChatGPT is 23, 24, or 25 words, and that doesn't include all the context the answer engines have about the user. Because the prompts are much more specific than typical Google searches, all searches on answer engines are effectively long-tail. This means answer engines go looking for very specific information, making relevancy even more important than traditional authority.

Question 54

Why is focusing only on your website not enough for answer engine optimization (AEO)?

Accepted Answer

Answer engines try to reach consensus by triangulating a bunch of different data sources to come up with an answer. Marketers who only focus on their website aren't able to create that consensus, which prevents the answer engine from being convinced that their brand is the right brand or that their product does the right thing. To succeed in AEO, marketers need to expand beyond their website to additional sources like social media, YouTube, and other platforms.

Question 55

What mindset shift is needed to become visible in AI answer engines?

Accepted Answer

The mindset shift clicked almost immediately when ChatGPT was released. The team realized that the way people discover information was going to fundamentally change, and since HubSpot had long relied on organic search for demand, a new strategy was needed. The key realization was that this shift was no longer about getting traffic—it was about getting mentioned. If a brand gets mentioned and gains awareness and brand recognition, that ultimately drives someone to become a customer, even if not within the same session.

Question 56

What makes a marketing team successful in the age of AI-generated answers?

Accepted Answer

The teams that are winning right now are the ones who started asking harder questions about what their content actually does for a reader and built from there. Success requires a willingness to challenge strategies that used to work, a new way of thinking about visibility, and an understanding that AEO represents a higher bar for content strategy rather than a replacement for it. Strong content strategy remains essential, but with higher standards.

Question 57

How long does it take to transition an SEO team to an AEO team?

Accepted Answer

HubSpot's SEO team became an AEO team within approximately four months. The transformation happened remarkably quickly, which Aja Frost attributes to fantastic planning and co-leadership from team members Rory and Carolina. They designed an AEO curriculum and reoriented the team around this new way of working. While some elements from SEO were preserved, a significant amount of new knowledge and experimentation was required.

Question 58

Who are the experts discussing the shift from SEO to AEO (answer engine optimization)?

Accepted Answer

Aja Frost, Senior Director of Marketing at HubSpot, and Barry O'Meal, Director of Product and Co-founder of xFunnel, discuss how they are rethinking content strategy for the age of AI-generated answers. They were interviewed by Nick Dekoulis, Senior Professor at HubSpot Academy. Together they explore how AI-generated answers are reshaping the relationship between content strategy and search visibility.

Question 59

What does it mean for AI answer engines to reach consensus about a brand?

Accepted Answer

Answer engines reach consensus by triangulating multiple different data sources to come up with an answer. If marketers only focus on their website, they cannot create the consensus needed to convince the answer engine that their brand is the right one. This is why it's essential to expand beyond the website to sources like social media, YouTube, and other platforms, so that multiple sources reinforce the same message about the brand.

Question 60

How does brand visibility in AI answer engines differ from traditional SEO rankings?

Accepted Answer

In AEO, answer engines need to know all about your brand to mention it within the answer engine itself. This is fundamentally different from SEO, where somebody gets to a blue link that takes them to your website. In the answer engine experience, everything happens within the engine, so it's all about getting the answer engine to know your brand thoroughly rather than simply ranking high enough to earn a clickable link.

Question 61

How should marketers set up prompts for AEO (answer engine optimization) monitoring?

Accepted Answer

When setting up prompts for AEO monitoring, you should think about the different types of customers you have in different regions, roles, and places. Each type of customer will have specific questions they ask answer engines. You want to map out the buyer journey, understand what problems customers might have, and consider what questions come up in customer calls, support tickets, and on platforms like Reddit. This pre-work is essential for generating effective prompts.

Question 62

What role does experimentation play in developing an AEO strategy?

Accepted Answer

Experimentation played a critical role in HubSpot's AEO strategy development because a lot of the information about how answer engines work simply didn't exist. The team had to figure things out for themselves through trial and error. This was necessary because answer engines generate responses in a totally different way than Google Search creates results, requiring new understanding of how LLMs work, what they train on, and what they look for.

Question 63

What SEO elements still apply when transitioning to AEO (answer engine optimization)?

Accepted Answer

The way a website is structured and architected is an evergreen element that was preserved from SEO to AEO. The way Google Bot operates in trying to crawl through, parse, and understand a website is fairly similar to the way LLMs do it. The big difference is that LLMs crawl and ingest significantly more data. Aja Frost describes LLMs as little Pac-Men munching through the internet, noting that they are very, very hungry for data.

Question 64

What is the average word count of prompts users type into AI answer engines like ChatGPT?

Accepted Answer

The average number of words in a prompt on answer engines like ChatGPT is 23, 24, or 25 words. This doesn't include all the additional context that the answer engines have about the user. Because these prompts are much longer and more specific than typical Google searches, all searches on answer engines are effectively long-tail. This specificity means answer engines look for very specific information, making relevancy a critical factor.

Implementing AEO With HubSpot

Who is this for?

What you'll learn

Includes

Instructors

Nick Decoulos

Robert Flemister

Christine Lee

Aja Frost

Beeri Amiel

Jenn Sanchez

Nick Decoulos

Curriculum

Welcome to Implementing AEO With HubSpot

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Lesson instructor: Christine Lee

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