AGENT ENGINE OPTIMIZATION GUIDE

AEO (Answer/Agent Engine Optimization) is the practice of (1) earning inclusion in AI-generated answers across tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Copilot (including Google’s AI Overviews), and (2) making your site machine-legible for agents so they can parse facts or even take actions on a user’s behalf.

Think of it as optimizing for two realities: being the source inside the answer and being the system an agent can actually use.

Answer engines are no niche. As of Q1 2025, Google reported AI Overviews reaching 1.5 billion people every month, a signal that summary-first experiences now sit in front of a massive audience.

Independent coverage repeated and contextualized that figure during earnings and I/O reporting. If your information isn’t clean, cited, and “liftable,” you’re invisible where attention starts.

Meanwhile, user behavior keeps shifting toward zero-click outcomes. A 2024 study from SparkToro estimated that only 360–374 out of 1,000 Google searches result in a click to the open web.

Pair that with studies showing AI Overviews reduce click-through rates for top organic results, and you have the basic case for AEO: earn visibility even when the click never happens.

Agent-side momentum matters too. Microsoft has begun rolling out Copilot Actions and multi-agent features that let assistants complete real tasks with permission controls.

Google is actively replacing Assistant with Gemini across devices and surfaces. The takeaway is simple: the more machine-readable your facts, the easier it is for agents to select you.

what’s the same

Both disciplines reward helpful, reliable content that demonstrates real expertise. Google’s “people-first content” guidance still frames what wins: clear intent, trustworthy claims, and a good page experience.

If you’ve invested in high-quality content, that foundation helps for both SEO and AEO.

what’s different

• Goal: SEO optimizes for rankings and clicks. AEO optimizes for inclusion and citation in an AI answer.
• Surface: SEO targets the classic SERP. AEO targets AI Overviews, chat answers, and knowledge surfaces that compress results. Coverage for AI Overviews grew sharply in 2025 across many informational queries
• Signals: SEO leans on links, intent alignment, and technical health. AEO adds evidence density (definitions, dates, stats, primary sources) and structured data so parsers can understand entities and relationships without guessing.
• Distribution: SEO centers on your website. AEO acknowledges the outsized role of user generated content (USG) and video, especially YouTube and Reddit, which AI systems heavily ingest and cite. Brands are adjusting strategy to meet that reality.

where each shines

SEO builds sustained discovery across thousands of queries over time. AEO captures attention inside the answer box and keeps your brand in the conversation even as click-through declines.

News publishers have raised alarms about traffic losses when AI summaries appear above links—an extreme illustration of why inclusion matters.

You don’t have to choose between optimizing content for SEO or AEO. Rather, considering combining them. The most dependable pattern we see is an answer-first page model that still satisfies every SEO checkpoint.

Think clear question at the top, a concise, quotable answer, then a deeper dive that’s easy to scan and easy for machines to parse. That way you earn inclusion in AI answers while protecting rankings, crawlability, and conversion paths. It’s one workflow, not two competing playbooks.

a page model that works

Here’s the simplest way to blend AEO with SEO without creating two separate workflows.

1. Open with a crisp answer: Start the page with a 60–90 word, plain-English answer to the primary question. Make it quotable and time-stamped (define terms, include a stat or date, and link a credible source).
2. Expand with scannable sub-sections: Break the deep dive into short sections that add context, examples, and relevant source links. Use question-style H2/H3s so both people and answer engines can find specifics quickly.
3. Add the right structured data: Mark up the pillar as Article and only add FAQPage or HowTo when the content truly fits those formats. Keep Organization/Person details consistent sitewide so entities are unambiguous.
4. Validate and keep it tidy: Test the page with Google’s Rich Results Test, fix errors, and stick to Search Central’s structured data guidelines to avoid ineligible markup. Re-validate after significant edits.

This model aligns with Google’s Article/FAQPage documentation and the broader structured-data gallery—and it’s easy to QA with the Rich Results Test before you ship.

distribute beyond your site

Publish the canonical pillar on your domain and surround it with complementary assets where answer engines listen: YouTube explainers and Reddit threads that condense your key points and link back.

Recent reporting shows brands leaning into Reddit specifically because AI tools amplify its content and because the platform has signed major data deals.

keep the content people-first

Google’s guidance is consistent: write for people, then enhance with structure.

Clear authorship, dates, and reputable citations make your content more “liftable” for answer engines and more credible for human readers.

tie it to loop marketing

If you’re running loop marketing, you already have the cadence AEO needs: express → tailor → amplify → evolve.

You publish a coherent answer, distribute fragments where they’ll be discovered or ingested, and iterate based on actual visibility data.

This loop marketing guide walks through that operating rhythm and how AEO sits alongside SEO without adding chaos.

where answers come from

Most AI answers blend information from publisher sites, product docs, knowledge graphs, and UGC/video transcripts.

Tracking from Semrush and Ahrefs shows that AI Overviews now appear on a meaningful portion of queries and that coverage spiked after Google’s March update in 2025.

That expansion explains why “being includable” is now a content requirement, not a nice-to-have.

why structured data helps

Structured data clarifies your page to both search and answer engines. Start with Article on the pillar and layer in FAQPage, HowTo, Product, Organization, Person, and BreadcrumbList where they fit.

Google’s documentation details benefits and guidelines; stick to supported types and validate changes as you ship. Clean markup won’t guarantee inclusion, but it removes unnecessary ambiguity.

evidence density is your friend

Short definitions, numbers with dates, and primary sources increase the odds that a model can quote you.

Beyond SparkToro’s zero-click data, new analyses estimate that AI Overviews can reduce CTRs by double-digit percentages for top ranking pages—a reminder that clear, cited claims are the new baseline for earning attention upstream.

the agent angle

Agents need unambiguous inputs: hours, locations, pricing, availability, return policies, and action endpoints.

Microsoft’s recent announcements around Copilot Actions and multi-agent orchestration point to a near future where assistants perform authorized tasks across apps and devices.

If your facts are inconsistent or buried, agents will skip you.

Search is getting more “answer-first,” and chat-style results are changing how people discover brands. That means two things for your team.

First, earning a spot inside synthesized answers increases the chances buyers see you before they click.

Second, early referral traffic from AI tools is real enough to baseline, even if it’s not massive yet.

The bonus is operational: the same habits that make you includable in AI answers—clear evidence, tidy structure, consistent entities—also make classic SEO stronger.

more visibility where decisions begin

Inclusion isn’t just about traffic; it’s about first exposure. CTR studies show how SERP features can siphon attention from traditional listings, so earning space inside summaries helps you get seen earlier in the journey.

Research into AI Overviews’ query coverage and intent patterns suggests informational searches are especially affected, which makes answer-ready content a smart hedge.

resilience against zero-click erosion

Even without reusing the familiar numbers, the pattern is clear: when results pages answer the question, fewer people need to click.

Several CTR analyses map this shift across different result types, and newsroom studies tracking AI Overviews’ rollout found uneven but meaningful changes to click behavior by topic.

AEO gives you a way to participate in the moment of resolution instead of relying only on downstream clicks.

new, measurable routes to pipeline

Referral traffic from AI assistants is still emerging, but multiple datasets show upward movement.

Industry reporting and vendor research point to material growth in AI-driven referrals, and market trackers show answer engines like Perplexity gaining usage—useful context when you decide which surfaces to monitor.

Treat this as a small but rising channel to instrument now.

content and ops discipline

Answer-first pages, consistent entities, and validated schema make content easier for both humans and machines to understand.

That’s not theory; Google’s structured-data guidelines spell out what’s eligible and how to keep markup clean, and newsroom traffic studies suggest clear structure helps when results are summarized.

Teams that adopt this hygiene can iterate faster as SERPs evolve.

You don’t need a sprawling martech budget to run AEO.

You need a stack you’ll actually touch every week: research to see where answers are showing up, structure so machines can parse your pages, publishing with governance, validation to keep markup clean, and reporting to prove impact.

Add a pair of writing assistants to speed up outlines and drafts, and you’ve got a practical rhythm: check the landscape → ship answer-first content → validate → measure → iterate.

Research and tracking

Semrush: Use it to monitor AI Overview volatility and affected verticals; for context, point readers to the AI Overviews volatility study to see how coverage has grown across millions of queries.

Ahrefs: Monitors AI Overview growth and impacted query classes ; U.S. datasets reported AI Overview appearances more than doubling after the March core update.

Knotch: Tracks LLM traffic share across enterprise sites; several reports show share increasing rapidly in recent months, even as organic search dips a bit.

Similarweb / Exploding Topics / Demand Sage: Directional stats on Perplexity and other AI tools to understand where your buyers might be researching.

research & writing assistants

ChatGPT: great for shaping question lists, outlining sections, and testing whether your page is “answer-ready”; link readers to the product overview or the download page if you want them to try voice or mobile.

Jasper: helpful when you need brand-safe, on-brief drafts and repurposed assets at scale; anchor to AI built for marketing or the library of free writing tools as a quick starting point.

Hemingway App: Hemingway tightens prose by flagging dense sentences, passive voice, and adverbs—perfect for keeping answer blocks crisp and quotable. If your team prefers desktop, the Hemingway Editor page explains the offline app.

Grammarly: Grammarly adds real-time grammar, tone, and rewrite suggestions across docs and the web, and its AI writing assistant can help polish evidence boxes and FAQs without drifting off-brand.

publishing and governance

You don’t need a giant platform list here—just a dependable place to plan pillars, manage authorship, and ship through a clean review path. Below are solid choices teams actually adopt.

HubSpot Content Hub: A centralized workspace for pillars, topic clusters, authorship, and AI-assisted workflows tied to CRM context; recent Spring Spotlight 2025 updates and Breeze AI Agents strengthen governance and handoffs across marketing, service, and content ops.

Contentful: Structured, headless CMS with editorial Workflows for multi-step reviews, comments, tasks, and scheduled publishing—helpful when legal or regional approvals are part of your path to publish.

Sanity: Flexible headless platform with granular roles and permissions in the Content Lake, plus security perspectives for separating drafts and published content—useful when teams need tight access control.

Webflow (Enterprise): Visual CMS backed by enterprise controls; recent releases added custom roles and an audit log API, and the help center details workspace- and site-level permissions for cleaner governance.

WordPress + PublishPress: Familiar CMS with mature editorial extensions; PublishPress brings advanced permissions, checklists, calendars, and scheduled changes, giving multi-author teams a real workflow instead of ad-hoc drafts.

Contentstack: Enterprise headless CMS with configurable Workflows and stage rules (including branch-specific flows) so different content types move through the right approvers before publishing. 

validation and structure

Google’s Structured Data docs: confirm eligible types and rules, then validate; link FAQPage guidance, Article markup documentation, and Product structured data as your core references.

Rich Results Test: make this part of your ship checklist; reference the Rich Results Test directly when you explain how to QA changes. (A quick explainer from Yoast can help teams new to the tool.)

distribution

YouTube and Reddit: publish support content that complements your pillar and earns citations in answer engines; when you mention why Reddit matters, link to recent reporting on Reddit’s rising role in AI citations.

security and data hygiene (don’t skip this)

If you’re experimenting with agents or one-click experiences, tighten permissions and review retention policies.

As assistants gain transactional features, governance moves from “nice to have” to “must have”; you can point to news on commerce inside ChatGPT as a sign of how quickly capabilities are expanding.

You’ll keep classic SEO metrics. You’ll add AI Visibility and Share of Answer to see whether models include and attribute you.

Tie these to outcomes by mapping AI-exposed sessions to assisted conversions and deals so the numbers tell a revenue story, not just a visibility story.

core AEO metrics

AI visibility: Track weekly whether your content shows up in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Copilot for 10–20 priority questions.

Record exact phrasing and whether your domain is cited or mentioned. This can start as a spreadsheet; later you can adopt dedicated tools.

Industry coverage and market-share snapshots help you decide which engines to prioritize.

Share of answer: Of all prompts checked in your category, what percentage of answers include your brand? Skydeo frames this KPI and how it pairs with other LLM metrics. 

Ranktracker offers a closely related Answer Share formula and tracking approach. Use one of these definitions consistently across reporting.

LLM referral traffic: In GA4, create a custom channel for LLM referrals (you can key off common source/medium patterns).

Reports from Knotch and Search Engine Land indicate growth but limited share; that combination is exactly why you should baseline now and trend it.

Evidence density (internal): For each page, count named entities, dated stats, and primary sources. Higher density often correlates with inclusion because it gives models quotable, time-stamped facts.

Use Semrush/Ahrefs studies and SparkToro’s zero-click data as your “why” in internal docs.

how to set up reporting

GA4: Add a channel grouping for “LLM Referral.” Monitor Landing Pages tied to your pillars and compare conversion events with Organic Search.

Third-party analyses suggest conversions can be similar, but scale is currently small. Keep leadership expectations grounded.

Search Console: Still your SEO north star. Pair it with Semrush/Ahrefs trendlines on AI Overview prevalence to see whether a drop in sessions coincides with increased AI Overview coverage on your terms.

HubSpot: Connect web analytics to CRM deals. Create a cohort for visitors with LLM sessions and trend their pipeline influence. HubSpot’s 2025 updates and coverage emphasize agent-assisted workflows and better data context for reporting.

cadence

weekly: Check 10–20 prompts per engine, log exact inclusions/citations, and copy the phrasing of answers that mention you.

monthly: Review share of answer, LLM referrals, and Semrush/Ahrefs AI Overview trendlines. Adjust topics or add clarifying evidence if you’re missing.

quarterly: Refresh dated statistics, update schema, and reconcile entity facts across your site, YouTube channel descriptions, and Reddit profiles.

Loop Marketing is essentially HubSpot’s inbound playbook upgraded for an AI-first world.

Inbound still gives you the foundation—be helpful, attract the right people, build trust with useful content—but Loop adds a faster rhythm and AI-aware checkpoints so you publish answer-first pages, distribute where models actually look, and iterate based on AI visibility (not just clicks).

HubSpot’s own guidance on inbound pairs naturally with Loop’s express → tailor → amplify → evolve cadence, which the company = as its direction for operating in AI-shaped customer journeys.

If you want the full framework, our Loop Marketing Guide walks through the stages and how they work with AEO.

express

Start by documenting the essentials: brand voice, definitions, non-negotiable facts, and the small set of sources you’re comfortable citing.

Treat this like your quality bar so every draft feels unmistakably you. If you need a refresher on the cadence and why “express” comes first, the loop marketing guide lays it out step by step.

tailor

Translate sales questions into a tight set of page prompts and subtopics.

A practical way to plan is with topic clusters and a pillar/subtopic map so every answer nests under a broader theme your audience searches for.

HubSpot’s write-ups on topic clusters (and its strategy tool) show how to organize clusters and measure coverage over time.

amplify

Publish the canonical guide, then create lightweight support pieces where answer engines tend to look—short YouTube explainers and thoughtful Reddit threads that summarize the core answer and link back.

Recent reporting highlights why brands are investing more on Reddit as AI systems increasingly draw from UGC. Treated well, these surfaces act like accelerants for inclusion.

evolve

Review share of answer and early LLM referrals monthly, then ship updates—tighten definitions, add fresher sources, and reconcile any conflicting facts.

Keep an eye on market trackers so you know where AI Overviews are expanding; recent studies from Semrush and Ahrefs show how quickly coverage and impact can change.

When your topics are affected, refresh the page and re-validate markup before you republish.

does AEO replace SEO?

No. AEO gives you inclusion; SEO gives you discovery. You need both.

Use people-first content principles and appropriate structured data to make pages helpful for humans and legible for machines.

which content types get included most often?

Informational queries are most likely to trigger AI Overviews, with growth documented across multiple verticals in 2025.

Pages that answer clearly and cite credible sources tend to be featured more often.

do citations without clicks matter?

Yes. When 1.5B+ people see AI Overviews monthly, inclusion builds awareness upstream.

On the traffic side, LLM referrals are growing but still small; measure both so you can see the signal over time.

how technical do we need to get with schema?

Stick to Google-supported types and validate. For most pillars, Article plus FAQPage or HowTo (only when warranted) is plenty.

Product catalogs should implement Product markup with price and SKU consistency.

do we need to post on Reddit or YouTube?

You don’t have to, but it helps. AI tools often cite UGC and video.

Reddit’s licensing deals and coverage of frequent citations make it a high-leverage channel for many categories.

how long until we see results?

If your site already ranks and you publish a well-structured pillar with strong sources, you can see AI inclusions within weeks.

Traffic impact varies because LLM referrals are early-stage, but multiple reports show steady growth worth tracking.

can HubSpot help manage this?

Yes. Content Hub supports pillar/cluster planning and governance; Breeze AI Agents help with repeatable workflows tied to your CRM.

Combine that with GA4/Search Console and you have a solid AEO + SEO backbone.

1. pick one pillar

Choose a revenue-adjacent topic that your buyers actually ask about. Outline H2s as questions. Add a crisp TL;DR answer at the top.

Cite recent data where it matters—AI Overview prevalence from Semrush or Ahrefs, zero-click rates from SparkToro—and publish in HubSpot.

2. make it machine-legible

Add Article markup and appropriate secondary types. Validate with Google’s tools.

Ensure your author bios, organization info, and addresses match across your site and major profiles.

If you list specs or pricing, use Product markup and keep values consistent.

3. surround the answer

Create a three-minute YouTube explainer and a Reddit thread that mirrors your core answer, adds context, and links back to the full guide.

Stay useful, not promotional, and moderate comments for accuracy. Brands are doing more of this because AI tools elevate those sources.

4. measure share of answer

Log inclusions weekly for a set list of prompts across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Copilot.

Track whether you’re cited and how the answer phrases your key facts.

Use Skydeo’s Share of Answer framing or Ranktracker’s Answer Share math to formalize the KPI.

5. iterate with loop marketing

Review Share of Answer, LLM referrals, and AI Overview trendlines monthly.

Update your definitions, add fresher studies, fix conflicts, and ship again.

The loop keeps you aligned with where attention is moving.

Congratulations, you’re on your way t building your own AEO playbook. You know what AEO is, how it complements SEO, how answers get assembled, which tools matter, and how to measure real progress with AI Visibility and Share of Answer.

You also know the path isn’t mystery—it’s rhythm: publish answer-first, structure the facts, distribute where engines look, and iterate inside a Loop cadence.

The value is simple. You’ll earn visibility earlier in the journey, stay resilient as SERPs compress, and make your site usable by the agents that are starting to do the work for your buyers.

Here’s what changes now. You’re not guessing which levers to pull. You have a page model to follow, a short stack to run, and a scorecard that ties AI exposure to pipeline. That means you can stop debating the trend and start shipping pages that show up in answers.

At media junction, we help teams operationalize this—planning pillars, wiring schema, and building a reporting loop in HubSpot that leadership trusts. If you want a partner that’s done this before (and won’t bury you in jargon), we’re here.

choose your next move

read the loop marketing guide

Ground yourself in the express → tailor → amplify → evolve cadence and see how AEO and SEO live in the same workflow.

Our Loop Marketing Guide the fastest way to keep output high without sacrificing quality.

attend a free Agent.ai workshop

In this live, hands-on session you’ll learn what autonomous agents are, map use cases, and build a functional agent using Agent.ai—no coding needed.

You’ll leave with a step-by-step framework, working templates, and your own custom agent.

It’s free, virtual, and intentionally small for hands-on support.

sign up for our content bootcamp

Over 4–6 weeks on Zoom, small teams (up to 10) work with a HubSpot-Certified trainer to produce a usable AI-powered content system—strategy, templates, workflows, and on-brand drafts tied to your CRM.

The program focuses on Loop Marketing foundations, content creation, SEO, custom AI tools, and HubSpot AI mastery.

At media junction, we’ve been at this for 25+ years—designing websites, onboarding teams to HubSpot (and supporting them long after), and running marketing campaigns that move the needle.

We’ve lived through every major shift in digital business, from the first CMS boom to mobile-first to the rise of AI.

With AEO, our aim is simple: be the agency you look to for clear guidance and a practical plan when the landscape changes again.