In this Friday 15 episode Andy and Brian talk with Rob Howl, the Vice President of Digital Products and Experience at HVAC parts distributor mSupply about how the company is approaching building out Answer Engine Optimization capabilities.
Q: What is AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)?
A: AEO is the practice of optimizing your content so that AI-powered engines like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity, and Claude cite your brand as the authoritative answer to user queries — rather than simply ranking you in traditional search results.
Q: How is AEO different from SEO?
A: As Rob Howl put it on the show, “SEO gets you seen, AEO gets you chosen.” SEO focuses on ranking in traditional search engine results pages. AEO focuses on becoming the embedded answer in AI-generated responses — a zero-click environment where there may be no link for the user to click at all.
Q: What is E-A-T and why does it matter for AEO?
A: E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. It’s the framework AI engines use to determine which sources to cite. Content without demonstrated authority gets ignored, and misinformation gets penalized.
Q: What practical steps can B2B companies take right now?
A: Key tactics include building FAQ sections with concise 50-75 word answers to common customer questions, creating structured Q&A content sourced from your technical experts’ real-world interactions, ensuring clean product data with normalized attributes and clear descriptions, and using tools like SEMrush to score your AEO readiness.
Q: Is SEO dead?
A: No. Rob Howl emphasized this is an “and” situation, not an “or.” SEO still matters, but AEO is now an additional, critical discipline. As he noted, “You can’t just do one or the other. You got to be able to do both.”
Q: How do you measure AEO success without clicks?
A: This is still an evolving challenge. Rob suggested an A/B testing approach — optimizing a subset of SKUs with AEO techniques while leaving others as SEO-only, then comparing lift. Tools like SEMrush are beginning to offer AEO readiness scoring, but full attribution solutions are still emerging.
Q: How fast is this shift happening?
A: Very fast. In a Master B2B community poll, 83% of respondents said their company has already shifted resources from traditional SEO toward AEO. Gartner predicts a 25% drop in traditional search engine queries by 2026.
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