Most Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) budgets get burned on busywork. Endless “best X” variants. Technical tinkering for the sake of it. SEO reports that no one reads. As Ethan Smith said on Lenny’s podcast, only a tiny slice of work drives the outcomes; the rest is just noise.
Focus on the 5% that moves the needle. Stop burning cash and energy on the remaining 95% that’s just waste.
AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) isn’t a shiny new hack. It’s about becoming the source that answer engines (ChatGPT, Google’s AI overviews, Gemini, Claude, etc.) and real people cite and trust. That means tight fundamentals on your site, and earned mentions off your site across YouTube, Reddit, and reputable publishers.
In short: AEO = search + citations.
What follows distils Ethan’s playbook, plus twenty-five years of my own practical experience in SEO, into something a founder, CMO, or product-led team can use. Let me help you skip the hype and software tool wars so you can focus on the strategy and tactics that matter.
What Changed With SEO, and What Didn’t
LLMs don’t replace SEO; they sit on top of it. Ask ChatGPT or Google’s AI Mode, “What’s the best X?” and the model pulls from live sources it finds and trusts. Your job is to shape what gets retrieved and cited.
The head and the tail behave differently now:
- Head queries: one blue link won’t cut it. You need repeated, consistent mentions across credible sources to surface.
- Tail queries: the tail has exploded in chat. Obscure questions now exist. Publish the best evidence, and you can win quickly.
The fundamentals still win. Topic depth, internal linking, answer density, and page types that match intent still do the heavy lifting. Technical SEO matters, but don’t hide a weak content strategy behind endless audits.
The 5% That Actually Drives Impact
Do these few things well. They compound.
- Answer-dense pages for real questions: Turn sales and support questions into fully loaded pages: clear definitions, short examples, screenshots, trade-offs, FAQs, sensible internal links, and outbound citations to credible standards. Don’t ship thin copy; ship the definitive answer.
- Topic clusters, not keyword confetti: Map the core problems your buyer has, then cover the sub-questions end to end. One strong hub. Spokes with distinct jobs. Merge or delete duplicates.
- Internal links with intent: Link from traffic pages to money pages with anchor text that matches what users want next. It’s simple, it works, and it’s underused.
- Citations across surfaces: Ethan’s stack includes YouTube, Reddit, reputable publishers or affiliates, and your own high-intent pages. Be findable in multiple places, not just on your blog.
- Show up where buyers gather: On Reddit, use real names and roles. Add proof. One useful answer that survives moderation and earns upvotes beats ten thin comments that get removed.
- Measure what matters: Track LLM or answer-engine referrals and on-site behaviour. Webflow saw roughly 6× higher conversion from LLM referrals than from Google Search in tests. Treat this traffic as high intent until proven otherwise.
Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO), Demystified
Answer Engine Optimisation as two layers:
- On-site: publish the best, most linkable evidence for a topic. Cover every sub-question buyers actually ask. Structure it so that retrieval systems can parse it.
- Off-site: earn repeated, credible mentions across YouTube, Reddit, and tier-one sites. You’re building a pattern of consistent third-party citations, not chasing one-off spikes.
That’s it. There’s no need to look for a silver-bullet software. Definitely no need to hire a separate “AEO team”. It’s modern SEO with a broader distribution lens.
The AEO Playbooks
Early-Stage Startups: 30-Day AEO Sprint
Week 1: Gather proof and questions
- Pull 50 buyer questions from sales calls, support tickets, user research, and Reddit threads; group by topic.
- Pick the 10 that signal purchase intent: integrations, pricing gotchas, feature trade-offs, and implementation time.
Week 2: Ship answer-dense assets
- Publish five compact, definitive pages that answer those questions. Use real screenshots and examples, and add a short “when not to use us” section.
- Interlink them and give each page a clear next step: demo, template, or checklist.
Week 3: Show and tell
- Record three YouTube walkthroughs answering the top questions; add chapters; link back to the pages.
- Post authentic answers in five relevant Reddit threads where the problem already lives. Use your real identity. Be specific. Link sparingly.
Week 4: Instrument and iterate
- Set up tracking for answer-engine referrals, YouTube, and Reddit.
- Tighten pages based on what people actually click, ask, and bounce from.
Result: you’ll start getting cited, clicked, and tested, without waiting nine months for domain authority to grow.
SMEs and Scale-Ups: 90-Day SEO + AEO Quarter
Month 1: Focus your surface area
- Build a topic map for the two or three problems that drive revenue. Cut overlaps. Merge thin pages into stronger hubs.
- Fix internal linking so money pages aren’t orphaned.
- Brief an editor or domain expertise writer to own these topics for the quarter.
Month 2: Earn citations you can influence
- Publish a video explainer for each hub. Include simple benchmarks, side-by-side comparisons, or teardown data worth citing.
- Pitch reputable publishers or affiliates with exclusive snippets or data pulls.
- Keep a weekly Reddit cadence; don’t spray.
Month 3: Prove ROI and scale the pod
- Report leading indicators: rank lifts on key spokes, new citations, answer-engine conversions, and assisted revenue.
- If the signals are green, scale to a small pod: one SEO strategist, one or two writers, and a video editor. Double down on compounding topics.
Avoid These SEO/AEO Money-Pits
- Keyword variant farms: writing 100 near-identical “best [X] in 2025/UK/Edinburgh” posts is just a waste. Cover the theme once, properly.
- Technical rabbit holes: fix crawl issues and speed, then stop. Don’t mask a weak content strategy with audit theatre.
- Stealth Redditing: you’ll get flagged. Be helpful, be human, be transparent.
- Tool tourism: Google Search Console for reality, a content optimiser for coverage, a crawler for structure. The tool isn’t the strategy.
Practical FAQs
Do we need an “AEO tool”?
No. You need buyer-led topics, answer-dense pages, and repeated third-party mentions. Tools help execution; they don’t create demand or citations.
Is AEO only for big brands?
No. Smaller teams can win on the tail and get cited on the head if they publish proof and show up with substance on YouTube and Reddit.
How soon will we see results?
SEO compounds over time. AEO can move faster because citations can happen tomorrow. Watch leading indicators first: ranking lift (#15 → #8 → #5), fresh mentions, and answer-engine conversions.
A Sample Monday-Morning Checklist
- Pull 50 real buyer questions; group by topic; mark the 10 with the highest purchase intent.
- Publish or upgrade five answer-dense pages with examples, screenshots, and a “when not to use us” note.
- Interlink hubs and spokes; add one clear next step on every page.
- Record three YouTube walkthroughs; add chapters; link back to the pages.
- Contribute five authentic Reddit answers this week; cite facts; avoid stealth.
- Track answer-engine referrals and report conversions weekly.
- Merge duplicate articles into stronger hubs.
- Review internal links to money pages; fix anchor text to match intent.
Credit: This field guide builds on insights from Lenny Rachitsky’s interviews with Ethan Smith (Graphite) on SEO and AEO, combined with decades of my own hands-on growth work. Ethan’s name and research deserve the spotlight here; the job is to turn that signal into action for your context.