Ethan Smith, CEO of Graphite, shares the ultimate guide to Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) – how to get your product mentioned in ChatGPT and other LLM answers. He explains the difference between AEO and traditional SEO, the importance of being cited across multiple sources, and tactical steps like Reddit strategy, YouTube videos, and long-tail question research.
A short editorial from the SEONIB team on why this content matters.
Ethan Smith argues that AEO is the second biggest change in SEO, but it's not radically different – it's about optimizing for LLM summarization of search results.
The video's distinctive angle is the practical, experiment-driven approach emphasizing citation diversity and long-tail questions, which SEONIB sees as a scalable strategy for AI-driven content platforms.
SEO professionals and startup marketers should immediately audit their citation presence and start tracking share of voice across LLMs, then implement off-site strategies with controlled experiments.
Answer Engine Optimization: optimizing content to appear in LLM-generated answers.
Generative Engine Optimization: another term for AEO, focusing on generative AI outputs.
Strategy to get your brand mentioned across multiple sources that LLMs cite.
Authentic participation in Reddit threads to earn citations from the platform LLMs trust.
Highly specific, low-volume queries that LLMs can answer and that present new opportunities.
Monitoring how often your brand appears in LLM responses across different surfaces.
A heuristic to measure if content adds unique value beyond what others have said.
What is AEO?
Answer Engine Optimization is the practice of optimizing content to appear in answers generated by large language models like ChatGPT.
How is AEO different from SEO?
AEO focuses on being cited multiple times across sources, while SEO aims for top blue-link rankings. AEO also benefits from long-tail questions and off-site citations.
Is ChatGPT traffic valuable?
Yes – Webflow saw a 6x higher conversion rate from LLM traffic compared to Google search traffic.
Can early stage startups win at AEO?
Yes, because they can get mentioned quickly through Reddit, YouTube, or blog posts without needing domain authority.
How do I optimize for Reddit in AEO?
Create an authentic account, state your name and company, and provide useful, non-spammy answers in relevant threads.
How do I track my AEO performance?
Use an answer tracking tool to measure share of voice – how often your brand appears across multiple LLMs and question variations.
Should I block LLMs from indexing my site?
No – you still want to be indexed for citations. Block training bots but allow indexation to remain visible in answers.
What are the best citation sources for B2B?
TechRadar, Dotdash Meredith, YouTube, Reddit, and affiliate blogs are commonly cited for B2B questions.
How do I set up an AEO experiment?
Choose a set of questions, split into control and test groups, apply an intervention (e.g., Reddit comments), and compare share-of-voice changes over time.
What is the role of YouTube in AEO?
YouTube videos are a low-competition, high-opportunity citation source for B2B topics, as few videos exist for niche business queries.
SEONIB automatically generates AEO-optimized pages, embeds schema, and submits them to IndexNow — so your content gets discovered faster by Google and AI answer engines.