The dentist's-waiting-room internet

Google’s “10 blue links” are starting to feel like the business section of a newspaper in a dentist’s office. Still there. Technically updated. Mostly decorative.

In a recent 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗼𝗼𝗽 episode, Alex Lieberman sat down with HubSpot CMO Kipp Bodnar to talk about what’s quietly replacing the old SEO scoreboard: 𝗔𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 (𝗔𝗘𝗢), aka “Do I show up inside the AI’s answer, or do I become a footnote in my own category?”

A few forehead raising nuggets:

- 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗚𝗣𝗧 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝘁 ~𝟴𝟬𝟬𝗠 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀, and the broader “AI answers” ecosystem (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity) is now a real distribution surface.
- 𝗭𝗲𝗿𝗼 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴, especially when AI overviews show up, so “rank #1” can still mean “congrats on being ignored.”
- When you do get traffic from AI answers, it’s often 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁. Kip shared HubSpot has seen 𝟱𝘅 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀, with some queries hitting 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝟭𝟯𝘅.
- 𝗡𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝟲𝟬% 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗜 𝗰𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗲’𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝟮𝟬 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀. Translation: the AI does not care that you fought a thousand keyword density wars in 2016.

What actually moves the needle in AEO (according to Kipp, plus basic survival instincts):

✅ 𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘁. Use clear question headers: “What is X?”, “How does X work?”, “X vs Y”, “How to do X.”

✅ 𝗖𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁. Smaller, clean sections that an LLM can lift without needing a decoder ring.

✅ 𝗢𝗯𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 “𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀” 𝗮𝗻𝗱 “𝗰𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. In AEO, a mention is when the AI names your brand in the text of its answer. A citation is when that mention comes with a clickable link back to you. Mentions shape perception, citations drive action.

✅ 𝗘𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁. Be painfully consistent about what you are, what you do, and who you are for.

✅ 𝗢𝗳𝗳 𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿. Reviews, rankings, affiliate pages, awards, and yes, places like Reddit can influence what shows up in certain models.

✅ 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗵𝗶𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗳𝗳 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀. If bots cannot crawl it, the answer engine will confidently recommend someone else.

✅ 𝗙𝗶𝘅 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝟰𝟬𝟰 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁. Kipp mentioned LLMs can hallucinate links, HubSpot saw a month with ~300,000 AI driven 404s. Your “page not found” might be your new homepage.

𝗠𝘆 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆: the AI’s job is synthesis, and your job is to be the easiest credible thing to synthesize.

If I’m placing one AEO bet, it’s entity clarity.
Chunking improves extractability.
Off-page improves credibility.
Entity clarity improves retrieval, giving the model a clean identity to attach to your brand, then a clear reason to bring you up for the right queries.