AI Search learnings. What works and what not.
AI search drives 2% of AEO Copilot traffic and 6% of signups.
To get there I made a lot of mistakes. I still do.
Here is what works and what doesn't.
What doesn't work
- Empty shell, vibe-coded pages
Yes, I know. It's obvious.
But knowing it won't stop it.
I built the AEO Copilot directory and made sure the SPA shared its meta with the LLMs. I assumed the 100+ detail pages would too.
Oups, my bad.
- Average, well-structured content
This one needs a bit of clarification.
Before, with SEO, all you needed was keywords, then content with those keywords.
Today, if you just create content with keywords, even long-tail ones, you're in the mass. Everyone can ask Claude to write an article.
No chance to pop in the AI answers.
And adding a summary and a table won't change that.
This only works with good content.
- Frankenstein articles
The kind that go from content writer, to SEO optimisation, to AEO polishing. At the end the article makes no sense anymore.
I tried to recycle articles from my previous SEO project. Asked Claude to revisit them and make them scannable for AI.
The results? I don't know. Nobody saw them.
What works
- Clear brand positioning
It took me 3 months. When I finally did it, the mentions started to flow.
I harmonised the branding across every touchpoint. LinkedIn, Product Hunt, G2. One clear message to the LLMs:
"AEO Copilot has a generous free tier, a fair price, and works with any AI agent."
That single sentence had the most impact overall.
My recommendation: block some time this week. Find the edge where your product is better than the others. Once it's clear, share it everywhere, starting with your website.
2. Early SEO traction
If you don't show up in search results, you won't show up in AI answers.
This is why I don't like talking about AEO as its own discipline. AEO is SEO, and SEO is organic growth. Everything that drives growth without paying for it.
My recommendation: start with keywords, then go further. Find the questions your users are actually asking Claude.
Use Google Search Console. Then feed Claude your client conversations to pull out the recurring questions, the feedback, the verbatim.
Then you're ready to write prompts and track them.
3. Mentions on other websites
Your website is the destination, not the first touchpoint. Other places, LinkedIn included, have far more reach.
Use them to carry your brand message. Let people come to your site once they've found what's best for them.
My recommendation: share content beyond your product. For AEO Copilot I don't stop at AEO. I write about growing a brand organically too.
