AEO
The new path to visibility
Search is changing - and so is our visibility
You may have already noticed it in your website analytics: visitor numbers are changing. Where clearly measurable clicks used to come from Google, today many simply don't. But that doesn't mean that nobody is interested in your content anymore. People are finding new ways to get the answers they need.
Increasingly, users are no longer typing their questions into a search engine, but directly into an AI-based system such as ChatGPT or Gemini. The answer appears directly there - without anyone clicking on a website. For companies, this means that visibility is no longer achieved solely through traditional search engine optimization, but by whether your content appears in the responses of these systems.
In other words, when ChatGPT, Gemini or other systems answer your target group's questions, you want your brand to be part of that answer. This is where AEO comes in.
What is AEO - and why is it so important now?
AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimization - optimizing your content for answer systems instead of just search engines. It's the logical evolution of SEO in a world where artificial intelligence condenses, summarizes and relays information based on context.
While SEO aimed to be at the top of Google, AEO is about being mentioned at all - in the generated answers, snippets and AI assistants. To achieve this, content must be clearly structured, semantically understandable and thematically focused. A good AEO strategy ensures that machines recognize the context and know when your content provides the best answer.
This means moving away from pure keyword texts and towards real answers. Away from confusing collections of content and towards topic clusters and clear FAQ structures.
What this means for your website
A modern website today needs more than just good design and a few optimized headlines. It needs structure - not only for humans, but also for machines.
If your content is divided into logical subject areas with clear questions and concise answers, then an AI system can "read" and categorize it more easily. Technical cleanliness also plays a role: structured HTML code, semantic markup, uniform URL structures. All of this ensures that your knowledge not only remains visible, but is also cited by the right systems in the future.
AEO is therefore not witchcraft, but a way of thinking. It starts with the question: How can I make life easier for my visitors - and the systems that respond for them?
Why the HubSpot CMS makes the difference here
To successfully implement AEO, you not only need the right strategy, but also the right technical basis - and this is where HubSpot comes into play.
With clean, structured code, HubSpot ensures that content is clearly recognizable and machine-readable. The integrated SEO tool gives you recommendations on how you can further optimize your pages - and schema markup can be added with just a few clicks to make your content even more accessible to AI systems.
Particularly exciting: the AI-supported content suggestions. HubSpot analyzes which topics, questions or terms are relevant in your environment and suggests suitable content. Combined with analytics that show how your pages are performing and how visible you really are, this creates a cycle of learning, optimizing and growing - all in one system.
With a CMS that seamlessly combines marketing, sales and content, you have already laid the foundation. AEO helps you to make this content visible in the era of AI-supported search - where your target group can really find their answers.
How to make your content fit for the new search world
So that you not only understand what AEO means in theory, but can get started right away, here is a short guide - with the following note: The foundation is crucial. Without a clean data structure, a high-performance website and a system that works with AI-supported processes, AEO remains piecemeal.
- Analyze your current status
Start with an inventory. HubSpot's free AEO Grader shows you how visible your brand currently is in AI-supported responses - and where there is potential. This creates transparency and gives you a clear direction as to which content and topics you should optimize first. - Structure and optimize in a targeted manner
Revise existing content: Formulate clear questions and concise answers, bundle related topics in clusters and use semantic structures or schema markup so that systems such as ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity can assign your content correctly. - Create a solid technological foundation
The best content is of little use if it is stored on a system that does not make it technically "understandable". This is where the HubSpot CMS comes into play - with clean code, integrated SEO tools and AI-supported recommendations that guide you on the way to the optimal AEO structure. - Taking the next step
If you're wondering how your current system is set up - or how you can use the full potential of the HubSpot CMS for yourself - feel free to contact us. Whether you are already working with HubSpot and want to further optimize your site or are just planning to get started, we can show you how to make your website fit for the future of search.
HubSpot as the foundation for successful visibility and customer management
If you are already using HubSpot but your website is still on a different system, now is a good time to make the switch. This way, you can take full advantage of the technical basis that HubSpot CMS offers and at the same time make the most of the AI-supported functions.
And even if you don't use HubSpot yet, it's worth taking a look at the platform: HubSpot connects all areas - from marketing, sales and service to content and website. Everything runs seamlessly together, not a patchwork of different tools. This means you not only have your website under control, but can also manage customer relationships, campaigns, content strategies and service requests centrally. Technically clean, SEO- and AEO-ready - so that your content is effectively structured, remains visible and can be found in the new era of AI-supported search.
Conclusion
The search landscape is changing - radically. Users are clicking less, but asking more questions. Answers are coming directly from systems that not only read content, but understand it.
AEO is the key to staying visible in this new reality. And with the HubSpot Content Hub, you have exactly the foundation you need for this: technically strong, intelligently networked and ready for the future of search.
