The B2B AEO Strategy We Use For Clients

There’s a visibility problem creeping through every corner of B2B marketing. Whether you’re a SaaS scale-up trying to get buyers to notice your genuinely good product, or a consultancy competing against 200 identical-sounding firms, the pattern is the same:

Organic traffic is flattening. Buyers are harder to reach. And your carefully crafted content is being ignored in favour of whatever an AI assistant decides to summarise.

This isn’t because your marketing suddenly got worse. It’s because discovery itself has changed.

Ofcom’s national research shows that 48% of UK adults now use AI tools to find information, and when answers are generated instantly, users don’t need to browse ten blue links anymore.

Meanwhile, Gartner predicts that by 2026, 80% of B2B sales interactions will take place in digital channels, not with salespeople. Which means your website and content ecosystem, not your SDRs, will be doing most of the early-stage selling.

The result?

Brands keep asking us:

• “Why aren’t we showing up?”
• “Why does our content feel invisible?”
•  “Why is an AI assistant citing our competitor instead of us?”

The answer isn’t “write more content”.

It’s Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO).

AEO is how you make your brand citable rather than merely “searchable”. It’s how you ensure your expertise is understood, structured, referenced and surfaced by AI systems that now sit between your buyer and your website.

The Perfect Website in 2026

This is one of the core building blocks of a future-ready website, the kind we break down in depth in Axon Garside’s guide, What Makes a Perfect Website in 2026, where visibility depends on structured content, authority, and machine readability.

Why AEO Now Matters to Every B2B Brand

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

AI hasn’t just changed search. It has changed the way buyers discover, research and evaluate every B2B brand, across every sector.

And AEO is no longer a “nice-to-have” add-on for SEO teams. It’s now the difference between being seen… and being silently filtered out by algorithms your buyers trust more than your marketing.

Let’s look at the reasons AEO is now business-critical for all B2B organisations.

AI Has Compressed Discovery into a Single Answer

Search used to give you ten blue links and a chance. Now AI assistants generate one answer and move on.

Tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google’s AI Overviews curate, summarise, and cite sources instantly, meaning buyers often stop long before they reach your website.

Our ebook highlights that AI Overviews already appear in 13% of searches, and some publishers are reporting up to 79% drops in organic traffic when their pages sit below AI summaries.

It’s not just “ranking” anymore. It’s: Are you the source the AI chooses to quote?

All B2B Buyers Now Arrive Later in The Funnel

This is no longer an opinion; it’s a measurable trend.

Modern B2B buyers rely heavily on AI tools, forums, and third-party ecosystems (YouTube, Reddit, peer reviews) to complete most of their early research long before visiting vendor sites.

So by the time they land on your website, they expect:

• Instant clarity
• Transparent pricing
• Self-service tools
• Clear product/service comparisons
• Proof they can trust

If your content isn’t structured to answer those questions directly, in a way both buyers and AI agents can parse, you lose relevance before the sales conversation even starts.

Industry Doesn’t Matter - Clarity Does

Tech/SaaS buyers, consultancy buyers, industrial buyers… they behave differently, but they all share the same expectation:

They want an answer, not an exploration.

SaaS buyers expect:

• Pricing logic
• Integration detail
• Security clarity

Professional services buyers expect:

• Frameworks
• Methodologies
• Proof of value

Industrial buyers expect:

• Specifications
• Standards
• Technical accuracy

Different sectors, same rule: clarity wins.

AEO Shifts Your Goal From Ranking to Being Cited

Traditional SEO: “Let’s get you to position #1.”

AEO:  “Let’s make you the answer every AI system trusts enough to quote.”

These are not the same. And the brands winning in AEO today have three things your competitors probably don’t:

• Clear, structured, machine-readable content (e.g. FAQs, schemas, definitions, structured comparisons).
• A distinct point of view with real authority (not the safe, vague, “customer-focused solutions provider” style content).
• Off-site footprint across credible ecosystems - AEO is a visibility strategy built around completeness, not keyword density..

AEO is not about chasing algorithms.

It’s about aligning your entire content ecosystem with how real buyers and AI assistants make decisions in 2026.

And every B2B brand, SaaS, industrial, consultancy, or otherwise, is now playing by the same search rules.

The Real Visibility Problem: Not Enough Brands Are Citable

Here’s the part nobody enjoys hearing:

Your brand isn’t invisible because of SEO. It’s invisible because AI assistants don’t trust you enough to cite you.

And that’s a very different problem to “we need more keywords”.

AI assistants, whether it’s Perplexity, Gemini, ChatGPT, or Google’s AI Overviews — don’t think like search engines. They don’t scroll, skim, browse, or read your lovingly crafted H2s the way a human might. They evaluate your content based on clarity, structure, authority, and citability.

And right now, across all B2B sectors, most brands fail that test.

Let’s break down why.

Too Many Brands Publish Content That’s “Nice”… But Not Citable

AEO isn’t about sounding good. It’s about providing answers with a spine.

• AI assistants choose sources that present:
• A clear, definitive answer
• Author-backed expertise
• Structured information they can easily extract
• Evidence, not vibes
• Positioning, not bland neutrality

Yet most B2B websites still publish content like:

• “Top 5 benefits of cloud migration”
• “How to improve operational efficiency”
• “Why businesses choose managed services”

It’s safe. It’s generic. It’s SEO-shaped content for a world that’s moved on.

AI assistants skip these because they don’t say anything definitive.

AI Doesn’t Reward Waffle, it Rewards Structure

One of the ebook’s strongest points is that AI-driven search environments prioritise structured data: schema, FAQs, tables, definitions, and tightly organised content blocks.

If your content is:

• Dense
• Rambly
• Over-designed
• Written like a brochure
• Missing schema and structured markup

… AI simply can’t interpret it accurately.

Your expertise might be brilliant.

But if your content looks like a wall of text, AI will pick a competitor who uses:

• clean information architecture
• simple markup
• clear definitions
• structured answers (even if the content is objectively worse)

Competitors don’t beat you by being smarter. They beat you by being parsable.

Your Expertise is Trapped in The Wrong Places

A universal B2B problem:

The content that could win citations is stuck inside:

• PDFs
• Proposal decks
• Sales scripts
• Case study documents
• Legacy knowledge bases
• SME brains
• Internal Slack threads

Your most valuable insights are hidden away like family silver nobody’s allowed to use.

But AI assistants don’t download PDFs, don’t attend sales calls, and definitely don’t DM your subject matter experts.

If it isn’t on a structured, crawlable, machine-readable webpage, it doesn’t exist in the world of AEO.

Brands confuse “content volume” with “authority”

In SEO, you could brute-force your way to visibility with enough content. In AEO, volume doesn’t matter - quality and clarity do.

AI is actively filtering:

• vague opinions
• unsubstantiated claims
• fluffy “insights”
• keyword-first writing
• brand slogans that mean nothing to anyone

Brands that publish less but answer better now beat brands that publish more but say less.

Strong positioning, distinctive POV, and human authority improve your chance of being cited.

The Anatomy of an AEO-Ready B2B Brand

This section gets practical:  What does a B2B brand actually need to look like to be citation-worthy in 2026?

We’re going for a mixed breakdown here - part checklist, part framework, part brutal honesty…

AEO-Ready Brands Speak in “Answer Format”, Not Marketing Format

Traditional marketing pages:

• warm-up paragraph
• brand story
• lightly veiled sales pitch
• graphs for decoration

AEO-ready pages:

• lead with the answer
• support with facts
• then add context
• then add proof

Translation: Your page shouldn’t build up to the useful part; it should begin with it.

They Treat Content Like Data, Not Just Copy

If you want to be cited by AI, your content can’t be a creative writing exercise. It needs to behave like structured information.

AEO-ready brands use:

• Real headings that reveal hierarchy
• Bullet lists that break concepts cleanly
• FAQs that map directly to buyer intent
• Comparison tables that define differences
• Definitions sections with unambiguous language
• Schema markup (FAQPage, HowTo, Product, Review) baked into templates

This matches the ebook’s emphasis on schema, markup and machine-readable formatting.

If your content can’t be “lifted” into an AI answer, AI will lift your competitor’s content instead.

They Build a POV the Industry Can Recognise Instantly

AI search flattens everyone’s content. Your point of view is the only thing that stops you from sounding like everyone else.

AEO-ready brands have a distinctive POV that shows up in:

• how they define problems
• the terms they use (and avoid)
• the frameworks they promote
• the comparisons they’re willing to make
• the stance they take in their expertise

This aligns with the ebook’s “return of brand” chapter, which makes it clear that POV, authorship and opinion-led content directly support AI citations.

If your content couldn’t possibly offend anyone, it definitely won’t impress an AI model.

They Turn Expertise Into Public Knowledge, Not Internal Assets

Every B2B brand has valuable expertise. Very few turn it into visible expertise.

AEO-ready brands do the opposite of hiding their best thinking inside:
PDFs

• sales decks
• pitch scripts
• onboarding docs
• internal knowledge bases

They break the walls open and publish:

• Rich explainers
• Diagnostic tools
• Calculators
• How-tos
• Configuration logic
• Expert-authored insights

If the only place your best insights live is “the deck we use in sales”, AI systems will never find them.

They Think in Ecosystems, Not Pages

AEO-ready brands understand that AI citations don’t come from one page. They come from a coherent ecosystem.

Here’s what that ecosystem looks like:

Website → Knowledge Base → Blog → Tools → Video → Third-party features → Industry references → AI-ready metadata → Schema → HubDB → CRM-integrated personalisation

Scattershot content gets ignored. Ecosystem content gets cited.

They Design for Two Audiences: Humans and AI Agents

AEO-ready brands meet both needs in one stroke.

And Crucially, They Make Themselves Easy to Cite

Shortcut test:

Would an AI assistant choose your content over:

• A competitor’s structured comparison page?
• An industry publisher’s explainer?
• A Reddit thread with clearer answers?
• A YouTube video with schema?

If you can’t confidently say “yes”, then your brand isn’t yet AEO-ready.

The Cross-B2B AEO Content Playbook

With the foundations defined, the next step is execution. Here’s the content your brand actually needs to publish to become citation-worthy in 2026…

1: Answer-First Pages

“Don’t bury the answer - lead with it.”

This is the core rule of AEO.

• Your highest-value pages must:
• Open with a direct answer
• Add structured detail below
• Then add your opinion
• Then add proof
• Then add the CTA

Examples:

• SaaS: “How does X integrate with Y?” - answer first, then expand.
• Professional services: “How does this method compare to others?”
• Manufacturing: “What does this specification actually mean?”

2: The Big Five Content

“Write the things buyers really ask that your competitors are too scared to publish.”

Straight from Marcus Sheridan - but refined for AI search and 2026 buying.

The What Makes A Perfect Website eBook dedicates an entire chapter to this because it's that important…

The Big Five:

• Cost
• Problems
• Comparisons
• Reviews
• Best-ofs

Why they work:

These pages map perfectly to AEO. They:

• Answer intent instantly
• Produce structured content
• Surface frequently asked questions
• Provide data AI assistants can summarise
• Build trust early
• Outperform high-level “thought leadership”

Examples across industries:

• SaaS: “HubSpot CMS vs WordPress: Which is better for B2B?”
• Services: “Consulting retainer pricing explained”
• Manufacturing: “Best materials for X application in 2026”

If you publish nothing else, publish these.

3: Structured Content Blocks

“AI doesn’t reward pretty - it rewards structured.”

This applies to:

• FAQs
• Definition blocks
• Glossaries
• Schema-rich explainers
• How-to guides
• Comparison matrices

This is called “machine-readable by design”.

Examples:

• Professional services: Glossary of industry terms
• SaaS: “How data is handled between modules (with schema)”
• Manufacturing: Safety FAQs or compliance explainers

These blocks get cited more than entire paragraphs.

4: Off-Site Authority Content

“Your website is not the only place AI systems find you.”

AI engines pull answers from your entire digital ecosystem. So you need content across:
YouTube explainers

• Guest articles in reputable publications
• LinkedIn thought leadership
• Third-party review platforms
• Niche forums
• Industry directories

“Off-site authority” is now a ranking signal. If you’re invisible everywhere else, you’re invisible everywhere.

5: Productised Expertise Assets

“Turn your knowledge into something buyers can actually use.”

These include:

• ROI calculators
• Configurators
• Assessment tools
• Diagnostic quizzes
• Interactive demos
• Knowledge hubs

They help you win because:

• They answer questions proactively
• They generate structured data
• They get referenced by AI agents
• They speed up conversion
• They make your expertise “tangible”

And they work brilliantly in HubSpot CMS.

6: POV-Driven Argument Content

“AEO needs structure. Buyers need personality.”

One thing AI cannot produce for you: a point of view.

This type of content:

• Makes you memorable
• Differentiates you
• Builds brand authority
• Signals credibility to AEO systems
• Fuels LinkedIn performance

Examples:

• “Why most CRM implementations fail”
• “What nobody tells you about choosing a marketing agency”
• “Why cheap industrial suppliers cost more in the long run”

Buyers don’t cite neutral brands. They cite brands with a spine.

7: The AI-Optimised HubSpot CMS Stack

“Your CMS should help AEO, not fight it.”

A future-ready 2026 website must sit on a platform that supports:

• Schema
• HubDB
• Structured fields
• Smart content
• Integrated AI assistants
• Content modules
• Easy governance
• Server-rendered critical paths

HubSpot CMS is designed for this.

If you’re serious about AEO, your tech stack should not undermine your content strategy.
AEO-friendly content isn’t a different category of content.

It’s simply better structured, more honest, more useful, and more discoverable than what most B2B brands publish.

Where B2B Brands Go Wrong. And How To Fix It

Most B2B brands are closer to an effective AEO strategy than they think. The problem is not a lack of effort. It is misplaced effort.

Here is where things usually go wrong, and what to do instead.

1. Publishing Great Thinking in The Wrong Format

Most teams are not short of insight. They are short of insight that lives in the right places: live pages instead of PDFs, articles instead of pitch decks, structured FAQs instead of dense prose.

Your best content is often locked away where neither buyers nor AI agents can reach it.

Fix: Identify the three or four internal assets (decks, PDFs, playbooks) that sales rely on most and turn them into structured, publicly accessible content.

2. Building Pages, Not Ecosystems

An isolated “What is AEO?” page will not save you. AI systems look at patterns across your whole footprint: your site, your tools, your thought leadership, your third-party mentions. When everything is disconnected, you do not look authoritative, you look unfinished.

Fix: Map your core topics and make sure there is a visible path between your explainer content, Big Five content, tools, case studies and external appearances.

3. Ignoring The Website Foundation

You cannot execute AEO strategy properly on a site that is hard to change, lacks structured fields, or cannot support schema and smart content cleanly.

The CMS and architecture either make your content machine-readable, or hold it back.

Fix: If your CMS makes basic schema, FAQs, structured blocks and personalisation painful, that is not just a UX problem. It is an AEO problem. Fixing the platform is part of fixing visibility.

In short: most brands do not need more content. They need content that is easier for buyers and AI systems to trust, lift and quote.

The Next Step

If any of this feels uncomfortably familiar, the next step is not “write another blog about AEO”. It is to look at your website, honestly, through the lens of:

• Is this answer-first?
• Is this machine-readable?
• Is this clearly ours, in tone and POV?
• Is this easy for an AI system to cite?

That is exactly what What Makes a Perfect Website in 2026 is designed to help with: connecting AEO strategy, content structure, brand clarity and the underlying tech stack into a single, future-ready website strategy.