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The Dave Gerhardt Show (from Exit Five)
The Dave Gerhardt Show (from Exit Five)

How to Win at AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)

04 June 2026 55:55 Exit Five

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About this episode

#361 | In this episode, Matt Carnevale, Head of Community at Exit Five talks with three marketers doing impactful work in AEO. AI search is changing how buyers find products, and most B2B teams are still figuring out where to start. In this session, each marketer shares what's working and wins they’ve experienced — from earned media and technical audits to homepage fixes and tracking AI visibility. Whether you call it AEO, GEO, LLMO, or EIEIO – this one’s for you. This session features guests Matt Dzugan, VP of Data Intelligence at Muckrack, Brett Bernath, Director of Product at Webflow, and Jess Joyce, Founder of Inbound Scope – an SEO and AI Search consultancy.


Timestamps

  • (00:00) - - - Why 80% of CMOs say AEO is a top priority — and most don't know where to start
  • (02:58) - - - How Muckrack used original research to get cited in ChatGPT before their product launch
  • (03:00) - - - Why top-of-funnel content is getting eaten by AI — and where to focus instead
  • (03:03) - - - Quick win #3: authority — how to show up in Reddit and third-party platforms
  • (03:06) - - - The sleeper tip: Bing Webmaster Tools is already giving you first-party AI data
  • (03:17) - - - How to handle competitor comparison content without verifiable claims falling flat
  • (03:33) - - - The four-bucket AEO maturity model: content, technical, authority, measurement
  • (03:34) - - - Why your homepage is your worst-performing page for AI discoverability
  • (03:37) - - - Quick win #1: technical hygiene — schema, meta descriptions, and structured data
  • (03:38) - - - How to identify which journalists get cited most by AI in your niche
  • (03:39) - - - Quick win #2: are you actually answering what your customers are asking?
  • (03:44) - - - Why 1 in 3 B2B SaaS sites have technical blockers killing AI discoverability
  • (03:46) - - - Why original research is the single best content type for earning AI citations

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Brought to you by:


Optimizely - A no-code AI platform where autonomous agents execute marketing work across webpages, email, SEO, and campaigns. Learn how to deploy agents on your marketing team at Agents in the Mix. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive. 


Vector - A contact-level ads platform that lets you build audiences from actual people on your site, clicking your ads, and checking out your competitors. Learn more at vector.co, and get their new MCP server by clicking here. 


Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive.


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