AEO Strategy: A 90-Day Plan to Get Your Brand Into AI Answers
A practical 90-day AEO strategy: audit, foundations, answer-first content, mentions and measurement, with a week-by-week plan.
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Last updated: 26 October 2026
Quick answer: A strong AEO strategy runs in four phases over 90 days: weeks 1 to 3, audit your buyer prompts and benchmark competitors; weeks 3 to 5, fix crawler access, schema and brand facts; weeks 5 to 10, publish answer-first pages for your highest-value prompts; weeks 6 to 12, earn mentions on the sources AI engines cite. Measure mention rate and citation share monthly and repeat the cycle.
Most AEO efforts fail for one of two reasons: they start writing before measuring, or they measure without changing anything. A strategy ties the two together so every task is aimed at a prompt that matters.
Key takeaways
- Start with a baseline, or you cannot prove progress.
- Prioritise prompts by revenue, not by volume.
- Fix technical access and brand facts before publishing at scale.
- Off-site mentions often move results more than new pages.
- Run the plan as a monthly loop, not a one-off project.
Phase 1: Audit (weeks 1 to 3)
- Build a prompt set of 20 to 60 questions from sales, support and reviews. See prompt research.
- Test across ChatGPT, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Perplexity and Gemini.
- Score each answer: named and cited, named only, or missing, for you and competitors.
- List the domains cited most often for your topics.
- Output: a baseline and a ranked fix list. See the AEO audit checklist.
Phase 2: Foundations (weeks 3 to 5)
- Allow Googlebot, Bingbot, OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot in robots.txt and at the CDN.
- Confirm key pages are indexed and snippet-eligible.
- Make brand facts identical across your site, Google Business Profile, LinkedIn and directories.
- Add Organization, Service or Product, LocalBusiness and FAQ schema that matches visible text. See schema markup for AEO.
Phase 3: Answers (weeks 5 to 10)
- Rewrite your top service, pricing and comparison pages answer-first. See answer-first content.
- Create pages for missing high-value prompts, such as “X vs Y” or “best X for Y”.
- Add FAQs built from real questions.
- Interlink pages by topic so engines see depth.
Phase 4: Mentions (weeks 6 to 12)
- Get listed and reviewed on the directories and platforms engines cite.
- Pitch expert commentary and data to publications in your field.
- Ask to be included in relevant comparison and “best of” articles.
- Grow detailed customer reviews. See brand mentions for AEO.
How do you prioritise prompts?
| Priority | Prompt type | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Best X for Y” and “X vs Y” in your core category | Closest to a buying decision |
| 2 | Price and “is X worth it” questions | High intent, often answered badly |
| 3 | Local and “near me” style questions | Direct path to calls and visits |
| 4 | How-to and definition questions | Build authority and early awareness |
Who should own AEO?
AEO works best with one owner, usually in marketing or SEO, plus support from content, web development and PR. Sales and support teams contribute questions. If you lack capacity, an agency can run the audit and plan while your team handles approvals and subject expertise.
Want a 90-day AEO plan built for you? Digital Tatva runs the audit, builds the plan and can deliver every phase. Book an AEO audit or see our AEO services.
Frequently asked questions
What is the first step in an AEO strategy?
Building and testing a prompt set of real buyer questions. Without a baseline, you cannot choose priorities or prove results.
How many pages do I need for AEO?
Fewer than you might think. A handful of strong service, pricing and comparison pages often matters more than dozens of thin posts.
Does an AEO strategy replace an SEO strategy?
No. AEO builds on SEO. Run them together so the same work moves rankings and AI mentions. See AEO vs SEO.
When should I expect results?
Technical fixes can show within weeks. Content and mention work typically shows clearer gains after two to four months.
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