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Three sprints. Ninety days. The order matters more than the effort.
Most AEO programmes fail on sequence, not on execution. They start with content because content is the part marketing owns, and they end up rewriting pages that no crawler can reach. Or they start with off-site PR and have nowhere credible to send the traffic.
Measure first. Then declare what you are. Then structure it. Then go and earn corroboration. Every step depends on the one before it.
Sprint 1, days 1 to 30: measure and declare
W1 | Run your AI visibility baseline audit
20 queries × ChatGPT + Perplexity + Gemini. Record citation frequency, position, and accuracy. Calculate baseline score (max 180). Most B2B SaaS sites start at 20–40. This number is your North Star. If you haven't done this yet: use the ChatGPT prompt from the "30-Minute Audit" guide to generate your 20 queries, then run them manually. |
W2 | Deploy Organization schema with full sameAs array Write your canonical description. Build your Organization schema. Add every completed external profile to sameAs: G2, LinkedIn, Crunchbase, Wikidata (create entry if needed). Deploy in |
W3 | Create and publish your llms.txt Use the template from Issue #12. Write your canonical description (same as Organization schema. Consistency is the point). List your products and key pages. Publish at yourdomain.com/llms.txt. Verify access without authentication. Add the URL to your sameAs array. Takes 30 minutes. Persists for years. |
W4 | Complete G2, LinkedIn, Crunchbase profiles and launch review campaign
Use your canonical description on every profile. Fill every field. Ensure company name, founding year, and headquarters are identical across all three. Launch your G2 review collection campaign. Email 20 engaged customers with a direct link. All three profiles go into your Organization schema sameAs array. |
Sprint 2, days 31 to 60: structure and signal
W5 | Rewrite key page openings in BLUF format Homepage, product page, pricing page. Each opening paragraph rewrites with the core answer in the first 50 words. Use the format: "[Product] is a [category] for [ICP] that [core benefit]." Not an introduction. Not a hook. The answer. Evidence follows. |
W6 |
Deploy FAQPage schema on 3 core pages 5–8 buyer Q&As per page, phrased exactly how buyers ask AI: "What is [your product] and who is it for?" "How does [your product] compare to alternatives?" "What does [your product] cost?" Deploy as JSON-LD in |
W7 | Update top 5 blog posts with Article schema and fresh statistics
For each: add datePublished, dateModified (today), named author with credentials, jobTitle. Update at least one statistic to a 2025/2026 source. Add "Last updated: [Month Year]" visible marker. These are your highest-traffic AEO-relevant posts. Keeping them fresh is not optional. |
W8 | Begin Reddit presence in 3 target subreddits Identify subreddits. Answer 10 questions value-first, zero self-promotion. Build karma. Set a 15-minute daily Reddit calendar block. This is the beginning of a 60-day warm-up. Citation contribution begins around week 8–10 of consistent participation. |
Sprint 3, days 61 to 90: expand and compound
W9
| Run second baseline audit. Calculate the delta Same 20 queries, same 3 platforms, same scoring method. Compare to your Sprint 1 baseline. Most teams: 30–50% citation improvement by Day 60. Document this delta. It's your leadership-ready proof-of-concept data point. If improvement is under 20%, check the most common blockers: missing sameAs schema, G2 review count under 15, content still in narrative format. |
W10 | Deploy HowTo schema on top 3 tutorial/process posts
HowTo schema maps directly to "how to [achieve outcome]" queries. The highest-intent format in AI search. Add structured steps, prerequisites, expected outcomes. Verify with Rich Results Test. These queries signal buyers committed to the category and evaluating who to buy from. |
W11 | Audit Wikipedia notability and begin evidence collection Search for your brand on Wikipedia. If no article: start your Notability Evidence doc. List every significant, independent press mention with URL, publication, and date. You need 3+ qualifying mentions for a viable Wikipedia article. If you're not there yet: this doc is the system that gets you there over the next 6–12 months. |
W12 | Build AI referral attribution in GA4 and CRM
Create a GA4 custom segment for sessions from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, claude.ai, gemini.google.com, copilot.microsoft.com. Tag these sessions in your CRM. Calculate: sessions × lead CVR × MQL-close rate × ACV = AI-attributed pipeline. Even 10 AI-attributed sessions/month at your deal size creates a compelling business case for continued AEO investment. Report monthly alongside organic metrics. |
What day 90 actually looks like
A tracked baseline with twelve weeks of trend behind it. A site that every engine can read. Schema and llms.txt shipped. A canonical description used consistently across every property you control. Presence on the review platforms and communities your buyers use. And the beginning of a long-tail citation list that is specific to your category and that no competitor has.
Not a finished programme. A programme that has started, and can now be argued for with evidence.
“Your site’s technical foundations decide your visibility in AI search.”
 | Aleyda Solís Orainti · on AI search crawlability |
Source: Humans of Martech, ep. 202, Jan 2026
This week's fix
Name the owner today. Not the team. The person.
Then put Sprint 1 in their calendar as three named tasks with dates. Unowned AEO programmes do not slip. They simply never begin.
Frequently Asked Questions
What order should I do AEO work in?
Measure, declare, structure, corroborate. Baseline first, because you cannot show progress without a starting number. Then llms.txt and your canonical description. Then schema and crawlability. Then the off-site work, which is slowest and most durable. Reversing this order is the most common and most expensive mistake in the discipline.
Can I compress the 90 days?
The technical sprints, yes. A capable engineer can do Sprint 2 in a week. The off-site work you cannot compress, because it depends on other people writing about you on their schedule, not yours. Start it early precisely because it is slow.
Who should own AEO?
One named person with authority across content, engineering and PR, because the work spans all three. Titles like Head of Search and AI Visibility exist because the job does not fit the existing boxes. If nobody owns it, it does not happen, and that is the single most reliable prediction in this newsletter.
What if I only have 30 days?
Do Sprint 1 and the crawlability half of Sprint 2. A baseline, an llms.txt, a canonical description and a site the engines can actually read. That is the cheapest, fastest, highest-return subset, and it is most of the value for most teams.
thrivestack.ai/citedby
Run the 90 days with the audit built in.
citedby handles the baseline, the fixes and the weekly tracking so your 90 days is spent doing the work, not building the spreadsheet.
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