Chapter 2. The AEO Framework
A few weeks back I ran a pretty simple experiment. I took a set of “what/when/where/why” prompts (things like “What’s the best CRM for small businesses?”) and ran them across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, Claude, and Copilot. Same prompts, no extra context, pasted across five platforms within a few minutes of one another.
The results? Five wildly different answers, with huge variations in which products and services got cited and recommended. ChatGPT cited a Zapier blog post and a G2 comparison page. Perplexity cited TechRadar and PCMag reviews. Google’s AI Mode pulled from its own Knowledge Graph data and a few Forbes Advisor articles. Claude cited Gartner and Forrester and other more academic sources. Copilot went straight to the top sources from Bing search.
Five platforms. One question. And almost zero overlap in who won.
If that doesn’t make you at least a little uneasy about where your content stands right now, it probably should. Because the game isn’t just to “rank on Google” anymore. It’s to “show up across five different systems that think differently, search differently, and cite differently.” And honestly, to play that game well, you have to understand how these things work under the hood.
And that’s precisely what this chapter is about. Not at the extreme academic level, and not at the surface-skimming level either, but at the level where you can actually sit down and make real decisions about strategy. By the time you finish here ...
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