How to do AEO - Answer Engine Optimization

SEO is changing — and the next frontier is AEO: Answer Engine Optimization.

In this episode, Andrew Warner sits down with Ethan Smith, founder of Graphite, to reveal how companies can now rank as the first answer inside ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude.

Ethan explains why SEO isn’t dead, but answer engines are becoming the new discovery channel — and how to optimize your site, videos, and community presence so AI models actually cite your brand in their responses.

You’ll learn:

How to appear as the top result inside AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity

What Ethan calls the “offsite advantage”: YouTube, Reddit, and affiliates

Why Help Center and Q&A content are goldmines for AEO

How early startups can use AEO to beat bigger competitors

The myths behind llm.txt and other SEO-to-AEO misconceptions

How to build your own AEO agency before the space gets crowded

🎧 Highlights:
[00:00:00] Intro – “Don’t start with SEO. Start with AEO.”
[00:00:36] Why this is the right time to focus on answer engine optimization
[00:01:30] How to get cited by AI systems in real user questions
[00:03:00] Onsite vs. offsite optimization — Reddit and YouTube matter most
[00:06:18] Why Help Center content outperforms traditional SEO pages
[00:13:30] Why AEO is ideal for small startups without big budgets
[00:16:39] “SEO is not dead” — and why search isn’t disappearing
[00:19:39] Myths: LLM.txt, robots.txt, and how misinformation spreads
[00:23:06] The scientific method for testing what actually works
[00:25:57] Affiliates and citations — how paid mentions affect rankings
[00:27:27] How to find high-value questions to target
[00:31:12] 60+ AEO tools — and the new “content scoring” era
[00:35:06] How to build an AEO agency (and what services to offer)
[00:39:36] Marketing through original thought leadership
[00:43:00] The AEO roadmap: what to do first, step by step
[00:48:18] Fires, gardens, and creative thinking in constraint

👉 Join us: https://thenextnewthing.ai/