How to Measure AEO

When traditional SEO dashboards don't cut it anymore.

Rankings and impressions tell part of the story — but AI search doesn’t work that way.

Every query is a fresh model run.
Every model has its own weighting logic.
You don’t hold rank — you re-earn trust.

That shift breaks every conventional way we’ve been measuring search performance.
Visibility in AI systems is dynamic, probabilistic, and constantly evolving — which means traditional SEO metrics only give you the illusion of control.

Over the last few months, I’ve been working on a simple but standardized way to measure Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) — one that connects visibility, comprehension, and conversion into a single feedback loop.

Here’s the breakdown 👇

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1️⃣ Visibility

How often your brand is surfaced or cited across AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude.

Every query reshuffles sources based on trust, clarity, and freshness.
You can’t “rank once and hold it” — you have to continuously earn your place in model responses.

Metrics to track:

• Citation velocity (rate of new mentions or reuse)

• Share of voice vs. competitors

• Platform distribution

  

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2️⃣ Comprehension

Comprehension measures how accurately AI systems understand and describe your brand.

You can be cited often and still be misrepresented — and that gap directly impacts trust and conversion.

We’ve found that the clearer and more consistent your structure and entity naming are, the more accurately models describe you. Over time, that accuracy compounds — improving both citation frequency and conversion quality.

Metrics to track:

• Accuracy of model descriptions

• Tone and completeness

• Consistency across LLMs

  

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3️⃣ Conversion

Visibility shows you’re seen.
Comprehension shows you’re understood.
Conversion proves it’s working.

LLM-sourced visitors behave differently. They convert about ~6× faster than non-branded organic traffic.
They’re not window shopping — they’re problem-aware, ready to act, and they often move through the funnel with fewer touchpoints.

Metrics to track:

• LLM-referred signups and customers

• Conversion rate by source

• Time-to-convert

• Plan mix or customer segment

  

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The loop

Content informs visibility.
Visibility drives comprehension.
Comprehension powers conversion.
And conversion data feeds back into what you create next.

It’s not static. It’s a system.
And the teams who measure this loop — not just rankings — will win the next phase of search.

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Coming soon: I’ll be sharing the dashboards, prompts, and workflows we’re using to track all three pillars — no fluff, just the framework.

Subscribe if you want those deeper teardowns as they drop.

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stackedgtm.ai