How to build momentum in your AEO program

The framework we use at Minuttia to build early momentum in AEO programs.

Aug 11, 2026

👋 Hey, I’m George Chasiotis. Welcome to GrowthWaves, your weekly dose of B2B growth insights—featuring powerful case studies, emerging trends, and unconventional strategies you won’t find anywhere else.

This note is brought to you by Applied.

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The first edition is free to attend, but we’re keeping it intentionally small, so spots are limited.

If that sounds like your kind of event, I’d love to see you there.

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If you are running an AEO program right now, or about to start one, the first few weeks matters more than most people think.

The reason is practical…

If the program does not show results early, every internal review becomes a conversation about when things will start moving. Confidence erodes before the strategy has had a chance to prove itself.

(Especially if you’re an agency.)

At Minuttia, we built a framework around speed.

Five moves that build momentum fast, sometimes running in parallel, to land the first wins before the initial enthusiasm fades.

Here’s the framework in a nutshell:

Let’s take a look at each of these pillars.

1. Content updates

Start with what already exists on your site (read: content inventory).

Usually these are pages with commercial search intent.

For B2B SaaS, that means alternatives and comparison pages, plus software category listicles.

Also look for job-to-be-done content that might not be commercially focused but drives good traffic. (That you can then retarget on both paid search and social.)

Why start here?

Because updating existing content is the fastest path to measurable results. HubSpot ran this playbook on their own blog and saw a 106% increase in monthly organic search views from updated posts, doubling lead generation from the same content.

And freshness now matters beyond Google.

Ahrefs found that URLs cited by AI assistants are 25.7% fresher than URLs in traditional search results.

Author’s Note: There’s a similar study by AirOps that basically proves the same thing.

Updating old content improves rankings and increases your odds of appearing as a source in AI answers.

You can see movement in your analytics within weeks (sometimes even within days).

That early progress is what keeps internal stakeholders invested.

2. Net new content for Google and AI search

Once the existing content is refreshed, fill the gaps.

Map every commercial term that matters in your category and identify where you have no coverage.

Then create content that helps you fill these gaps.

This pillar of the framework is based upon the assumption that there are commercially-focused content gaps in your content inventory.

After working with 60+ B2B SaaS companies and advising many more, I can tell you that this applies to most cases, regardless of a company's size or the maturity of its content program.

What I want you to keep in mind is that the goal isn’t creating more, but creating for the terms with the highest potential to drive sign-ups or demos (depending on the company's growth motion).

3. Story archetypes

I know many of you may be wondering what customer stories have to do with AEO.

That’s a thing for those product marketing folks, right?

Well…

Most companies publish customer stories randomly.

Whichever customer agrees to participate, whatever angle the marketing team comes up with, that becomes the next case study.

The problem is that random stories leave gaps. You end up with ten “how we use the product” stories and zero stories about migration or internal buy-in.

Meanwhile, buyers are asking those exact questions during evaluation in AI search engines!

A better approach is to map each customer story to a specific buyer question it answers. We call these story archetypes.

One example: The Migration

This archetype answers the question every buyer asks when switching from a competitor:

“Has anyone actually moved from {competitor} to {your product}, and how did it go?”

HubSpot’s case study with Checkwriters shows what this looks like.

Checkwriters left Salesforce after 15 years, and HubSpot framed the entire story around the switch: +20% revenue and a 25% drop in cancelled prospect calls.

That story directly answers “Has anyone moved from Salesforce to HubSpot?” for every buyer weighing the same decision.

Author’s Note: We work with 10 story archetypes in total, each tied to a different buyer question. Sorry for being sales-y, but if you want us to help with your story archetypes, reach out to Minuttia and ask how we can help you.

4. AI search content

This pillar focuses on content built for AI search, not for Google rankings. (Not that the two are mutually exclusive, though.)

Most of this content targets buyer-stage AI answers.

When someone asks ChatGPT or Perplexity a question about your market, you want your content to be what gets cited.

One category we use at Minuttia: Verticalized Buyer Guides

Instead of a generic “best project management tools” listicle, you create a buyer guide for a specific audience segment and use case.

“Buyer Guide for E-Commerce Analytics Platforms for DTC Brands”

… answers a different question than “Best Analytics Tools,” and because it is highly specific, it earns citations that generic content cannot.

Author’s Note: Minuttia uses 11 categories for AI search content, covering every type of buyer question these engines surface. To see how they apply to your brand, get in touch.

(This is the part of AEO that doesn’t overlap as much with SEO, and it’s becoming more and more important.)

5. Multi-channel perception

The fifth pillar is about brand presence beyond your own site.

Third-party listicles, industry roundups, community mentions and directory placements.

Anywhere buyers and AI engines look for recommendations, your brand should appear in the right context.

AI engines read far more than your site, synthesizing information from across the web. When your brand appears in two places, the signal is weak, but twenty consistent mentions create a stronger one.

That velocity of brand mentions across credible sources shapes how AI platforms perceive and recommend you.

Of the five, executing this one is hardest because you do not control the source.

But it compounds over time, and once the mentions accumulate, they are difficult for competitors to displace.

Why the order matters

These five are not arbitrary! They are sequenced.

Content updates come first because they produce results fastest, and net new content fills strategic gaps right behind them.

Story archetypes close commercial investigation gaps while content for AI search engines help the brand get visibility for super relevant queries.

Multi-channel perception builds the long-term moat.

Usually, the first four are enough to show progress in the first few weeks of a program or an engagement if you’re an agency or freelancer.

Once the momentum is there, expand the program and start playing the long game.

Final Thoughts

Most AEO programs start with a 1-month audit and a 125-deck…

Neither is inherently wrong, but momentum won’t come from that.

A shiny deck and ‘fixing your 404s’ won’t help you get the internal buy-in to invest in an AEO program.

It will come from small movements and signals that what you do is working.

ChatGPT or Claude, citing your content for the first time, carries more weight than any planning document.

Speed builds trust, and trust buys you time. Time is what you need to do the work that actually compounds.

I’m taking a break next week, so you should expect the next note to land in your inbox on August 25.

Thank you for reading today’s note, and see you soon!

Research Disclaimers and Limitations

GrowthWaves and its author are not sponsored by or compensated by any company mentioned in this note. This is independent editorial analysis and does not constitute investment, financial, or legal advice. The author may have relationships with, work with, or hold equity in companies referenced; however, no content in this piece was influenced, commissioned, or incentivized by any such relationship. AI tools were used as a research assistant in the preparation of this piece. All claims are sourced and linked throughout.

GrowthWaves by George Chasiotis

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