User-first AEO across the funnel: Why your audience — not algorithms — should guide your strategy

Prioritize mid-funnel and bottom-funnel content

Across the funnel, top-of-funnel informational content is being commoditized by AI. Eli maps optimization to the buyer’s journey. Awareness queries — such as “What is a CMS?” — are increasingly handled by AI interfaces, while mid-funnel is where searching and clicking persist. He stresses that bottom-of-funnel and brand SEO remain enduring priorities.

“So, at the top of a buyer’s journey, it’s ‘What is a CMS?’ That is not … no longer going to be something that anybody can really optimize for anymore,” Eli explains. “So, you want to think about optimizing for the mid-funnel, the consideration stage.”

Rethink your content priorities

This shift has practical implications for how you allocate resources:

• Top-of-funnel (awareness): Basic definitional content — “What is X?” — is increasingly answered directly by AI. Ranking number one for these terms may no longer drive meaningful traffic.
• Mid-funnel (consideration): This is where users compare options, evaluate features, and research solutions. They’re still clicking through to websites at this stage.
• Bottom-of-funnel (decision): Brand queries and purchase-intent searches remain valuable. Users searching for your specific brand or product are ready to act.

For businesses, agencies, and freelancers, this means shifting investment toward content that helps users during the consideration phase. Comparison guides, detailed feature explanations, use-case examples, and customer stories become more valuable than glossary-style definitions.

What this looks like in practice

Consider how you’d restructure a content strategy for a web design agency.

Top of funnel

• Old approach: “What is responsive design?”
• New approach: Let AI answer this

Middle of funnel

• Old approach: Generic service pages
• New approach: Detailed case studies showing how you solved specific client problems

Bottom of funnel

• Old approach: Basic contact page
• New approach: Personalized landing pages for different industries

The goal isn’t to abandon top-of-funnel content entirely. You still need to feed AI systems information about your expertise. But your optimization effort should concentrate on where users click through and engage.

Shift from keyword volume to intent analysis

Eli argues that as search becomes more personalized, teams should not base strategy on keyword research or prompt research volumes. Instead, categorize what users are trying to accomplish and build for those needs, especially where SEO and AEO still add value.

“You should. But you should no longer base it off of keyword research, and these are the top search terms, or prompt research, these are the top prompt terms,” Eli states.

Build around need states, not search volume

Traditional keyword research sorted opportunities by monthly search volume. Intent-led planning starts with a different question: What is the user trying to do?

Here’s a framework for categorizing intent:

• Transactional intent: User wants to complete an action (buy, sign up, download). High value is worth a significant investment.
• Navigational intent: User wants to find a specific page or brand. Optimize your brand presence.
• Informational intent: User wants to learn something. AI increasingly handles these queries directly.
• Comparative intent: User wants to evaluate options. Strong opportunity for mid-funnel content.

For each piece of content you create, identify which intent category it serves. If it’s purely informational with no connection to your product or service, question whether it deserves priority.

Practical steps for intent-led planning

1. Document your users’ jobs-to-be-done: What are they trying to accomplish when they encounter your brand?
2. Map those jobs to content opportunities: Where can you provide unique value that AI can’t replicate?
3. Prioritize transactional and comparative intent: These drive business outcomes.
4. Measure success by revenue, not rankings: When asked about success metrics, Eli’s answer is direct: “Revenue.”

This approach aligns AEO reporting with what the rest of marketing is measured on: business impact. If you’re pre-revenue, track leading indicators, such as phone calls, chat conversations, or lead form submissions.

Build sites that serve users and drive results

User-first AEO across the funnel comes down to a simple truth: When you build for your audience, you build for the algorithms too. AI systems are designed to imitate human judgment, so content that genuinely helps users will perform well regardless of how search interfaces evolve.

The shift from keyword-volume planning to intent-led strategy requires rethinking how you structure content, where you invest resources, and how you measure success. Focus on mid-funnel consideration content, bottom-funnel brand queries, and business outcomes rather than vanity metrics.

Webflow gives you the tools to build sites that reflect this user-first approach. With visual development capabilities, you can structure pages around user intent, create compelling mid-funnel content experiences, and iterate based on what drives conversions. Webflow Enterprise helps marketing teams build sites that turn interested visitors into customers, without waiting on engineering tickets.

Watch the full webinar to hear Eli Schwartz’s complete insights on AEO strategy, including the live Q&A where he addresses specific implementation questions.