AI is changing how people search — and how your brand shows up. SEO still matters, but it’s no longer the whole story. With AI-driven answers reshaping how information is found and shared, Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) has become the key to ensuring your content — and your brand — stay discoverable.

What you’ll learn about AEO

In this guide, discover the AEO Maturity Model, a research-backed framework designed to help you:

• Benchmark your brand’s readiness across four key categories: content, technical, authority, and measurement
• Identify the biggest risks to your visibility and reputation in AI search
• Turn AEO insights into actionable steps that improve how your brand appears in AI-generated answers‍
• See what good looks like through examples from Webflow’s own AEO approach

The four categories of AEO

AI discovery rewards brands that combine technical excellence with credible, consistent storytelling. The AEO Maturity Model helps you evaluate and improve across these four categories:

1. Content

Create content built for comprehension — AI systems prioritize clarity and structure. Focus on content that:

• Clearly answers common user questions with direct, complete responses
• Uses structured headings and scannable formatting
• Connects related topics through linked clusters and themes
• Stays current with regular updates and refreshes
  

2. Technical

Ensure your site is optimized for machine understanding. From schema to accessibility, technical hygiene shapes how AI interprets your pages. Focus on:

• Fast, secure, mobile-friendly pages
• Rich metadata and structured data markup
• XML sitemaps and canonical tags that clarify relationships between assets
  

3. Authority

Build and maintain signals of brand credibility that AI models trust. AEO authority is about demonstrating expertise and consistency. Strengthen your authority by:

• Publishing expert-led, bylined content
• Earning citations and mentions from reputable sources
• Monitoring AI summaries for factual accuracy and correcting misinformation
  

4. Measurement

Track how your content performs in both traditional search and AI-driven environments. As answer engines evolve, new visibility metrics matter. Establish:

• KPIs for presence in AI summaries and snippets
• Systems to audit AI answers that reference your brand
• Cross-functional workflows between SEO, content, and brand teams

AI is redefining how brands are discovered — and AEO is the path forward. Learn how Webflow can help you accelerate your AEO journey and stand out in the new era of search.