Category: AEO

GEO has found its place in the search landscape, and it’s reasonable to think that the future of generative engine optimization is guaranteed. According to Datos’s State of Search report, Q4-2025 saw some interesting changes. For the first time, AI tools had a consistent 1.31% to 1.34% of visits in the U.S. In previous quarters and reports, traffic to AI tools was growing. This stability in traffic suggests that AI search tools may have found their place in the wider search landscape.

An AEO strategy for SaaS won’t stray too far away from a good SEO strategy, but some tactics benefit AI search more than others, and it helps to know what these are. We all know that AI has shifted how brands earn visibility, and how visibility doesn’t equal clicks. But for SaaS, the way buyers conduct discovery and evaluation has changed disproportionately.

AI-referred traffic has increased by 600% since January 2025, and marketers are racing to understand what that means for brand discovery. For teams seeking clarity on how AI impacts brand and pipeline means investing in new tools like Profound or Athena AI for Answer Engine Optimization (AEO).

AI search is already influencing how buyers discover brands — and the results are measurable. According to the 2026 HubSpot State of Marketing report, 58% of marketers say visitors referred by AI tools convert at higher rates than traditional organic traffic. As platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini increasingly shape buying decisions, visibility inside AI-generated answers is quickly becoming a competitive advantage.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rewriting the playbook of so much of our lives — how we interact, how we learn, how we complete daily tasks, and sometimes even what we eat for dinner. So, of course, AI and the future of SEO are no different.