We Have a Communications Problem About AEO

I've spent a lot of time thinking about artificial intelligence engine optimization (AEO) over the past year. At American University’s Kogod School of Business, where I serve as Director of Strategic Communications, we’ve made significant changes to our content strategy and website management with AI discoverability in mind.

The more I’ve learned, tested, built, and scaled in an AI-driven communications environment, the more convinced I’ve become that we have a massive communications problem within the communications industry.

The current AEO conversation is increasingly framed as a race between organizations that can afford sophisticated tools and those that can’t. On one side are companies building proprietary AI systems, investing in optimization technology, and dedicating entire teams to what is quickly becoming a large-scale change management issue. On the other are smaller or resource-strapped communications teams trying to piece together a strategy while feeling like they’re already behind.

That concern isn’t unfounded. Better-resourced organizations have real advantages in the search race, and the gap between the AEO “haves” and “have-nots” is likely to grow.

I’ve had a foot in both conversations, and I think the way we’re talking about AEO is making that gap feel even more inevitable than it is. I currently manage our website content through HubSpot’s CMS, and we have access to tools and insights that help us better understand our AI discoverability. But I also talk to friends across the industry who are still trying to figure out how to move from an SEO-dominant strategy to an AEO-driven one, often without new software, bigger budgets, or technical support. And I think we’re largely missing the point.

When we talk about AEO primarily as a technology challenge, it makes meaningful, incremental progress within our current circumstances feel inaccessible. We imply that smaller teams need to wait for better tools before they can compete, when many of the most effective improvements are already within reach:

Answer questions clearly. Structure content thoughtfully. Publish information people are actually looking for. Make expertise easier to find, understand, and cite.

That’s what we’ve done all along as communicators. That’s the communications game we play every day. It’s just being played on a different board now.

We can improve discoverability with tactics, not tools.

That doesn’t mean every organization can do everything. It means more organizations can do something. And in this moment, the difference isn't who has the best tools—it's who starts adapting soonest.