What kinds of companies benefit most from AEO?

Answer engine optimization helps when buyers put their questions to an AI assistant, so start with whether yours do. Two recent surveys show it for two kinds of buyer.

G2, which runs a software review marketplace, surveyed more than 1,000 B2B software buyers and decision-makers for its 2026 buyer behavior report. It found that 82% had asked an AI chatbot for software recommendations in the previous two years. Half of that group said AI helped most while they were shortlisting and comparing products.

BrightLocal, which sells local SEO tools, asked a representative panel of 1,002 US adults for its 2026 consumer review survey. It reports that 45% had used AI tools for local business recommendations in the last 12 months, up from 6% a year earlier.

The two numbers aren't comparable rates, because the surveys differ in who was asked, what was asked and the period covered. Both report what buyers say they do, and neither measures what a company earned from AEO work.

Buyer demand only helps a company that has an answer worth using. Google's guide to generative AI features in Search says its systems look at a variety of sources, so a unique point of view helps a page stand out. It contrasts a first-hand review with a summary of what others have already written. It also separates commodity content, which anyone could produce from common knowledge, from content that carries expert or first-hand insight.

So we'd expect companies with real material to have an advantage. That means published prices, a documented process, original data, or people who've done the work and can explain it.

Lean Labs' AEO process shows where that material can come from. Its AEO service starts by turning sales calls, CRM records and Search Console data into a list of buyer questions. It then creates what it calls expert-led answers. A company that already records its sales calls and keeps a CRM has those inputs on hand. A company that would have to guess at its buyers' questions starts further back.

Agency AEO work has a price, and the customers it brings in have to cover that price out of what they contribute after the cost of serving them.

Lean Labs' published prices make a useful yardstick. Its on-site package is listed at $9,000 one time, with the first year included. Its off-site program is $5,000 a month for ten months, which comes to $50,000 in listed charges.

Suppose a software company keeps $25,000 in the first year from each new customer, after the direct costs of serving them. Two customers who wouldn't have come otherwise match the $50,000 in listed charges. Now suppose a business keeps $250 per customer. It needs 200 such customers to match the same charges. That comparison counts the agency's listed charges and nothing else. Your own staff time and any tools come on top, so it marks a floor for break-even and says nothing about profit.

A small business isn't shut out. A local business can keep its profiles accurate and answer common questions on its own site without a retainer, and we describe that work in what AEO covers beyond website content. We compare agency prices in how much AEO services cost and work through the break-even math in whether AEO is worth it for a B2B SaaS company.

A company that can see what follows the work is in a better position to judge it. Analytics can show visits that arrive from AI assistants, and a CRM records the contacts and deals that came after them. Those records don't prove the AEO work caused a deal that wouldn't have happened anyway. They still let you set the spending beside an outcome, which a count of mentions can't do. We explain the reports in how to track traffic and referrals from AI answer engines, and what a reasonable return looks like in what ROI to expect from AEO.

Fit looks weaker as those conditions drop away. When buyers seldom look for advice before choosing, as with many impulse purchases, an assistant has fewer of their questions to answer. When a product is much the same from every seller, it's harder to say something a competitor can't also say.

A business paid by the pageview, such as an ad-funded publisher, has a different problem. When an answer satisfies the reader inside the assistant, the publisher doesn't get the visit it's paid for. A company that sells a product or service is in a different position, because a mention can make a buyer aware of it without a click.

None of this is fixed. BrightLocal's 45% was 6% a year before. If few of your buyers ask an assistant today, we'd check again in a year.