HubSpot outlines how agencies can manage AEO across clients

Marketing agencies are facing more questions from clients about answer engine optimization, or AEO, according to HubSpot Marketing. Some clients have noticed competitors appearing in AI-generated results, while others want to understand how agencies are responding to changes in the way buyers find vendors.

HubSpot says the challenge for agencies is turning those questions into a service that can be delivered consistently across multiple accounts. An agency managing 10 or 20 clients may need to assess different products, audiences and competitors for each one. Tracking visibility, improving content and reporting results manually can make that work difficult to sustain.

The company recommends a repeatable process supported by shared infrastructure rather than treating each engagement as a separate project. A consistent approach to measurement can help teams compare performance over time and use the findings to decide where to focus their work.

One recommendation is to monitor AEO performance in a single tool. HubSpot argues that collecting brand visibility scores, share of voice and citation data across several tools adds manual work and can make trends harder to identify. It says using one tool consistently also helps keep benchmarking data clean.

HubSpot promotes its own AEO Brand Visibility Dashboard for this purpose, saying it brings visibility scores, citations and share of voice together. The dashboard also allows teams to compare a client's performance with competitors. HubSpot reports that, according to its internal data, AEO users generate 2.6 times more leads. The source does not provide further detail about that comparison.

After identifying gaps in visibility, agencies can create or update content to address them. HubSpot says content seeking citations in answer engines should be structured, authoritative and aligned with the specific questions those engines answer. The company notes that this work can differ from conventional search engine optimization, making it important to identify the content opportunities that matter for each client.

What this means for marketers

Teams evaluating an AEO service can focus on a consistent set of visibility, citation and competitor measures across client accounts. Those findings can then guide decisions about which existing content to update and where new material may be needed.