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The ultimate guide to AEO: How to get ChatGPT to recommend your product | Ethan Smith (Graphite)

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Sep 14, 2025

Guest

Ethan Smith

Ethan Smith, CEO of Graphite and a veteran in SEO, unpacks the new frontier of Answer Engine Optimization (AEO). He reveals that ChatGPT traffic converts six times better than traditional search, presenting an untapped opportunity for startups. Hear his 7-step playbook for ranking in AI-driven results and the power of landing pages, YouTube videos, and authentic Reddit engagement. Smith also warns against spammy tactics and emphasizes the ROI of help-center content. This conversation is packed with strategies for leveraging AI for product visibility!

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Episode notes

00:00 / 00:00

AEO Is Search Plus LLM Retrieval

AEO is search plus LLM retrieval: models summarize many citations via RAG.
That makes showing up across citations more important than ranking #1 on a single URL.

00:00 / 00:00

Design Proper AEO Experiments

Run controlled experiments: hold a control set of questions and only intervene on the test set.
Reproduce wins multiple times before treating tactics as reliable.

00:00 / 00:00

Webflow AEO Win Example

Graphite helped Webflow win in AEO by combining landing pages, YouTube, and Reddit mentions.
That mix led to measurable AEO wins beyond traditional SEO alone.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

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Navigating AEO and GEO: Modern Optimization Strategies

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Mastering Reddit for Authentic Marketing

16:34 • 11min

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Strategies for Elevating Content Through AI Optimization

27:23 • 3min

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Innovative Marketing Strategies and AI Insights

30:31 • 8min

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Navigating Citation Strategies in the Digital Age

38:26 • 22min

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Optimizing Customer Support and Engagement

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Ethan Smith is the CEO of Graphite—the leading SEO growth agency—and my go-to expert on SEO. After 18 years of mastering traditional SEO, Ethan has been at the forefront of what is called AEO: answer engine optimization, or, more simply, getting your product to show up in ChatGPT/Claude/Gemini/Perplexity answers. He’s discovered that ChatGPT traffic converts six times better than Google search—and most companies are completely missing this opportunity.

In our conversation, we discuss:

1. His 7-step playbook to rank #1 in ChatGPT

2. Why ChatGPT traffic converts 6x better than Google

3. How early-stage startups can win at AEO immediately (unlike with SEO, which takes years)

4. The three tactics that actually work: landing pages, YouTube videos, and Reddit comments

5. Why help-center content can suddenly be your highest-ROI investment

6. The specific Reddit strategy that works (spoiler: be authentic)

7. Why AI-generated content doesn’t work

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