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title: "From SEO to AEO: how your company shows up when customers ask ChatGPT"
description: More and more customers ask ChatGPT instead of Google. How HubSpot AEO and the new ChatGPT Ads integration work, and what you can do right now.
image: https://leadlabs.se/hubfs/aeo-chatgpt-ai-sok.jpg
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 October 11, 2026

# From SEO to AEO: how your company shows up when customers ask ChatGPT

![Picture of Emelie](https://app.hubspot.com/settings/avatar/a7bfbbcaf0bc52ffebec008d63b2902f) By  [Emelie](https://leadlabs.se/en/insights/author/emelie)  ·   5 minute read

![Phone with AI assistants such as ChatGPT](https://leadlabs.se/hs-fs/hubfs/aeo-chatgpt-ai-sok.jpg?width=1600&height=900&name=aeo-chatgpt-ai-sok.jpg)

Your customers still google. But more and more often they ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity instead, and get a finished answer without clicking any further. HubSpot reports that organic traffic for its customers has fallen by 27 percent in one year. At the same time, traffic from AI services is growing.

**In short:** AEO, Answer Engine Optimization, is about being visible when AI services such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity answer questions. HubSpot AEO measures your visibility, sentiment, competitors and which sources the AI cites. Since September 2026 you can also advertise in ChatGPT directly from HubSpot with full attribution in the CRM.

This was one of the clearest threads through HubSpot's launches in 2026, and at [UNBOUND in Boston](https://leadlabs.se/en/insights/unbound-2026-hubspot-launches?hsLang=en) it took another step with the ChatGPT Ads integration. Here is what you need to know.

## From SEO to AEO

AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimization. Where SEO is about ranking high in a list of links, AEO is about being mentioned, cited and recommended when an AI service formulates an answer.

It is not a replacement for SEO. Much of the foundation is the same: clear content that answers real questions, a well structured website and authority in the form of mentions on other sites. But the yardstick is different. The question is no longer "what position do we have for this keyword?" but "are we mentioned when someone asks about this?".

## HubSpot AEO: how the tool works

This spring HubSpot launched its own AEO tool that monitors how your brand appears in answers from ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. Among other things it measures:

- **Visibility:** in what share of the monitored questions your brand is mentioned.
- **Sentiment:** whether the mentions are positive or negative.
- **Competitors:** who else is mentioned in the same answers.
- **Sources:** which sites the AI services cite when they answer.
- **Gaps:** questions where you should appear but do not.

One strength is that the tool can suggest questions to monitor based on your CRM data, instead of generic templates. AEO is included in Marketing Hub Professional and Enterprise and is also available as a standalone tool. In the fall release it was also connected to [Content Agent](https://leadlabs.se/en/insights/ai-agents-in-hubspot?hsLang=en), which can write pages and posts based on the AEO recommendations, and the visibility score shows up in Marketing Studio.

## Five things you can do right now

### 1. Find out what AI says about you today

Ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity the questions your customers ask. "Who are the best HubSpot partners in Sweden?" or "Which accounting system suits a growing B2B company?". Are you mentioned? What does it say? That is your starting point.

### 2. Write content that answers real questions

Start from the questions you get in sales calls and customer service. Answer clearly and early in the text, use headings that mirror the question and be concrete. AI services like to pick up content that is easy to cite.

### 3. Build authority outside your own site

AI services trust sources. Mentions in industry media, reviews on platforms such as G2, guest posts, podcasts and HubSpot's own partner directory all affect how you are described.

### 4. Review structure and technology

Structured data, clear pages about what you do and for whom, and a site that is easy to read for both people and machines. If your site is in HubSpot CMS, much of this is easy to fix.

### 5. Measure AI traffic separately

Set up reporting so you can see traffic and leads from AI services on their own. Then you can see whether the work is paying off.

## ChatGPT Ads: the next step

Being visible organically in AI answers is one thing. On September 16, the same day UNBOUND kicked off, HubSpot and OpenAI announced a deeper partnership in which HubSpot became the first CRM with a ChatGPT Ads integration.

In practice this means you can build campaigns, set budgets and launch ads in ChatGPT directly from HubSpot. The traffic lands on a HubSpot landing page, the contacts captured go into your workflows and are attributed just like your other channels. That means you can follow a deal all the way back to the ad in ChatGPT.

We have set up ChatGPT Ads for several clients and can say it is a channel at an early stage. A few things to keep in mind:

- **The ads appear within a conversation.** The message needs to be relevant to the question the user is asking, not a classic banner ad.
- **The landing page has to deliver.** Whoever clicks has already received an AI answer and expects something more concrete.
- **Connect to the CRM from day one.** Only when you can follow leads to deals do you know whether the channel is profitable.
- **Check availability.** Features, offers and markets are rolled out gradually. Check what applies to your account and market.

## How do you write content that AI services cite?

AI services look for clear, self contained answers that can be repeated without context. That favors texts written to answer a question, not to fill a keyword quota. This usually works:

- **Answer first, explain after.** Put a short, direct answer at the start of the text or under each heading. The details can come afterwards.
- **Use questions as headings.** Phrase headings as the questions your customers actually ask, such as "How much does HubSpot cost?" or "How do you connect HubSpot to LinkedIn?".
- **Be concrete.** Numbers, examples, steps and clear definitions are cited more often than general reasoning.
- **Show who is behind it.** Include author, date and experience. It strengthens credibility for both readers and AI.
- **Keep content current.** Update articles when something changes and show when they were last updated.
- **Add structured data.** FAQ and article markup help search engines and AI services understand what the page is about.

A good test: if a paragraph can be cut out and still give an understandable answer, it is easy for an AI to cite.

## Frequently asked questions about AEO and ChatGPT Ads

### Is SEO dead?

No. Google still accounts for a large share of traffic, and much of what makes you visible in AI answers is the same as what makes good SEO. See AEO as an addition, not a replacement.

### How quickly do you see results from AEO work?

It varies. Changes on your own site can be picked up fairly quickly by services that search the web in real time, while authority is built over a longer period. Measure month by month.

### Are ChatGPT Ads suitable for B2B?

They can be, especially for questions where buyers research solutions and compare vendors. Start with a limited budget, a clear audience and full CRM integration so you can evaluate on deals, not clicks.

### What is the difference between SEO and AEO?

SEO is about ranking in search engine results. AEO is about being mentioned and cited when AI services such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity formulate an answer. The foundation is the same, but AEO is measured in mentions and citations rather than positions.

### What is GEO?

GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimization and is often used as another name for the same thing as AEO: optimizing for visibility in answers from generative AI. The terms overlap and are in practice often used interchangeably.

### How do you get your company to show up in ChatGPT?

Publish content that clearly answers the questions your customers ask, build mentions on other credible sites, make sure your site is technically easy to read and follow up on how you are described. If you want to be visible right away, you can also advertise through ChatGPT Ads.

### Is the AEO tool included in HubSpot?

HubSpot AEO is included in Marketing Hub Professional and Enterprise and is also available as a standalone tool. Check what applies to your account.

### How do you see traffic from ChatGPT in HubSpot?

Visits through links in AI services show up as referral traffic from domains such as chatgpt.com and perplexity.ai. Create a separate report or filter for those sources so you can follow traffic, leads and deals from AI separately.

## Summary

Being visible when customers ask AI is no longer a future project. Start by finding out how you appear today, build content that answers real questions and measure the effect. And if you already run HubSpot, you now have the tools for both organic visibility and advertising on the same platform.

Want to know how your brand appears in ChatGPT, or test ChatGPT Ads connected to your HubSpot? Get in touch with LeadLabs and we will help you get started.

## Read also

- [UNBOUND 2026: what HubSpot launched in Boston](https://leadlabs.se/en/insights/unbound-2026-hubspot-launches?hsLang=en)
- [Context Home in HubSpot: why your AI is never better than your context](https://leadlabs.se/en/insights/context-home-hubspot-growth-context?hsLang=en)
- [AI agents in HubSpot: how to get started without automating the chaos](https://leadlabs.se/en/insights/ai-agents-in-hubspot?hsLang=en)

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