Following SEO, App Store Optimization, and social virality, the next major distribution channel is AI answer engines. Product teams must now strategize how to get their brand, features, and knowledge base indexed and surfaced in AI responses, making AEO a critical growth lever for the modern era.

G2's research shows a dramatic acceleration in AI adoption for B2B purchasing. The percentage of buyers starting their journey with an LLM surged from 29% to 50% in just four months. This signals a fundamental, non-negotiable shift in buyer behavior that marketing strategies must immediately address.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) isn't just about appearing in AI search results. Investor Jason Lemkin argues the real prize is becoming the default tool an agent selects when asked a direct question like, "What's the best CRM for me?" This shift from discovery to direct recommendation is the new competitive landscape for software vendors.

The evolution of search won't stop with LLMs. The next stage involves autonomous AI agents that complete tasks like booking travel on a user's behalf. Marketers must shift their focus from answering human queries to ensuring their products and services are discoverable and selectable by these agents.

You.com CEO Richard Socher predicts a new marketing motion where companies market directly to LLMs. As AI agents increasingly make purchasing decisions and consume information, optimizing content for AI consumption will become as critical as traditional SEO.

The rise of AI agents means website traffic will increasingly be non-human. B2B marketers must rethink their playbooks to optimize for how AI models interpret and surface their content, a practice emerging as "AI Engine Optimization" (AEO), as agents become the primary researchers.

The primary channel for discovery is shifting from search engines (SEO) to AI-powered "answer engines" like ChatGPT. Product Managers are now responsible for this new distribution channel, requiring a strategy to ensure their brands and products surface in AI-generated responses.

Traditional lead magnets like white papers and webinars are becoming obsolete as AI-empowered buyers conduct their own research. Marketing's future role is to publish high-quality insights and information online, specifically to train the AI agents that buyers use, ensuring the company's perspective shapes the conversation before a salesperson is ever involved.

As AI agents and synthesized search become intermediaries, traditional channels are insufficient. The new imperative is ensuring your brand’s data is accessible to AI models as they reason and generate responses, directly influencing the outcome before it reaches the consumer.