What HubSpot AEO Recommendations Actually Tell Marketers to Do

Posted May 20, 2026 in HubSpot, Technology by Kaitlynn Sirotkin

HubSpot AEO recommendations help marketers turn AI search visibility data into content actions. It is useful to know whether your brand appears in AI-generated answers. It is useful to know which competitors show up more often. It is useful to know which prompts your brand is missing from and which sources AI tools are citing.

But the real value comes from knowing what to do next.

Should you create a new page?
Update an existing blog post?
Build comparison content?
Add more proof?
Strengthen your third-party visibility?
Clarify your positioning?
Answer a buyer question more directly?

That is where AEO recommendations become useful, they help marketers move from insight to execution.

For the broader foundation, read our guide to HubSpot AEO for AI search optimization.

What AEO Recommendations Are

AEO recommendations are suggested actions based on how your brand appears, or does not appear, in AI-generated answers. They are designed to help marketers improve visibility inside AI answer engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity.

In traditional SEO, marketers are used to receiving recommendations about keywords, metadata, technical health, backlinks, page structure, and content gaps. AEO recommendations are different because they focus on answer visibility.

They help marketers understand:

Prompts your brand is missing from
Which competitors appear more often than you
What sources are being cited in AI-generated answers
Topics need stronger content coverage
Which existing pages may need clearer answers
What new pages may be needed
Where your brand positioning may be unclear
Where third-party visibility may be influencing AI answers

The goal is to make your brand easier for AI systems to understand, cite, and include when buyers ask relevant questions.

Why AEO Recommendations Matter

AI search changes how buyers discover and evaluate companies.

A buyer may ask an AI tool:

“What is the best CRM for a growing B2B company?”
“How should we prepare our CRM data for AI?”
“Who can help implement HubSpot AI?”
“What are the risks of using AI agents in customer service?”
“How do HubSpot and Salesforce compare for revenue operations?”

Those questions may generate answers that include brands, sources, recommendations, comparisons, and next steps. If your brand is missing from those answers, you may not have a traffic problem yet. You may have a visibility problem. AEO recommendations help identify what content or positioning work may improve that visibility and they give marketers a practical way to respond to what AI search is showing them.

How AEO Recommendations Differ From SEO Audits

AEO recommendations and SEO audits both help improve visibility, but they are built around different questions.

An SEO audit usually asks:

Can search engines crawl and index the site?
Are pages optimized for target keywords?
Are titles and meta descriptions strong?
Are pages technically healthy?
Are internal links supporting priority pages?
Is content ranking and driving traffic?
Are backlinks supporting authority?

Those questions are still important, but AEO recommendations ask a different set of questions:

Is the brand appearing in AI-generated answers?
Is the content being cited?
Are competitors appearing more often?
Are the right buyer questions being answered?
Is the brand described accurately?
Are key topics underdeveloped?
Are there prompt-level gaps?
Are third-party sources shaping the answer?

SEO audits help marketers improve how pages perform in search results, while AEO recommendations help marketers improve how brands and content appear inside generated answers.

AEO Recommendations Are Not Just Technical Fixes

One of the most important things to understand is that AEO recommendations are usually not just technical fixes. Some recommendations may involve structure, metadata, schema, internal linking, or page clarity, but many AEO recommendations are strategic content recommendations.

They may tell you that your brand is missing from a high-intent prompt, show that a competitor is appearing because they have stronger comparison content, reveal that AI tools are citing third-party sources instead of your own website or show that your existing content answers a topic generally, but not specifically enough to be included in AI-generated answers.

That means marketers need to treat AEO recommendations as part of content strategy, not just website maintenance.

Common AEO Recommendation Categories

AEO recommendations can usually be grouped into a few practical categories. These categories help marketers decide whether to create, update, expand, reposition, or strengthen content.

New Content Recommendations

Sometimes, the right action is to create a new page or blog post. This usually happens when your brand is missing from prompts that your current content does not clearly answer.

For example, if buyers are asking: “What is AI search share of voice?” , and your site has a broad AEO post but no dedicated share-of-voice article, the recommendation may be to create a new supporting post. New content recommendations are often useful when there is a clear prompt cluster around a specific topic, but your existing content only covers it lightly.

This type of recommendation may lead to:

New blog posts
New service pages
New comparison pages
New industry pages
New FAQ resources
New implementation guides
New evaluation guides

The goal is to create a page that directly answers a buyer question your current content does not fully own.

Existing Page Update Recommendations

Not every gap requires a new page, sometimes the better recommendation is to update an existing page. This is especially true when the page is already ranking, already earning impressions, or already has authority around the topic.

An existing page update may be needed when:

The content is too thin
The page does not answer the prompt directly
The page lacks examples
The page is missing comparison language
The page does not explain who the content is for
The page does not include enough proof
The page is outdated
The page does not connect to related content
The page has weak internal links

For example, if an existing blog post mentions AEO recommendations in one paragraph, but query data shows people are asking about actionable AEO recommendations, that page may need a deeper section or a new supporting post.

The decision depends on search intent: If the topic deserves its own article, create a new page, if it is a subtopic of an existing page, update the existing page.

Content Clarity Recommendations

AEO recommendations may also reveal that content exists, but it is not clear enough. AI-generated answers depend on content that can be understood, summarized, and associated with the right topic. If your page is vague, overly broad, or too internally focused, AI tools may not understand when to include it.

Content clarity recommendations may involve:

Adding more direct answers
Using clearer headings
Explaining concepts in plain language
Naming the audience more clearly
Defining the use case
Adding examples
Clarifying your point of view
Removing vague language
Making the page easier to summarize

This is especially important for B2B content, where companies often use broad positioning language that sounds polished but does not clearly answer a buyer’s question. AEO rewards clarity, if a buyer asks a specific question, your content needs to provide a specific answer.

Comparison Content Recommendations

Comparison content is especially important in AI search because buyers often use AI tools to evaluate options.

They may ask:

“How does HubSpot compare to Salesforce?”
“What is the difference between SEO and AEO?”
“Should we use native CRM AI or a separate AI tool?”
“What is the difference between AI assistants and AI agents?”
“Which HubSpot partner is best for AI implementation?”

If competitors are appearing more often for comparison prompts, that may be a signal that your content does not help buyers evaluate alternatives.

Comparison recommendations may lead to:

Comparison blog posts
Platform comparison pages
Partner evaluation guides
Category comparison content
Alternative pages
Decision criteria pages
Buying guides

Strong comparison content is educational, clear, and useful. It helps buyers make a better decision while reinforcing your point of view.

Prompt Coverage Recommendations

Prompt coverage recommendations focus on whether your content answers the questions buyers are asking. This is one of the biggest differences between SEO and AEO.

In SEO, marketers often start with keywords.
In AEO, marketers also need to look at prompts.

A prompt may be more specific than a keyword. It may include context, role, industry, risk, comparison, implementation detail, or buying criteria.

For example, a keyword might be: “HubSpot AI”

A prompt might be: “What should my company fix in HubSpot before using AI agents?”

Those are not the same content need. Prompt coverage recommendations help marketers identify which questions need better answers.

They can reveal gaps across:

Problem-aware prompts
Comparison prompts
Vendor evaluation prompts
Implementation prompts
Risk and governance prompts
Pricing and evaluation prompts

This allows marketers to build content around the way buyers actually ask questions inside AI tools.

Citation and Source Recommendations

AEO recommendations may also point to citation gaps. If AI tools are citing competitor pages, review sites, directories, news articles, or third-party resources instead of your website, that is useful information.

It may mean your content is not strong enough to be cited, your website does not have a page that directly answers the prompt, third-party sources have more authority on the topic, or your brand is not represented clearly enough outside your own website.

Citation recommendations can lead to several actions:

Improve the cited topic on your own site
Create a better resource that deserves citation
Strengthen partner directory listings
Pursue third-party mentions
Improve review site presence
Update company profiles
Create stronger thought leadership
Earn more external validation

Sometimes improving AI visibility requires strengthening the sources AI systems may use to understand your brand.

Competitor Visibility Recommendations

Competitor visibility recommendations show where other companies appear more often than you. These recommendations are valuable because they turn AI search into a competitive intelligence source. If a competitor consistently appears for prompts your brand should own, marketers should investigate why.

Do they have stronger content?
Are they being cited by third-party sources?
Do they have clearer category positioning?
Do they have more comparison content?
Are they mentioned in directories or reviews?
Do they have content that directly answers the prompt?

Competitor visibility recommendations help marketers prioritize the gaps that matter most.

How to Prioritize AEO Recommendations

Not every recommendation should become an immediate project. Some will be high-impact, while others may be useful but less urgent. The best way to prioritize AEO recommendations is to evaluate them through business value, buyer intent, and competitive risk.

Start with the prompts closest to revenue, if your brand is missing from a broad informational prompt, that may matter. But if your brand is missing from a vendor evaluation prompt, that is more urgent.

For example:

“What is AI in CRM?” is informational.
“Best HubSpot partner for AI implementation” is closer to buying intent.

The second prompt should usually carry more priority.

Marketers should prioritize recommendations based on:

Buyer intent
Revenue relevance
Competitive gap
Search or prompt demand
Existing page authority
Content effort required
Strategic importance
Likelihood of improving visibility
Alignment with current campaigns

AEO recommendations become more useful when they are tied to actual marketing priorities, not treated as a random task list.

When to Create a New Page

Create a new page when the prompt or topic has distinct search intent. A new page makes sense when the topic is important enough to stand alone and cannot be fully answered inside an existing page without making that page too broad. For example, if your pillar page explains HubSpot AEO broadly, but you see meaningful interest around AI search share of voice, that likely deserves its own supporting post.

New pages are useful for:

Distinct buyer questions
High-intent prompt clusters
Competitive comparison topics
New service offerings
Industry-specific use cases
Detailed implementation guidance
Evaluation or buying criteria

The goal is to give each page a clear job. A pillar page should explain the broad topic and supporting pages should answer specific sub-questions in more depth.

When to Update an Existing Page

Update an existing page when the content already has authority, impressions, or topical relevance, but needs to be stronger. This is often the right move when a page is close to answering the prompt but not quite complete enough.

Update an existing page when the page:

Already ranks for related queries
Topic is a sub-section, not a standalone article
Content is outdated
Needs stronger examples
Needs a clearer answer
Needs better internal links
Needs stronger proof
Needs more direct language

Updating existing content can be especially valuable when a post is already performing well. If a page is gaining impressions, marketers should be careful not to completely change its intent. Instead, improve clarity, depth, internal linking, and usefulness while preserving the reason the page is working.

When to Build Comparison Content

Build comparison content when buyers are asking evaluative questions and competitors are appearing more often than your brand. Comparison content is useful when the buyer is trying to understand differences, tradeoffs, or decision criteria.

This may include comparisons like:

AEO vs SEO
HubSpot vs Salesforce
AI assistants vs AI agents
Native CRM AI vs standalone AI tools
In-house implementation vs partner-led implementation
HubSpot partner vs general CRM consultant

Comparison content should be balanced and helpful, it should not feel like a thinly disguised sales pitch. The best comparison content helps buyers understand when each option may make sense and what factors they should consider. That kind of content is more likely to be useful to both buyers and AI answer engines.

When to Strengthen Third-Party Visibility

Sometimes the recommendation is not only to publish more content on your own site, but to strengthen how your brand appears across the broader web. This matters because AI-generated answers may be influenced by third-party sources.

If competitors are showing up because they are mentioned in directories, review platforms, partner pages, media articles, or industry resources, then your own website may not be the only lever.

Third-party visibility plays may include:

Updating partner directory profiles
Improving review site presence
Seeking relevant industry mentions
Publishing contributed thought leadership
Creating stronger customer stories
Building partner co-marketing content
Earning mentions in credible roundups
Making company descriptions more consistent across platforms

The stronger and more consistent your brand appears across credible sources, the easier it may be for AI systems to understand and include your company in relevant answers.

How to Turn AEO Recommendations Into a Content Roadmap

AEO recommendations should not live in a separate report that nobody acts on, they should feed directly into the content roadmap.

A practical workflow looks like this:

Identify the prompts where visibility is weak.
Group those prompts by intent.
Evaluate whether the right response is a new page, an existing page update, comparison content, or third-party visibility work.
Prioritize based on buyer intent, revenue relevance, and competitive gap.
Assign each recommendation to a content initiative with a clear owner, timeline, and expected outcome.

For example, an AEO recommendation may become:

New blog post
Refreshed pillar page section
New comparison page
Stronger FAQ section
Revised service page
New customer story
Partner directory update
Contributed article
Sales enablement asset

This is how AEO becomes operational, it moves from visibility reporting into content strategy, demand generation, sales enablement, and competitive positioning.

How AEO Recommendations Support Sales and Demand Generation

AEO recommendations are not only useful for content marketers, tThey can also help sales and demand generation teams understand what buyers are asking before they talk to sales.

If prompt tracking shows that buyers are asking about risk, governance, pricing, implementation, or comparison topics, those insights can inform:

Sales follow-up emails
Webinar topics
Landing pages
Sales enablement assets
Objection handling
Product messaging
Partner outreach
Executive event themes
Paid campaign angles
Lead magnet development

AEO recommendations can reveal what the market wants to understand, that makes them useful beyond organic search. They can help marketing teams create assets that are more aligned with real buyer questions.

How to Know Whether Recommendations Are Working

After acting on AEO recommendations, marketers should monitor whether visibility improves over time. The goal is to understand whether content changes are influencing AI search presence.

Marketers should look at:

Brand mentions
Prompt visibility
Citation visibility
Competitor visibility
Share of voice
Accuracy of brand descriptions
Source changes
Visibility by funnel stage
Content performance in traditional SEO

AEO and SEO should work together. If a new page improves prompt visibility and also earns organic impressions, that is a strong signal. If an updated page starts being cited more often, that is also useful. AEO recommendations should be treated as an ongoing optimization cycle, not a one-time checklist.

The Bottom Line

HubSpot AEO recommendations help marketers understand what to do after they measure AI search visibility.

They are not just technical SEO suggestions, they are content and visibility recommendations based on how your brand, competitors, and sources appear inside AI-generated answers. The most useful recommendations help marketers decide whether to create a new page, update an existing page, build comparison content, clarify positioning, or strengthen third-party visibility.