It’s hard to believe it’s only been 3 years since DBE was one of the first agencies to recognize the marketing opportunities inherent in Search AI Optimization (SAIO) and publish a framework for brands to leverage them.
There have been many changes since then in the form of new AI search engines, new AI search capabilities, new AI search tools, and (of course) new AI search acronyms (AIO, AEO, GEO).
What hasn’t changed, and what is now generally accepted within the search industry, are the 4 core strategic elements we introduced as a formula to gain AI search visibility and citations: Technical, On-Website Content, Off-Website Content, and Analytics.
And, while the strategic core remains, the tactics used to deliver AI success across these 4 pillars have evolved. So here is DBE’s 2026 Framework for AI Brand Visibility and Citations:
Infographic Text Version:
Technical
User- & AI-Bot-Friendly Experience
- Strong Core Web Vitals (especially Page Speed)
- Allow bot crawling
- Establish/maintain entity (brand) clarity and authority
- Help bots find your content through…
- Site maps, navigational search bars, internal sitelinks
- Schema markup to support rich snippets
- Structured data formats (e.g., FAQs)
- Optimized titles, tags, alt text and other elements
- Stay updated on llms.txt adoption (not recommended currently)
Analytics
Directional KPIs
- GA4 AI Source/Medium Sessions, Pages, Landing Pages, Engagement, Conversions, etc.
- Google Search Console/Bing Webmaster Tools growth in branded queries and Position 1 rankings
- Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance
- Third-party ranking tools like AWR Cloud
- Brand and competitive AI visibility tools like HubSpot AEO Grader
On-Website Content
Relevant, Topical Content Creation
- Find and prioritize the questions and topics you can best answer through:
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- Site search queries
- Potential fan-out queries
- Internal inputs from Marketing, Sales, Customer Service, and SMEs
- Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools queries
- Third-party (ex: Amazon) and social media reviews, articles, FAQs, lists, etc.
- Competitor website research
- SEO keyword rankings and monthly search volume changes
- AI platform FAQ research
- Third-party tools like Answer The Public
- Deliver answers using AI-bot friendly structured content formats
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- Leverage data and demonstrate human expertise (E-E-A-T)
- Blogs and FAQs, white papers, and in-depth authored blogs to deliver thought leadership
- Front-load concise, cite-able content
- Optimize for both brand and non-brand topical references
- Cross-link internally
Off-Website Content
Boost & Validate Content Authority
- YouTube videos (with transcripts, tags, etc.), LinkedIn posts and articles, and Reddit community activity (if appropriate) for greater reach and reinforcement
- Press releases, article placements, guest posts/podcast appearances on industry websites, etc.
- Third-party review sites and influencers content (if appropriate)
