Why the teams that understand their customers, not the ones chasing new AI tools, win AI search

TL;DR:

• AI monitoring tools are commodities costing $499-$2,000 monthly that tell you what you already know: you need better content
• The companies winning AI visibility invest in understanding their customers' actual questions, not optimizing for algorithms
• Your website matters, but as part of a broader authority ecosystem that includes earned media, original research, and community presence

In October 2025, Benjamin Houy shut down his GEO/AEO platform Lorelight. Not because it failed technically. Not because he ran out of funding. But because he discovered his customers were "doing the exact same thing regardless of what the tool told them" [1]. After analyzing hundreds of AI responses, he found that brands with high AI visibility all shared the same characteristics: quality content that genuinely helped people, mentions in authoritative publications, and genuine expertise in their space.

"There's no such thing as 'AEO strategy' or 'AI optimization' separate from brand building," Houy concluded. The tools could track mentions and monitor competitors, but they couldn't change what companies needed to do: understand their customers deeply enough to create content worth recommending.

This pattern reveals a fundamental truth about generative search optimization. The difference between companies that get recommended by AI and those that don't isn't technological. It's human.

What AI optimization tools actually do (and why they're all the same).

Today's AEO platforms, from Profound at $499 monthly to AthenaHQ at $295, primarily offer three capabilities. They track how often your brand appears in AI responses. They monitor which queries trigger your mentions. They compare your visibility to competitors [2].

The technology works. Nick Lafferty's analysis of nine platforms found AI visibility is measurable and most tools overpromise [3]. But accuracy isn't the issue. The issue is actionability.

When Profound shows you have 5% share of voice in ChatGPT responses for your category, what exactly should you do differently? When the monitoring tool reveals your competitor gets mentioned twice as often, how does that change your strategy? The answer, consistently, is that you need better content addressing real customer questions. Which you knew before spending hundreds monthly on monitoring. The real work, understanding what content to create and how to position it, remains stubbornly human.

The 10x multiplier hiding in customer conversations.

HubSpot achieves 15.4% share of voice in AI responses for business services, outperforming both Salesforce and Adobe [5]. They don't use specialized AEO tools. Instead, they invest heavily in understanding exactly what their customers struggle with at each stage of their journey.

Their approach starts with customer research, not keyword research. Product teams share common objections from sales calls. Support documents frequent questions. Customer success identifies where users get stuck. This intelligence shapes content that addresses real problems, not algorithmic patterns.

When DeepSeek V3 launched, HubSpot published an explainer within three days because they knew their audience would immediately ask "How does this affect our AI strategy?" [5]. ChatGPT began recommending it immediately, not because HubSpot optimized for AI, but because they answered the exact question their customers were asking.

And a Fortune 500 financial services client reported 32% of qualified leads coming from AI platforms within six weeks, not from using tools, but from restructuring content around the buyer journey [8]. They stopped organizing content by product features and started organizing it by customer problems. They replaced generic "What is..." articles with specific "How to solve..." guides based on support tickets.

How your website matters (but differently than before).

The data shows that AI recommendations come from diverse sources: Reddit discussions, industry publications, review sites, YouTube videos, and yes, company websites [9]. 

Your website’s role is a bit different in AEO. It becomes the authoritative source that other platforms reference. When someone asks about your approach on Reddit, they link to your detailed methodology page. When analysts write industry reports, they cite your published research. When reviewers evaluate your product, they reference your transparent pricing and feature documentation.

Princeton's research on AEO found that content with clear structure, authoritative citations, and specific statistics sees 30-40% higher visibility in AI responses [10]. But structure without substance doesn't work. The content must genuinely answer the questions buyers are asking.

The human work that no algorithm can replicate.

The activities that drive AI visibility require human judgment that tools can't provide. Understanding which customer problems deserve comprehensive guides versus quick answers. Recognizing when industry conversations shift and new questions emerge. Identifying gaps between what customers say they want and what they actually need.

Consider original research. Survey data from VCs found that over 50% identified proprietary data as the primary competitive advantage for AI companies [11]. But creating meaningful research requires understanding which questions matter to your audience. No tool can tell you whether to study remote work productivity or AI implementation challenges. That requires understanding your customers' strategic priorities.

Community engagement follows the same pattern. TripleDart's analysis found Reddit influences B2B software recommendations 4x more than review sites [12]. But authentic Reddit participation requires understanding the community's culture, concerns, and conversation style. Automated or promotional content gets rejected immediately. Only genuine expertise and helpful contributions gain traction.

Thought leadership demonstrates this most clearly. Search Engine Land built AI visibility through years of consistent expertise, not optimization [13]. They earned recommendations by being genuinely helpful to their audience, understanding their challenges, and providing actionable insights. No amount of technical optimization could replicate that earned authority.

What this means for your AEO strategy.

The companies succeeding at AI visibility share a common approach. They invest in understanding their customers deeply, through interviews, support analysis, and sales intelligence. They create content addressing specific customer problems, not generic topics. They build authority through original research and genuine expertise. They participate authentically in communities where their buyers seek advice.

The budget allocation reflects these priorities. Instead of spending thousands monthly on monitoring tools, successful companies invest in customer research, expert writers who understand the domain, original research and data collection, and community engagement and relationship building.

This isn't an argument against measurement. Understanding your AI visibility helps track progress. But measurement without customer understanding is just expensive vanity metrics. As Houy learned with Lorelight, "customers were churning because the product didn't change what they needed to do."

For companies at Seed-Series C stage, this creates clear priorities. Start with customer intelligence before content creation. Map the actual buyer journey, not keyword volumes. Create original insights your customers can't find elsewhere. Build genuine relationships in communities where buyers congregate.

West Operators helps companies navigate this human-centered approach to AI visibility. Not through tools that track what's already visible, but through strategic work that makes you worth recommending: positioning that clarifies your unique value, messaging that resonates with actual buyer needs, and content strategy based on customer intelligence, not pure algorithmic guessing.

The window for AI visibility advantage remains open, but it won't be won with better tools. It will be won by companies that understand their customers better than competitors do. In generative search, as in all marketing, customer understanding is the only sustainable competitive advantage.