Research by Ron reveals how AI (ChatGPT, Gemini, etc.) ignores conventional sources such as business to business publications and industry analysts, instead citing vendor pages, Reddit, resellers, and even mystery sites. Guidelines proposed on how AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) might work in practice.
- Comparison reviews may be the clearest path to being sourced by answer engines
- Ron’s AEO research goals
- A prompt-based testing method across ChatGPT and Gemini
- Missing citations and why vendor or reseller sources get treated as authoritative
- The CADSoft USA mystery and how high-volume comparison pages get rewarded
- Why advertising incentives weaken trade media independence and credibility
- Zero click answers from search engines and how AI previews reduce website traffic
- Comparison reviews as AEO 101 and the business risk of publishing them
- The adjacent CAD ecosystem and how LLMs pull in simulation, PDM, and visualization tools
- The opportunity for a Consumer Reports-style authority for CAD and engineering software
