Getting Brands Recommended by ChatGPT: $185K in 30 Days, and AI Is About 5% of Revenue

What it is

AEO?AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)Optimizing brand visibility and citation share inside conversational AI answers (ChatGPT Search, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity). Engine does answer-engine optimisation: getting clients' brands into ChatGPT and Google AI Overview answers. By its own account, strategists set direction and manage clients while 40+ AI agents write, publish and monitor.

Label: an AI-assisted agency selling monthly retainers to SMBs, acquiring clients through the founders' network and content, with people as the main cost.

Caveat: the payment account dates from 2018 and may include the founders' earlier Amazon-ads agency.

How it grew

It sells to a real fear: Pew found users clicked a result just 8 times in 100 when an AI summary appeared.

A ready-made client base and content marketing: 15 of 19 case studies are physical-product brands; a daily podcast reached episode 222 by early September.

Clear deliverables and a bold guarantee: public prices and a 90-day traffic guarantee (for qualifying clients).

The cost math: AI is small change

On the $2,997 tier — 60 articles, 300 prompts tracked weekly across 4 AI platforms, images — AI costs a little over $100, about 5% of revenue.

The big costs are backlinks (6–10 a month, ≈ $83 each in a 2022 survey) and people: one strategist for 8–12 clients, $800–$1,200+ per client.

Ceiling and three risks

Our model, one year out: ≈ $240K, $160K or $67K per month. A services firm's ceiling is headcount. Exit at agency multiples: roughly $0.4M–$1.6M.

Risks: software is catching up; results are unstable (Profound says up to 90% of cited sources change over time); and the industry has grey areas — none of which AEO Engine has been accused of.

Is it right for you?

Suits people who own client relationships in one industry, have run a service team and can turn service into standard steps.

Doesn't suit people who only want to build tools, or who would have to win on price alone.

A better play

Help Chinese export brands get recommended in English-language AI answers: China's cross-border e-commerce trade hit RMB 2.75 trillion in 2025.

The spread: domestic GEO?GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)Structuring authoritative citations, comparisons, and schema so AI engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude) recommend a brand directly inside synthesized answers. services in China cost RMB 2,980–16,980 a year; build the team in China and price to overseas standards. Whether brands will pay that price is not yet proven.