Found Perry secret agency plan - read it on the plane home from a podcast yesterday - sold my first $1000 AEO audit today!

ChatGPT has surpassed major social media and video platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook in global search interest, achieving this milestone in under two and a half years since its launch. According to data from Ahrefs, ChatGPT's monthly search volume overtook YouTube in April 2025 and has since outpaced all other platforms between September 2024 and April 2025. While search volume isn't a perfect measure of usage, it reflects sustained user intent and habit formation. The data also shows that Google still leads in search interest, but the gap has narrowed significantly since early 2023, with projections suggesting ChatGPT could match or even surpass Google’s search volume by 2028–2029 if current trends continue. Source: https://ahrefs.com/blog/chatgpt-vs-other-platforms

1. Question: What do you use to track your entities, @IDs, relationships, etc.? I´m starting with this multi-tab sheet for a major SEO/AEO client for tracking their knowledge graph - entities, @IDs, and relationships, etc., to be maintained collaboratively with my developers. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ftyCPFrGYpH7fgQ7WKXEJZkNxK1da7rROXKiJXqMYPQ/edit?usp=sharing I´m considering moving it to Fusebase as a searchable database because this client´s site is very large and they are already using Fusebase. Any other platform recommendations @Julian Lopez ? Feel free to test it, poke holes in it, improve upon it, or just use as is, of course. Cheers! Heather P.S. For those who are new to schema and thinking "What is an entity??" I´ll put a quick breakdown of what we’re tracking and why in the comments, and of course to REALLY understand and use this, do READ Kasum & Julian´s AEO Book, do the course, and join the calls!

[State of AEO Call Recording] [State of AEO Slide Deck] [State of AEO AEO Indexability Checklist] This session introduced the first major phase of the AEO Blueprint: Indexability. Julian moved beyond general theory to the mechanics of "Machine Access." Before an AI can rank you (Optimization) or recommend you (Answer), it must be able to retrieve and understand your data. We defined Indexability not just as being found, but as the efficiency with which an AI agent can read, categorize, and utilize your business information. 1. 🔐 Access & The "Open Door" Policy We opened with the absolute foundation: If the AI cannot enter, the quality of your content is irrelevant. - The Robots.txt Reality: Many sites unknowingly block critical crawlers (like GPTBot or OAI-SearchBot) via default settings. You must audit your robots.txt file to ensure you aren't slamming the door on the very agents you want to impress. - The Cloudflare Check: For those using Cloudflare, Julian highlighted the "AI Scrape Protection" feature. While useful for blocking bad actors, you must whitelist the "Good Bots" (Perplexity, OpenAI, Anthropic) to ensure you remain visible in the generative web. - The "Energy Efficient" Bot: AI optimizes for energy and speed. If your site blocks access or loads slowly, the retrieval mechanism will skip you to save resources. 2. 🏗️ Structure as Strategy: The "Book" Analogy Website is no longer a brochure; it is a structured database (like a book) that needs a clear index. - Hierarchy is Language: AI reads H-tags (H1, H2, H3) to understand the "plot" of your business. H1 is the title, H2s are chapters. If these are used for design (e.g., using an H1 for "Welcome") rather than structure, you confuse the machine. - The Bitrix24 Case Study: We looked at Bitrix24 as a prime example of "Deep Structure." They don't just have a "Product" page; they fracture their structure into "Solutions," "Integrations," and "Comparisons" (e.g., "Bitrix vs. Monday"). This creates specific landing zones for AI to retrieve exact answers for specific user intents. - The 3-Click Rule: Information buried more than three clicks deep is "expensive" for AI to retrieve. Keep critical entity data near the surface.

Lately I’ve been watching a funny pattern in our AEO conversations. Someone gets picked up by an AI engine (awesome moment, cue the small victory dance)… and then the discussion immediately splits into two camps: Camp 1: “See? Schema’s optional.” Camp 2: “Quick — cover the whole site in JSON-LD before the engines notice!” It’s like we’ve collectively decided schema is the answer… without stopping to ask what problem we’re even trying to solve. Here’s the reality check: Early AI mentions are the digital equivalent of a polite nod — not a long-term relationship. AI engines are still in their “sure, bring whatever, I’m not picky” era. But give it time — systems mature, rules tighten, and suddenly the slob phase is over. If your content structure is wobbly and your entities don’t line up, dumping schema everywhere is basically putting lipstick on a website with an identity crisis. Schema isn’t magic. It’s not a shortcut. And it’s definitely not Flex Seal for SEO. It’s annotation. The wiring — not the blueprint. So before we crown schema as the savior, maybe we should ask: Are we using schema strategically… or just because it feels like the easiest lever to pull? Because when the engines start grading more strictly — and they will — the sites with thoughtful structure, clean entities, and intentional markup are the ones that will stand up straight. Everyone else? They’ll be untangling JSON like Christmas lights. Curious to hear others: Are we leaning too hard on markup because it’s measurable… and avoiding the deeper architectural work?