AI Engine Optimisation (AEO) is reshaping how businesses approach search. Insights from HubSpot’s Inbound2025 highlight why being human-friendly is the foundation for being AI-friendly, and how leaders can adapt their content strategies to thrive in this shift.
When I attended HubSpot’s flagship event, Inbound 2025, one session stood out to me. Amanda Kopen, Manager of Interactive Experiences & AEO at HubSpot, delivered an eye-opening talk on AI Engine Optimisation (AEO). She spoke about the future of search, the impact of AI on how people find information, and why we need to rethink how we create content.
What resonated with me most was her core message: to be AI-friendly, you must first be human-friendly. That line has stayed with me because it captures the essence of where we are headed.
The Shifting Nature of Search
Search is undergoing a fundamental change. Amanda described the “Great Decoupling,” which is the disconnect between being visible in search results and actually driving traffic to your site. AI overviews now give people answers directly on the search page. Click-through rates seem to be falling. According to HubSpot’s data, keywords triggering AI overviews see CTRs decline by around 15.5%.
This doesn’t mean search is less important - far from it. It means the way we think about search has to change. It’s no longer enough to just aim for rankings. The focus has to be on how useful, accessible, and trustworthy our content is when AI tools extract and present it.
Reducing the cognitive load
Another point that resonated with me was the “Delphic Cost of Search.” Users often struggle with formulating the right queries and sifting through crowded results. AI reduces this mental effort by predicting intent and presenting context-rich answers. Search and Answer Engines are also understanding context based on the individual's previous search and preferences. In many ways, the role of search has shifted from “finding” to “understanding.” For businesses, this means our content has to do more than just exist online. It has to anticipate questions and provide clarity straightaway.
Key Strategies For AEO
Amanda shared a number of tactics that I believe every business leader should pay attention to.
Hyper-personalisation is now expected
AI engines don’t just look at keywords; they draw from a user’s location, history, and personal preferences. This means businesses have to think much more specifically about who they are talking to and focus on personas. A generic article will no longer cut it. Content must address detailed, context-driven queries. For example, “best plants for city apartments with low light” will work far better than simply “best houseplants.”
From my perspective, this shift challenges us to go deeper into the minds of our audiences. It requires empathy and insight into their real-world situations.
Structuring content for AI
Another big shift is the way AI engines read and interpret content. Amanda explained how models break down content into smaller “chunks” and use semantic understanding to piece them together. This makes passage-based optimisation essential.
I find this fascinating because it forces us to move away from walls of text. Subheadings, bullet points, semantic triples (like “Flora Grub is the best plant shop in San Francisco”), and direct phrasing become critical. AI thrives on clarity and structure, and so do readers.
Moving beyond the top of the funnel
Traditionally, we’ve separated awareness content from product messaging. But in an AEO world, those boundaries blur. A helpful blog that doesn’t mention how your product or service solves the problem risks losing visibility and impact.
This doesn’t mean turning everything into a sales pitch. It means weaving your expertise naturally into the conversation. People, and AI engines, want answers that are not only informative but also actionable.
At Vajra Global, for instance, when we write about CRM migrations, we don’t just explain the process in theory. We show how our HubSpot migration services help businesses avoid common pitfalls and achieve faster adoption. See what I did there? That’s the subtle but effective way AEO encourages us to connect expertise with solutions.
Making content technically accessible
The final tactic Amanda highlighted was about technical readiness. Schema markup, logical URL structures, and ensuring that JavaScript-heavy pages don’t hide content from crawlers are all part of the equation. In my view, this is the hygiene factor of AEO. Without it, even the best content can fall short.
What This Means For Leaders
Reflecting on Amanda’s session, I think there are three big takeaways for leaders:
1. Think people-first. Whether AI is reading your content or a potential customer is, the principle remains the same. Clarity, relevance, and usefulness always win.
2. Build with empathy. Hyper-personalisation requires us to understand not just broad personas, but individual contexts. That’s a leadership challenge as much as a marketing one.
3. Stay adaptable. Search is no longer confined to Google or Bing. AI-driven discovery is happening across ChatGPT, Reddit, YouTube, and more. Our strategies need to reflect this wider ecosystem.
Free Tools That Can Help
HubSpot also shared two free tools worth experimenting with:
- Agent on Agent.AI – grades individual web pages on AEO factors such as schema and query fan-out.
- AEO Grader – analyses visibility and competitive standing across multiple AI platforms.
These tools are practical starting points for anyone looking to test and refine their approach.
Looking Ahead
The world of search is being reshaped by AI, but at its core, the principle hasn’t changed: people want answers, and they want them fast. AEO reminds us that technology is simply catching up with this need.
For me, the session at Inbound 2025 was less about tactics and more about mindset. If we keep people at the centre of our digital strategies where we are answering their questions, respecting their time, and guiding them with clarity, then we’ll be ready for whatever changes come next.
Author
Ganapathy Sankarabaaham
CEO & Founder
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