An AEO research lab

AEO Secrets Tailored To Your Niche

Quoted is the AEO research lab content agencies and in-house marketing teams subscribe to when they need defensible answers about how AI platforms pick their citations—and what to do about it.

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The Problem

AI citations shift on a weekly basis, but businesses are still investing like it’s the SEO days.

Most AEO conversations get stuck on which tool to buy. The actual problem is that nobody has run rigorous research on what makes AI search engines cite some content and ignore others—and without that research, every recommendation is improvised.

If you run an agency
Your clients are asking. You don’t have a defensible answer yet.
  • Competing agencies are quoting $8–15K/month AEO retainers. You’re defending a $4K SEO retainer.
  • Quarterly reviews are getting harder. Your client is asking about AI search and your monthly report doesn’t address it.
  • Profound or Stacker showed up in a stakeholder’s inbox, and now you’re answering uncomfortable questions.
  • You added “AEO” to your scope of work, but the tactics in your decks are still the SEO playbook with a coat of paint.
If you’re in-house
You can’t answer five questions your board could ask.
  • What’s actually driving citations to your pages, and what isn’t?
  • Which content investments are working and which are wasted budget?
  • How do you stay on top of engine updates that change weekly?
  • How are you showing up when actual buyers search—not when an analyst tests generic prompts?

The research that backs AEO recommendations is being actively accounted for by AI platforms, and those who aren’t staying on top of the changes will be left behind.

Why Now

AI search already passed Google for B2B buyers—
and the lead is being claimed right now.

AI search overtook organic search as a research starting point for B2B software buyers some time in 2025, and the curve is steepening. The agencies and in-house teams who build a defensible AEO practice in the next 12 months will be the reference brands in their categories by 2027. The ones who wait will spend the next three years catching up to citation graphs that have already been claimed.

51%
of B2B software buyers now start research in an AI chatbot, not Google. (G2, 2026)
94%
of citations shown by generic AEO trackers don’t match what buyers actually see in persona-aware sessions. (Half-Life Issue 1)
43.4%
CAGR on the AEO services market through 2035. Brands will hire someone for this. The only question is who. (Dimension MR, 2026)

The Background

Nine years of research-driven optimization

Quoted is built on a principle our founder spent nearly a decade proving: don’t guess what works—measure it. He ran a CRO agency on neuromarketing and behavioral science, using research to understand why people made decisions, then testing those hypotheses with data.

That team ran thousands of experiments across dozens of verticals and unlocked $50 million in measurable revenue for clients—not from hunches or best practices, but from statistically validated findings specific to each business.

The lesson carries straight into AI search: generic advice is almost always wrong for your specific situation. The only way to know what works is to measure it, longitudinally, in your context.

Read the full story →
$50M+
Revenue unlocked for clients
9
Years running a research-driven CRO agency
1000s
Experiments run across dozens of verticals

Three ways to put the research to work.

Three ways in, depending on how much you want. The Vertical Insights waitlist takes a click; the Lab engagements start with a conversation about your actual situation—and we’ll tell you honestly whether we’re a fit before we ask you for anything.