Erik Miller

← Back to all posts The Short Answer The Recommendation Ladder is the five-rung model of how AI engines present a B2B vendor: Mentioned, Cited, Compared, Recommended, Selected. Visibility only places you on the lower rungs. Pipeline lives on the top two, where the model actively recommends or selects you. Climbing the ladder means earning the specific signal each rung requires — and keeping the model’s description of you accurate as you rise. A CRO pastes an AI answer into a Slack channel.

What is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) in B2B? Answer Engine Optimization is the practice of structuring your expertise, evidence, and digital presence so AI systems such as ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, and Gemini cite and recommend you when buyers ask category questions. In B2B, it determines whether you appear on the vendor shortlist that AI assembles before a buyer ever contacts your sales team. How is AEO different from SEO? SEO optimizes for ranking a link that a human clicks.

← Back to all posts A framework diagram by Erik R. Miller showing how expected value from AI agents erodes across six stages between deployment and business impact. The intended value runs flat across the top at 100 percent, while the realized value declines stage by stage: 100 percent Expected Value, 80 percent Agent Capability, 60 percent Workflow Adoption, 45 percent Human Trust, 30 percent Measurement Visibility, and 15 percent Business Impact.