The New SEO: “Mention Density”

AI traffic converts 6x better than SEO. Unlock the "mention density" secret to bypass incumbents and dominate answer engines. Your new playbook is inside.

Webflow recently discovered that traffic coming from AI answer engines (like ChatGPT, Perplexity, etc.) converts 6 times higher than traffic from a traditional Google search.

6X.

Let that sink in. These aren’t just leads; they’re pre-sold, high-intent customers who’ve been personally recommended your product by a trusted AI.

This isn’t some futuristic fantasy. It’s happening right now, and it’s a channel that is minting money for the few who understand the new rules.

Most people are calling this “Answer Engine Optimization” (AEO) and treating it like “SEO for AI”.

This is a fatal mistake.

The truth is, the game hasn’t just changed, it’s been completely reinvented. Thinking about AEO in terms of “ranking #1” will get you destroyed.

The old world of SEO was a game of authority.

You needed years and a massive budget to build up “domain authority” to get your single blue link to the top of the page.

It was a King of the Hill model, and incumbents had an almost insurmountable moat.

The new world of AEO is a game of mention density.

The AI doesn’t care if you have the highest domain authority. It cares about who is mentioned most frequently and most persuasively across all its sources, the “citations”.

Back in issue #82 of the newsletter, we looked at this topic from a different angle, under the title “Why Your Next Million-Dollar Idea Is Invisible to Google Trends”.

You’re no longer optimizing for a search engine. You’re optimizing for a synthesis engine.

This changes everything. A single, viral Reddit thread where real users rave about your product can carry more AEO weight than a dozen high-authority backlinks.

This is the ultimate asymmetric bet for startups. You can bypass the old gatekeepers and win, starting tomorrow.

Here’s the playbook to do it.