Answer Engine Optimization and Generative Engine Optimization blueprint for B2B

3 days ago
4 min read

Content creation and schema markup are the foundation of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO). This guide shows B2B content strategists how to:

Map AEO/GEO to buyer intent and journey stage
Choose the right schema
Execute the GEO + AEO strategy using Integrated Engine Optimization (IEO)
Hidden gems and pro tips

What is AEO?

AEO makes your pages eligible for answer-style results, such as the People Also Ask snippet, which provides concise answers to common questions.

What is GEO?

GEO makes your content easy for search AI and rich-result systems to understand by organizing topics around entities and demonstrating experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trust (E-E-A-T)

What’s the difference between GEO and AEO?

GEO and AEO differ in funnel focus, content strategy goal, and SEO tactics

Differences	GEO	AEO
Content funnel	Topic clusters that build depth and authority	Concise answers (FAQs) that meet immediate needs
Content strategy goal	Long-term content strategy	Short-term content strategy
SEO tactics	Entity-based SEO	Zero-click search optimization

Are GEO and AEO similar?

They’re complementary. Use both to feature on snippets and increase visibility across SERPs.

How to integrate GEO and AEO into your B2B content plan

Merging GEO and AEO into your content blueprint improves your brand’s authority and trust. It shows crawlers that you have experience with proven expertise. Here’s how to integrate these SEO strategies into your B2B content.

1. Consider your buyer’s journey stage

The buyer’s journey comprises three stages: awareness, consideration, and decision. Your content plan must match your audience’s intent at each stage. For example, a B2B buyer looking for the price is in the consideration stage. They are aware of the problem and are comparing solutions, so match that intent with comparison content.

2. Know what search intent to serve

Search intent is the goal behind a query. These intents include informational, commercial, transactional, or navigational. When designing your content plan, align each piece of content to a search intent to optimize for GEO and AEO.

3. Create your content plan for GEO

Align search intents with each buyer’s journey to design an entity-based SEO plan. Entity-based SEO uses topic clusters to optimize your content for GEO. So, use the TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU to build topic clusters that correspond with the different stages of the B2B buyer’s journey.

Journey stage	Intent	Funnel	B2B SaaS-focused content example
Awareness	Informational	Top of the Funnel (TOFU)	How CRM systems streamline sales for B2B teams
Consideration	Commercial	Middle of the Funnel (MOFU)	HubSpot vs. Zoho: Which CRM fits your B2B workflow?
Decision	Transactional	Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU)	Request a Demo – our CRM for mid-market B2B teams

Pro tips for GEO:

Create 3–5 content pillars per category and break each into supporting articles.
Use entity-extraction tools to verify topical coverage and context.

4. Decide what schema markup to use for AEO

Schema markup helps crawlers feature your content in Google snippets. When optimizing for AEO, use schema markup that syncs with your content funnel, search intent, and buyer’s journey. This strategy offers you an opportunity to rank better on SERPs. Here’s what I recommend:

Journey Stage	Intent	Funnel	Content type and schema markup
Awareness	Informational	TOFU	How-to guides, tutorials, video explainers → HowTo, FAQPage, Article/TechArticle, VideoObject, BreadcrumbList
Consideration	Commercial	MOFU	Listicles, reviews, buying guides → ItemList, Review, AggregateRating, Product (only for product pages)
Decision	Transactional	BOFU	Landing pages, demos, bookings, product pages → Product, Offer, SoftwareApplication (if software), LocalBusiness (if relevant), ContactPoint (for support)

Pro tip for AEO:

Add FAQs to your content to help users and pair them with the FAQPage schema.
Strengthen internal links to related entities.
Use AnswerThePublic to generate questions that align with your content.

How to implement schema markup

Generate and validate JSON-LD with Rich Results Test and Schema.org Validator. Validating your schema is imperative.
For WordPress users, Yoast or Rank Math can add common schema but customize where needed.
For Shopify users, Smart SEO supports product-centric schema
For Wix users, go to settings → SEO (Google) → Advanced SEO → Structured Data to add custom JSON-LD.

Practical Use Case: How Wilson Dominic applied IEO

Wilson Dominic, a B2B writer for SaaS brands, built his career on content that ranked consistently in Google’s SERPs. Then his results collapsed. He tweaked keyword density, rewrote meta descriptions, and followed SEO best practices, but nothing worked.

At the same time, Google rolled out changes: AI-assisted featured snippets and an expanded E-E-A-T framework. Wilson realized the old playbook wasn’t enough. He dug into updates, read industry analyses, and kept seeing two terms surface again and again: AEO and GEO.

That research sparked an idea. What if he integrated both? Wilson called his approach Integrated Engine Optimization (IEO): combining AEO’s precision with GEO’s authority.

Here’s how he applied IEO in practice:

Researched keywords tied to buyer intent, not just volume.
Built 3 content pillars per journey stage, then expanded them into supporting articles.
Added FAQs based on real customer questions.
Reframed H2s as questions to target AEO.
Applied schema markup (FAQPage, HowTo, Product) to clarify page purpose.
Used a content optimizer to preview AI-style summaries.
Monitored Search Console data and iterated

Within weeks, Wilson’s content regained visibility and attracted higher-quality leads. By blending AEO’s precision with GEO’s authority, IEO gave his content strategy a fresh edge.

Wrap Up

I will conclude this article by recommending the best content type for these B2B sectors: SaaS, manufacturing, and service providers.

B2B SaaS

Journey stage	Intent	Funnel	Best content type
Awareness	Informational	TOFU	Beginner guides, how-to articles
Consideration	Commercial	MOFU	Product comparison, decision guides
Decision	Transactional	BOFU	Demo page, pricing page

B2B manufacturing

Journey stage	Intent	Funnel	Best content type
Awareness	Informational	TOFU	Glossary post, explainer video
Consideration	Commercial	MOFU	Comparison guide, table-based blog
Decision	Transactional	BOFU	Product/service landing page

B2B service provider

Journey stage	Intent	Funnel	Best content type
Awareness	Informational	TOFU	Definition page, expert Q&A
Consideration	Commercial	MOFU	Listicle, case study collections
Decision	Transactional	BOFU	Service landing page

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