The AEO Report

Editorial Edition

The AEO Report · Editorial Edition

The AEO Buyer's Guide.

The independent vendor-evaluation playbook for choosing an AEO platform in 2026.

$497 · one-time Instant download Free updates 12 months

A bad AEO vendor decision in 2026 costs a mid-market team $30K–$120K in the first year alone — wasted subscription plus opportunity cost of the wrong setup plus switching costs to the right vendor. This guide costs less than 1% of that.

The free 50-item audit framework on this site tells you whether your site is AEO-ready. This guide tells you which vendor to spend $50,000+/year with — and how to negotiate that contract.

What's in the bundle

The 60-page guide
Vendor landscape, 6 deep scorecards (Profound, AthenaHQ, Peec AI, Otterly.AI, Scrunch, HubSpot AEO Grader), the 12-dimension decision framework, contract-negotiation tactics, ROI methodology.
Vendor scorecard
Spreadsheet-ready comparison matrix scored across 12 dimensions. Fillable with your team's specific weights.
47-question RFP
Send to vendors during evaluation. The questions vendors don't want you to ask — pricing transparency, overage rates, churn data, change-of-control clauses.
ROI calculator
Pre-built three-scenario model (conservative, base, optimistic) for defending AEO spend to leadership. Linear in customer LTV.
Implementation checklist
Day 1 through Day 30 after signing your vendor contract. The single most predictive habit for whether the investment compounds: monthly reporting cadence sustained 12+ months.

Who it's for

Procurement-grade, not marketing copy.

CMOs & VPs Marketing
Deciding whether to invest in an AEO platform — before deciding which vendor.
Procurement leads
Running an RFP for an AEO tool. Send the 47 questions, score the responses, compare apples-to-apples.
In-house marketing directors
About to pilot a vendor. Use the ROI calculator to defend the spend at quarterly review.
Agency owners
Comparing white-label or reseller options. Pick the right tool for your client base.
AEO consultants
A defensible methodology backing your vendor recommendations.

Vendors covered

Six platforms. Deep scorecards. No affiliate fees.

Each vendor gets a 6–7 minute deep dive: company background, pricing with gotchas, product strengths, weaknesses, ideal customer profile, customers to avoid being, contract-negotiation tactics specific to that vendor, and our overall editorial verdict.

Why $497

A bad vendor decision costs $30K–$120K in year one. This guide is 0.4% of that downside. The RFP template alone (47 questions covering pricing transparency, engine coverage, data ownership, contract terms, and references) saves 8–12 hours of procurement work and surfaces the deal-breaker questions vendors hope you don't ask.

If you're not making a vendor decision in the next 6 months, you don't need this. If you are, it's the cheapest decision-support artifact in your sales cycle.

Independent

The AEO Report does not take affiliate fees, sponsorships, or vendor placements. Pricing is sourced from public pricing pages and updated quarterly. Vendors disagreeing with our characterisations are invited to email david@theaeoreport.com with corrections; we update on the record.

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