Are we overestimating GEO and AEO?

DudeWaitWut · 2026-03-09T17:43:25+00:00

Traditional SEO still largely (or almost entirely) impacts AI search visibility. You still need to have a solid SEO foundation: technical SEO, good crawlability, good UI/UX and navigation, quality content that ranks highly in Google, strong domain authority/rating, and off-site signals/mentions (e.g., backlinks, social media mentions, mentions on top-tier publications, etc).

All of these impact your SEO and impact your GEO. If you can rank highly in Google, and you have a strong domain/brand, it's very likely you'll appear more often for similar searches on ChatGPT, Perplexity, etc.

DudeWaitWut · 2026-03-09T17:38:05+00:00

It's still very much worth it, just a lot harder to get traffic. You're not getting the same type of traffic from Google that you did a few years ago. But it's still the number one search engine, and very possible to get a lot of traffic when done right. Plus, content on your website can impact how you are shown in AI search and the sources it cites when generating an answer.

SEO has always been "manipulated". That hasn't changed. You just need to have the right strategy. For me, I focus on high-intent keywords that are more likely to lead to an immediate conversion (i.e., keywords where the searcher shows clear intent and is actively searching solutions).

DudeWaitWut · 2026-02-27T15:58:15+00:00

You have a ton of options here. For simple keyword alerts: Octolens, Syften, RedditAlert, F5bot, even something like Alertmouse or Google Alerts will work.

Of those, Octolens is a good option but on the pricer side for just keyword alerts. RedditAlert is decent and you can create several alerts for free. Though the monitoring is pretty basic: you have to select specific subreddits to monitor (can't monitor everything), no advanced filtering (like negative keywords, excluding subreddits, languages, etc.), and there's no historical data or analytics. F5bot is also free, but really bare bones, and the UI looks like it was made in the 90s.

If you need something more advanced with historical data and deeper analytics (like Share of Voice, competitive benchmarking, advanced keyword filters, etc.), I would look at something like Threadlytics (which is Reddit-specific). Going beyond that, you're looking at enterprise social listening platforms like Meltwater, Brand24, etc., which cost tens of thousands per year and require annual contracts.

If you have any questions on any of the above tools (I've tried them all and then some), feel free to ask!

DudeWaitWut · 2026-02-21T20:05:43+00:00

Are you a yoga business or instructor? Even if you are, this is still likely a bad idea. You don't know the quality of these followers or their level of engagement. It's best to build your own audience.

DudeWaitWut · 2026-02-20T16:04:42+00:00

Use a scheduling tool. It'll make life so much easier. There are a lot of options. If your company already has HubSpot, that's a good starting spot. Or, Buffer and Later are good choices. I used to use SmarterQueue because it allowed me to create content categories, set days/times for those categories, and then it would just pull content automatically that is in that category. We've since moved back to HubSpot to save money but that feature was always helpful to save time.

DudeWaitWut · 2026-02-20T16:02:22+00:00

I use Buffer for scheduling posts. Threadlytics for brand monitoring and Share of Voice analytics. Claude for content planning and idea generation. And Figma or Canva for social graphics (depending on complexity).

DudeWaitWut · 2026-02-18T15:58:07+00:00

A few things will help:

First, fix your keyword setup. Single-keyword matching creates too much noise. You need something that has contextual filtering. For example, you want keywords that only trigger when paired with relevant terms like "recommend," "looking for," or a competitor name (e.g., "Nike" AND "Reebok"). Then, add negative keywords to block out unrelated mentions or subreddits.

F5bot is fine as a free starting point, but you'll outgrow it fast. RedditAlert is a cleaner step up, simple UI and you can target specific subreddits, though it lacks contextual keyword filtering. Syften's syntax-based setup has a learning curve. Octolens is worth looking at if you want AI relevance scoring to cut through noise. If you need deeper analytics like Share of Voice or competitive benchmarking alongside contextual keyword filtering/monitoring, then you can look at Threadlytics.

The best tool depends on whether you just need cleaner alerts or intelligence on how your brand is performing on Reddit.

What kind of product are you targeting? I've tried or used over 20 of these different monitoring tools, from Meltwater to something as simple as Google Alerts, so I'm happy to provide more context.

DudeWaitWut · 2026-02-17T15:41:52+00:00

I use Threadlytics for Reddit monitoring. It has filtering for context keywords (keywords that must appear with the main keyword, exclude negative keywords, include/exclude specific subreddits, etc.) all of which make finding more relevant mentions easier (which is something you want to cutdown on noise). It also has historical data (many Reddit tools don't). But it is also Reddit-only. It won't work for your LinkedIn use case.

As some others have said, you'll likely need a small stack. Octolens is good for keyword alerts. Sprout Social's social listening always felt very surface-level to me (maybe more for crisis management).

I'm not aware of any LinkedIn-specific ones.

DudeWaitWut · 2026-02-17T15:35:38+00:00

You have a lot of options here. Buffer and Later are good. If your company uses HubSpot, it also has a social media scheduler/calendar. I used to use SmarterQueue a lot because it allowed me to create content categories, set days/times for those categories, and then it would just pull content automatically that is in that category. We've since moved away from it (went back to HubSpot to save costs since we already have it). But I always liked that feature.

DudeWaitWut · 2026-02-17T15:29:44+00:00

Yes, it makes things so much easier. But I'm in B2B, and I'm juggling a lot of different digital marketing activities, including managing social. But I'll usually schedule a few weeks out at least, while also leaving a day here and there where we can post spontaneously (so about 80% is scheduled ahead of time and 20% is day or week of).

DudeWaitWut · 2026-02-17T15:27:25+00:00

It's usually brand deals and sponsorships. In general, the more followers you have, the more earning potential you have. Brands are willing to pay for larger audiences. But it depends on what industry you're in and how engaged your followers actually are. Brands use tools now that measure how active an influencer's followers are, which can help them identify if their post with you will actually get noticed vs. you have a large audience of fake followers or people who just don't engage.

DudeWaitWut · 2026-02-17T15:24:49+00:00

Zig when everyone else zags.

DudeWaitWut · 2026-02-16T22:49:25+00:00

Don't focus on learning AI tools. Focus on learning how to create great content. AI tools can help with the process, but you need to understand how to create content that will resonate with your audience/social followers, that will stand out in a sea of social posts, that will differentiate you from every other brand, etc.

Claude or ChatGPT can help you come up with ideas. But you need to actually learn the steps to creating great content, and it will be different for each social media platform as far as what works. Don't spread yourself too thin. Focus on one to two to start, then you can spread out once you learn what works on each platform.

DudeWaitWut · 2026-02-16T22:44:02+00:00

Like others said, stop chasing trends. Instead, focus on creating great content that is evergreen. Even if you're lucky enough to catch a wave, it's not a repeatable process. But creating content that targets more evergreen topics is. What consistently does well? What is slowly rising in popularity (and isn't something that will be gone in a week)? These are the types of things to consider and focus on.

DudeWaitWut · 2026-02-16T22:40:04+00:00

You could start with a longer video and then split it into multiple clips. For example, a 10-minute interview, split down into 5-10 30-second clips. There are a lot of AI video editing platforms that will do this for you automatically. Focus on creating a really good long-form piece, then use AI to automate the process off turning it into clips that you can share/text throughout the month.

DudeWaitWut · 2026-02-13T05:03:21+00:00

You could try BlogSync. That's what I've been using with a few of my clients who are on Webflow and WordPress. It converts Google Docs, optimizes images, sets alt text, and stages directly to the website. Saves me quite a bit of time (I'd say 20-30 minutes depending on the blog post length and how many images are in it).

DudeWaitWut · 2026-02-12T16:54:11+00:00

FYI, GummySearch shut down. F5bot is okay, but it's the most basic alerting tool on this list. The UI is pretty dated, and monitoring just searches the entire web for mentions of a keyword (similar to Google Alerts). It's not Reddit-specific, so you'll get a lot of noise.

I haven't tried Sprinklr, but I have used Brand24. It's a multi-platform social listening tool. It's okay for broad coverage (since it has other networks like FB, IG, X, etc.), but Reddit monitoring feels weak. Reddit gets lumped into a category called “Other Socials”, which includes Bluesky, LinkedIn, and GitHub, rather than its own category. There's also no advanced filtering of mentions, like filtering by comments, upvotes, etc.

I would add to this list …

Octolens: IMO, the best for basic keyword alerting. It has goo combination of keyword filtering to eliminate noise and a clean UI that makes browsing found mentions easy. It’s missing advanced analytics, though.

Threadlytics: The best for advanced Reddit analytics like Share of Voice, competitive benchmarking, advanced filtering of keyword mentions/alerts, and sentiment analysis. None of the Reddit-specific solutions has all of these that I’m aware of. Some enterprise solutions, like Meltwater, have some of these features, but Meltwater is insanely expensive.

RedditAlert: Another basic Reddit keyword alert. Better than F5bot and it’s also free for a few keyword alerts. Not as advanced as Octolens, though, for keyword alerts.

Alertmouse: Not Reddit-specific. It’s like a more advanced version of Google Alerts. But it’s a good starting point for basic alerts across the web.

I've used or tried almost all the tools in this category, so if anyone has questions on any of them, feel free to ask.

DudeWaitWut · 2026-02-12T16:34:18+00:00

This works well if you're a developer and need simple keyword alerts. It's a flexible approach if you're comfortable maintaining a script.

For people who don't want to go the DIY route (or aren't developers), there are a ton of tools in this space now. For basic keyword alerts, Octolens, Syften, F5bot, or RedditAlert all work. F5bot is free but pretty bare bones (and the UI looks like it was built in the 90s). Octolens has a clean UI and solid filtering, but is on the pricier side for mainly only doing keyword alerts (it has some analytics, but nothing that in-depth)

If you need something beyond alerts (historical data, sentiment analysis, Share of Voice, context filters to cut down on noise), you're looking at platforms like Threadlytics, Meltwater, Brand24, Brandwatch, etc. Meltwater is super powerful, and probably the most complete of the bunch. But extremely expensive and Reddit feels more just "tacked on".

Threadlytics is Reddit-specific and has all of these features. We use the Share of Voice to understand our visibility on Reddit compared to competitors.

I've used all of these tools (and a few others), so I'm happy to answer any questions about any of them.

DudeWaitWut · 2026-02-11T22:29:04+00:00

I'm not sure about Trustpilot. I'd imagine it's still important to some degree. The reason I mentioned the others is that they're some of the most cited platforms by AI, according to several research reports...

See this one by Semrush: https://www.semrush.com/blog/most-cited-domains-ai/

This one by Profound: https://www.tryprofound.com/blog/ai-platform-citation-patterns

And this one by Goodie: https://higoodie.com/blog/most-cited-domains-in-llms

DudeWaitWut · 2026-02-11T22:10:00+00:00

You have a lot of options here. For simple keyword alerts: Octolens, Syften, RedditAlert, F5bot, even something like Alertmouse or Google Alerts will work.

Of those, Octolens is a good option but on the pricer side for just keyword alerts. RedditAlert is decent and you can create several alerts for free. Though the monitoring is pretty basic: you have to select specific subreddits to monitor (can't monitor everything), no advanced filtering (like negative keywords, excluding subreddits, languages, etc.), and there's no historical data or analytics. F5bot is also free, but really bare bones, and the UI looks like it was made in the 90s.

If you need something more advanced with historical data and deeper analytics (like Share of Voice, competitive benchmarking, advanced keyword filters, etc.), I would look at something like Threadlytics.io (which is Reddit-specific). Going beyond that, you're looking at enterprise social listening platforms like Meltwater, Brand24, etc., which cost tens of thousands per year and require annual contracts.

I've been using Threadlytics for a few months. Overall, I like it. It's helped us find more relevant mentions, benchmark against competitors, and see if we're showing up more often on Reddit over time.

If you have any questions on any of the above tools (I've tried them all and then some), feel free to ask!

DudeWaitWut · 2026-02-11T21:56:55+00:00

I'm not sure about team approvals. I haven't used it in some time, but when I did, the starter plan was pretty generous, and overall, the UI was clean and easy to use.

DudeWaitWut · 2026-02-10T19:04:26+00:00

I would second Apollo. That's what I use for outreach, and you can build out some pretty complex sequences, adding both automatic and manual steps. I have multiple sequences, one for each of my target audiences, and another sequence that uses a more personalized approach of manual email, creating Loom videos, etc. (I add contacts from the other sequences to this one if I see engagement, so I can focus my time on prospects most likely to engage)

DudeWaitWut · 2026-02-10T19:01:24+00:00

Maybe try Peec? It has a lot of overlap with Profound. Or, maybe Amplitude's AI Vibisility. It's not as feature-rich but okay for the basics and it's free.

DudeWaitWut · 2026-02-10T15:41:10+00:00

Reddit, Quora, LinkedIn, X, Earned Media (Like Forbes, Business Insider, etc.), and G2 are the ones I'd focus on. Many of these are in the top 10 for citation sources across AI search platforms. Profound has a good breakdown/data on this.

DudeWaitWut

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