What is AEO and why does it matter?

Answer Engine Optimisation refers to the practice of helping brands show up in and get cited by AI-powered search and answer engines, including systems like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. As more users get answers from AI engines rather than clicking through to web pages, the question of how brands create content that AI engines will trust, cite, and surface becomes as commercially significant as traditional SEO was for the previous era of search.

What does a full-stack marketer mean in the current environment?

A full-stack marketer is someone who is comfortable across both the creative and technical dimensions of modern marketing, including understanding how AI tools work, how to use them in their own workflows, how data and analytics inform strategy, and how to contribute across different marketing functions. Lindsay Boyajian Hagan specifically looks for people who are excited about AI rather than scared of it.

Why is turning wisdom into content the central marketing mission?

Every brand has subject matter experts and accumulated knowledge that genuinely helps their customers. The marketing challenge is turning that internal wisdom into content that reaches the right people at the right moment in their search or discovery journey. Brands that can systematically do this build a content asset that compounds over time, while brands that default to generic content that could have been written by anyone build nothing durable.

Wisdom into Content

Lindsay Boyajian Hagan, VP of Marketing and Co-Head of Revenue at Conductor, on why Answer Engine Optimisation has become the next frontier beyond SEO, why she now hires full-stack marketers who are excited about AI, and why every brand's job is to turn the wisdom inside their organisation into content that gets found.

Listen to the episode

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November 2025 Season 3, Episode 58 36 minutes

"Every brand has amazing wisdom inside them. Our mission is to help them turn that wisdom into content that performs."

The Conversation

Why AEO is the new SEO and why the modern marketing team must embrace AI or fall behind

Lindsay Boyajian Hagan has been at Conductor for almost ten years, moving from early marketing roles through to VP of Marketing and Co-Head of Revenue. Conductor started in SEO, evolved through content marketing, and is now at the frontier of Answer Engine Optimisation, helping brands get found and cited in AI search environments. She markets to marketers, which gives her an unusually direct feedback loop from her own customers.

In this conversation she explains why AI has fundamentally changed the profile of marketer she hires, why full-stack technically comfortable marketers who embrace AI tools are the only kind that will compound value in the current environment, and why the mission that has not changed since Conductor's founding is helping brands turn their internal wisdom into content that performs.

Key Takeaways

AEO is the new frontier beyond SEO. Helping brands show up in AI search environments is the next commercial challenge in content marketing.

AI has transformed the modern marketer profile. Full-stack, technically comfortable, AI-embracing. That is who you hire now.

I am not looking for folks scared of AI. I am looking for folks excited about it. Fear of change is the most expensive quality in a marketing team.

Every brand has amazing wisdom inside them. The mission is to turn that wisdom into content that performs. That has not changed since Conductor's founding.

Marketing to marketers is one of the most interesting challenges in B2B. Your customers are experts in what you do. You have to be better.

In this episode

01Why AEO has emerged beyond SEO as the new frontier of content discovery

02How AI has transformed the profile of marketer Lindsay hires

03Full-stack marketers who embrace AI: what that means and why it matters

04The wisdom to content pipeline: turning internal expertise into discoverable brand content

05Marketing to marketers: the unusual feedback loop of being your own customer

01 Tell us about Conductor and how it has evolved.

"Conductor is an end-to-end AEO platform. We have been around for over 10 years. We started with roots in SEO. As search evolved and content evolved, so has our product. Over the summer we released Conductor AI, our full platform to help brands understand where they show up in AI engines, create the content, and monitor it so they get visible and get the citations they want in this new world of AI."

The evolution from SEO to AEO tracks the shift in how people find information.

02 How has AI transformed who you hire?

"A few years ago, before AI, the profile was quite different. Today as a marketing leader I am looking for folks who are really full-stack, who understand technology, are more technical, are using and investing in AI, using AI in their own workflows. I am not looking for folks who are scared of AI, are scared of change, who are not embracing it. AI is an amazing productivity tool."

The hiring criteria have shifted materially in 18 months.

03 What has not changed since Conductor was founded?

"Our mission and vision has really been almost unchanged since our founding 10-plus years ago. Helping people is at the core. Every brand has this amazing wisdom inside them, subject matter experts, and we want to help folks turn that wisdom into content that performs for their brand."

The founding purpose is the through-line across multiple technology transitions.

04 What is it like marketing to marketers?

"I love it. You get to connect with amazing folks. I also get to pick the brains of some of the best marketers in the world who happen to be our customers. Because we are selling to folks who are experts in what we do, you have to be genuinely better. It keeps the bar honest."

The unusual feedback loop of selling to experts in your domain.

05 What does good marketing leadership look like right now?

"As a leader, the big difference over the last year and a half has been how can I help folks upskill, get really comfortable with AI, testing all the different tools, running hackathons on the team. AI can feel scary once you go beyond basic prompts. The leader's job is to make it feel accessible and make the team comfortable with using it daily."

The CMO as AI upskilling champion within the team.

36 Minutes

S3 E58 Season & episode

10yr Lindsay Boyajian Hagan at Conductor through multiple evolutions of search and content

12,000 Companies in the MarTech landscape, with a parallel AI marketing landscape already emerging

"AI has transformed what the modern marketer is, who they are, and what they need to be."

Hear Lindsay on

The Business of Marketing

Season 3 Episode 58 36 min

Apple Podcasts→ Spotify→ Lindsay Boyajian Hagan GUEST PROFILE→ Lindsay on LinkedIn→

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Full Transcript SEO & AI indexed

Season 3 E58 · Lindsay Boyajian Hagan, Vice President Marketing and Co-Head Revenue, Conductor

Lightly edited for readability.

Host Tell us about Conductor and your role.

Boyajian Hagan Conductor is an end-to-end AEO platform. Started in SEO, now helping brands show up in AI search engines. VP of Marketing and Co-Head of Revenue. Almost ten years here. Marketing to marketers, which means your customers are experts. That keeps the bar very honest.

Host How has AI changed the profile of marketers you hire?

Boyajian Hagan Today I am looking for full-stack marketers who are excited about AI, not scared of it. Who are using it in their own workflows. Running hackathons. Getting comfortable with the tools. AI is an amazing productivity tool. I am not looking for folks who are scared of change.

Wisdom into Content

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