llms.txt, schema-for-citations, purchased mentions and other tactics the studies debunk — with the evidence, so you stop paying for them.
1,885 treated vs 4,000 control pages: AIO -4.6%, AI Mode +2.4% (ns), ChatGPT +2.2% (ns); Google: no special schema needed. Keep schema for rich results/entity disambiguation only; note one practitioner claims HowTo 1.7x - unreplicated
How to implement →'Spent $4,200 on an AEO agency for a pool business, got nothing'; The Verge: snake-oil warning; Google now officially warns about third-party AEO/GEO tool claims; r/AEO AMAs charge $1,250-12,500/mo retainers for the tactics in this sheet
How to implement →Google: no requirement to fragment content or write specially for AI; models understand synonyms and multi-topic pages. Distinct from good structure (which helps)
How to implement →Ahrefs 137K domains: 97% of llms.txt files got ZERO traffic in May 2026, 96% of remaining fetches were bots; no AI bot ever requests a missing one; Google lists it as a myth. Only real use: docs for AI coding tools (Claude-Code = #2 fetcher)
How to implement →Viral 'a16z declared SEO dead + here's my mega prompt' posts (200K+ views) sell prompts/files that do nothing; every serious study shows SEO fundamentals drive AI visibility; AI tools are ~2% of referral traffic vs search 24% (SimilarWeb Jan 2026)
How to implement →Google: spam systems filter inauthentic mentions; Reddit is shutting down spam GEO subs and banning accounts ('brand visibility jail'); 'disguised promotion has to stop' threads at 145-172 upvotes across r/SEO + r/marketing
How to implement →Browse all disciplines on the full best-practices ranking.