AI Search Acquisition: AEO, Intent Volatility, and Emerging Paid Placements

Ahrefs samples found AI Overviews rising from 5 of 98 major-brand searches in July to 63 of 100 by September, with a later sample reporting 83% of brand searches. Guidance covers shortlist-prompt research, citation-source analysis, comparison pages, and crawler audits, but lacks attributable traffic or revenue results; prioritize answer-level measurement, landing-page alignment, repeated-run testing, and geo-based incrementality.