In the AEO measurement pyramid, why is search performance positioned as the base layer rather than AI visibility or business impact?
- Search performance metrics are cheaper to track than AI visibility or business impact metrics.
- Search performance data is easier for stakeholders and leadership to interpret than other business metrics.
- AI visibility can only be measured after business impact has already been demonstrated to leadership.
- AI systems overwhelmingly cite content that already ranks well, so strong search performance is the prerequisite for AI visibility.