By Zoe Ashbridge

To improve visibility in AI answer engines, content and SEO marketers need to add AEO keywords gap analysis to their strategies. Traditional SEO keyword gaps show which terms a company isn’t ranking for versus the competition. An AEO keywords gap uses the same principle but with broader criteria, identifying the prompts and questions where a given brand is cited in AI search, but another isn’t.

This guide offers a practical pathway to find and close the AEO keywords gap, identifying AI citation opportunities a company is missing. It covers how to audit current content and competitor coverage, how to spot high-value gaps to close first, how to turn gaps into answer-ready content that gets cited, and how to track whether it’s working.

Table of Contents

• What is an AEO keywords gap?
• AEO Keywords Gap vs. Traditional SEO Gap
• How to Audit Your AEO Keywords Gap
• How to Prioritize the Right Gaps
• How to Turn a Gap Into Answer-Ready Content
• How HubSpot AEO Helps You Find and Close Gaps
• How to Measure Progress Over Time
• Frequently Asked Questions About AEO Keywords Gaps
• Don’t underestimate the value of AEO keyword gaps.

What is an AEO keywords gap?

An AEO keywords gap is the difference between the questions or topics AI answer engines surface versus the questions a brand answers clearly enough to be cited. The gap refers to keywords, topics, questions, and prompts that a brand hasn’t answered clearly enough to be cited in engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity.

The stakes are high for AEO keyword gaps in this new search era. When a buyer asks an answer engine to recommend a product or solution, rather than a page of links to choose from, they get a paraphrased response or a shortlist directly from AI.

The evidence is in the data: HubSpot’s own research of 3,063 CRM software purchase decision-makers found that 42% of CRM software buyers now use AI search as part of their evaluation, and it’s the strongest predictor of purchase intent HubSpot tracks. Referral traffic from AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini has also tripled over the past year, according to Search Engine Land. If a brand isn’t showing up in the prompts that map to its category, it’s being left off the shortlist before a buyer ever visits a website.

The following bar chart from the Search Engine Land article shows the aggregate referral traffic by month in 2025. Monthly volume climbed steadily throughout the year, with December’s referral traffic roughly three times higher than January’s. The rising traffic reinforces the importance of the AEO keyword gap. More people are searching using AI tools.

Important note: An SEO keyword gap and an AEO keywords gap don’t tell the same story, and closing one doesn’t close the other. A page can rank on page one of Google for a term and …read more

Source:: HubSpot Blog