AEO for Financial Services
AEO for Financial Services
When AI answers for you, what does it say?
When AI answers for you, what does it say?
Paula Inc. helps wealth and financial services firms show up in AI answers. We measure how ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI, and Copilot present your firm, find your biggest openings, and give you a plan graded by evidence.
Paula Inc. helps wealth and financial services firms show up in AI answers. We measure how ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI, and Copilot present your firm, find your biggest openings, and give you a plan graded by evidence.
The first conversation happens without you.
1 in 4
affluent US households planning to hire an advisor now start that search with AI.
Prospects now ask AI before they ask you. Referrals check you the same way. When the answer leaves your firm out, the conversation moves on without you, and you never know it happened.
We run an ongoing research practice on how AI systems choose which financial services firms to name and cite: our own studies, live experiments, and a standing review of everyone else’s evidence.
Prospects now ask AI before they ask you. Referrals check you the same way. When the answer leaves your firm out, the conversation moves on without you, and you never know it happened.
We run an ongoing research practice on how AI systems choose which financial services firms to name and cite: our own studies, live experiments, and a standing review of everyone else’s evidence.
What We Do
Compare what each engagement includes.
01
Foundation
Can search engines and AI reach your site? Assistants pull from search before they write a word, so we check this first.
01
Foundation
Can search engines and AI reach your site? Assistants pull from search before they write a word, so we check this first.
02
Measurement
We ask the questions your prospects might ask, across the major AI assistants, and analyze every answer. Being named and being cited are different things; we track both.
03
Openings
Who wins your questions, and where are they weak? We map where your firm can
realistically enter the answers.
04
The plan
What to do, in what order, ranked by expected impact. Each recommendation says what it rests on, and we say plainly when a popular tactic is not supported.
03
Openings
Who wins your questions, and where are they weak? We map where your firm can
realistically enter the answers.
04
The plan
What to do, in what order, ranked by expected impact. Each recommendation says what it rests on, and we say plainly when a popular tactic is not supported.
AEO Assessment & Roadmap
Where you stand, what matters most, in what order
Up to 15 questions, written with your team
Four weeks of measurement across four engines
One plan, ranked by expected impact
Findings session with your leadership
Up to 15 questions, written with your team
Four weeks of measurement across four engines
One plan, ranked by expected impact
Findings session with your leadership
AEO Assessment & Guided Implementation
Your team does the work; we keep it on target.
Up to 20 questions, swapped as the plan evolves
Plan updated monthly as results come in
We review every draft before it goes live
Re-measurement at the end
Up to 20 questions, swapped as the plan evolves
Plan updated monthly as results come in
We review every draft before it goes live
Re-measurement at the end
$30,000
$5,000
Six months, assessment included
Six-month program · $30,000 total
Six-month program · $30,000 total
AEO Full
Program
AEO Full Program
We do the work, with your experts.
Up to 30 questions, swapped as the plan evolves
We implement on the platforms we support
We draft content; your experts review
Quarterly strategy review
Up to 30 questions, swapped as the plan evolves
We implement on the platforms we support
We draft content; your experts review
Quarterly strategy review
Scoped from your assessment
Six to twelve months
Six- to twelve-month program
Six- to twelve-monthS program
Three ways to work with us
AEO Assessment & Roadmap
Where you stand, what matters most, in what order
AEO Assessment & Guided Implementation
Your team does the work; we keep it on target
AEO Full Program
We do the work, with your experts
Your question set, built with you
The questions (prompts) your prospects ask AI, written with your team in a working session. Everything we measure afterwards is measured against these.
Up to 15 questions
Up to 20 questions, swapped as the plan evolves
Up to 30 questions, swapped as the plan evolves
What AI says about you today
We run your questions on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI and Copilot for four weeks and analyze every answer. You see where you are named, where you are cited, and how you are described.
Four weeks
Four weeks, then monthly
Four weeks, then monthly
Who wins your questions, and why
The firms named instead of you, and why they are named: the page, the source, the wording. Not only who is ahead, but what they did to be there.
Included
Included
Included
Which searches each page could win
Every page on your site, and a few you do not have yet, matched to the searches and questions it could realistically answer.
Included
Included
Included
The plan
What to do, in what order, ranked by expected impact. Each recommendation says what it rests on: our measurement, our own studies, or published research.
One plan, at the end of the assessment
Updated monthly as results come in
Updated monthly as results come in
Findings session with your leadership
One working session where we walk your leadership through what we found and what we recommend, and agree what happens next.
Included
Included
Included
Your site’s technical setup
Whether Google and the AI crawlers can find, open and read your pages, and what needs to change so they can. Written so your developer can act without translation.
We check it and write the fixes for your developers, in order
Your developer implements; we check the result
We implement, on the platforms we support
Content
Which pages to write, which to rewrite, and what each needs to say to answer a question someone else is answering today.
Recommendations, in the plan
We tell you what to write about. Your team writes. We review every draft before it goes live.
We draft with your experts; they review for accuracy and compliance
Third-party sources
The directories, trade press and forums the assistants lean on for your category, and a realistic path into each. No placement is promised, in any tier.
Which ones matter, and how to approach each
We coach your outreach
We prepare the materials and run the outreach with you
Monthly measurement and review
Every month we run your questions again, analyze the answers, and meet with your team to go through what moved and what to do next.
–
Monthly
Monthly, plus a strategy review each quarter
Re-measurement at the end
The same questions, run again once the work has landed, compared with where you started. Visibility you can point at.
–
Included
Included
What you keep
What stays with your team when the engagement ends.
Your question set, the four-week results, and the plan
The same, plus every piece of content and every technical fix delivered during the program
The same, plus every piece of content and every technical fix delivered during the program
Investment
$7,500
About six weeks
$30,000
Six months, assessment included
Scoped after your assessment
Six to twelve months
Bought the Assessment first? Start the six-month program within 30 days of your findings session and the Assessment fee is credited in full.
Start with a free AEO audit.
How often the AI assistants name you today, whether the bots can get in, and where we would start first. Prepared by our team for your domain, in about a day, at no cost.
AEO free assessment
Named in answers
3 of 10
answers named you, across two engines
Bots allowed
34 of 34
robots.txt, headers, firewall
Where to start first
One page,
one change, worked through
Why Paula
We Understand Financial Services
We Fix the Fundamentals First
Human Rigor. AI Scale.
We're Obsessed with Adoption
We Understand Financial Services
We work where the rules are tighter and trust decides everything. The tactics AI search rewards, verifiable claims, named sources, real expertise, are the ones compliance already requires.
We Fix the Fundamentals First
AI visibility is built on the same foundation as search: clean structure, working access, content machines can read. We fix that before anything clever.
Human Rigor. AI Scale.
We use AI to run your questions and read the answers at scale. A person decides what they mean, and looks closer when something does not add up. Dashboards get it wrong in ways that matter.
We're Obsessed with Adoption
A plan only counts if your team can run it. Every recommendation is written for the person who has to act on it, and every program ends with your team able to keep going without us.
We Understand Financial Services
We work where the rules are tighter and trust decides everything. The tactics AI search rewards, verifiable claims, named sources, real expertise, are the ones compliance already requires.
We Fix the Fundamentals First
AI visibility is built on the same foundation as search: clean structure, working access, content machines can read. We fix that before anything clever.
Human Rigor. AI Scale.
We use AI to run your questions and read the answers at scale. A person decides what they mean, and looks closer when something does not add up. Dashboards get it wrong in ways that matter.
We're Obsessed with Adoption
A plan only counts if your team can run it. Every recommendation is written for the person who has to act on it, and every program ends with your team able to keep going without us.
FAQ
Is AEO the same as GEO?
Yes. Answer engine optimization (AEO), generative engine optimization (GEO), and AI search optimization all describe the same discipline: making your firm visible and citable in AI-generated answers. We say AEO.
Is AEO the same as GEO?
Yes. Answer engine optimization (AEO), generative engine optimization (GEO), and AI search optimization all describe the same discipline: making your firm visible and citable in AI-generated answers. We say AEO.
Is a prompt the same as a question?
Yes. A prompt is what you type into an AI assistant. We say questions, because that is what your prospects are asking.
Is a prompt the same as a question?
Yes. A prompt is what you type into an AI assistant. We say questions, because that is what your prospects are asking.
Can you guarantee we show up in ChatGPT?
No, and no one can. AI answers are probabilistic and change week to week. What we can do is improve the odds and show you the movement. If you want to see how we work before paying for anything, start with the free audit.
Can you guarantee we show up in ChatGPT?
No, and no one can. AI answers are probabilistic and change week to week. What we can do is improve the odds and show you the movement. If you want to see how we work before paying for anything, start with the free audit.
Do you only work with wealth managers?
Wealth and asset management is where our research is deepest. We work across financial services, and the method applies to any firm whose clients research before they call.
Do you only work with wealth managers?
Wealth and asset management is where our research is deepest. We work across financial services, and the method applies to any firm whose clients research before they call.
What do we need from you?
Access to your site and analytics, a person who owns your content, and executive attention at the findings session. If we build content together, your experts review it. That is how it stays credible.
What do we need from you?
Access to your site and analytics, a person who owns your content, and executive attention at the findings session. If we build content together, your experts review it. That is how it stays credible.
How do you decide what to ask the AI assistants?
We build the questions from how real prospects search: a life situation, a specialization, a trust concern, a wealth level, a place. Our research shows prospects ask from inside a situation, "just sold my business, who handles sudden liquidity in Toronto," not "best wealth manager in Canada." Your firm's question set is built from your actual clientele and the questions you can realistically win.
How do you decide what to ask the AI assistants?
We build the questions from how real prospects search: a life situation, a specialization, a trust concern, a wealth level, a place. Our research shows prospects ask from inside a situation, "just sold my business, who handles sudden liquidity in Toronto," not "best wealth manager in Canada." Your firm's question set is built from your actual clientele and the questions you can realistically win.
How does the measurement actually run?
Professional monitoring runs your questions across the major AI assistants on a schedule, because answers change from day to day and a single snapshot misleads. Then we analyze the answers. Software tells us where to look; a person decides what it means.
How does the measurement actually run?
Professional monitoring runs your questions across the major AI assistants on a schedule, because answers change from day to day and a single snapshot misleads. Then we analyze the answers. Software tells us where to look; a person decides what it means.
Where do your recommendations come from?
Three sources, checked against each other: what your measurement shows, our own experiments and studies in financial services, and the published evidence from the wider field, which we review and grade continuously. When a popular tactic doesn't hold up, we say so.
Where do your recommendations come from?
Three sources, checked against each other: what your measurement shows, our own experiments and studies in financial services, and the published evidence from the wider field, which we review and grade continuously. When a popular tactic doesn't hold up, we say so.
How do you get firms into third-party coverage?
There's no shortcut. AI answers lean heavily on independent sources, and earning a place in them is relationship work. We identify which placements matter for your questions, handle the ones we can, and coach your experts where the relationship has to be theirs. We don't buy bulk placements that readers and machines both discount.
How do you get firms into third-party coverage?
There's no shortcut. AI answers lean heavily on independent sources, and earning a place in them is relationship work. We identify which placements matter for your questions, handle the ones we can, and coach your experts where the relationship has to be theirs. We don't buy bulk placements that readers and machines both discount.
Is this a replacement for SEO?
No. Search and AI visibility are one discipline with two scoring systems. Classic search rankings still decide whether you're in the pool of sources AI assistants draw from; they no longer decide whether you're in the answer. That's why every engagement starts with your search foundation, and why nearly everything we recommend strengthens your traditional rankings too. If you already have an SEO provider, we work alongside them.
Is this a replacement for SEO?
No. Search and AI visibility are one discipline with two scoring systems. Classic search rankings still decide whether you're in the pool of sources AI assistants draw from; they no longer decide whether you're in the answer. That's why every engagement starts with your search foundation, and why nearly everything we recommend strengthens your traditional rankings too. If you already have an SEO provider, we work alongside them.
Start with a free AEO audit.
Drop us a note or book a call. We'll get back to you within one business day.
Related research
Who We Serve
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Who We Serve
Our Work
about us
INSIGHTS
Contact Us
Keep up with our Insights
Who We Serve
Our Work
about us
INSIGHTS
Contact Us
Keep up with our Insights
