Answered on camera by Dan Milikow, CEO of iShoot.direct · 0:49 · transcript and sources below
AEO is worth it for a referral-driven advisory firm because referrals themselves are declining — the share of buyers who ask their network fell from over 70% to under 60% in one five-year span[1], before AI Overviews even launched. The citation that shows up in an AI answer is your new referral.
AEO definitely matters for advisory firms that grow by referrals, because it's an opportunity to reverse the slow, steady decline that you've probably noticed. The Hinge Research Institute runs a study called Inside the Buyer's Brain, first published in 2013. In one five-year period, the same survey showed the share of buyers who asked their network for a referral fell from over 70% to under 60[1]. And all of that data came before Google even started posting AI Overviews that cite experts who match the specific questions somebody is asking.
So if somebody is deciding whether to roll over an old 401(k), instead of asking around, they're going to ask AI first. And the citation that shows up is your new referral. And the good news is, there's a lot more that you can do to make sure that that referral actually happens.