Annual budget allocated to Answer Engine Optimization activities — typically 5–15% of total marketing budget for B2B SaaS in 2026.
AEO budgets are growing rapidly. Per Conductor's 2026 State of AEO/GEO CMO Investment Report, enterprises allocate an average of 12% of digital marketing budgets to AEO/GEO; 56% made significant AEO investments in 2025; 94% plan to increase AEO spend in 2026. Budget categories: (1) AEO platform tools ($30K–$120K/year), (2) content production for AEO ($50K–$300K/year), (3) agency/consulting fees ($50K–$200K/year), (4) attribution and analytics tooling ($10K–$50K/year), (5) training and education ($5K–$30K/year). Total AEO budgets typically range from $100K (mid-market) to $1M+ (enterprise).
Without dedicated budget, AEO becomes underfunded relative to its strategic importance. CMOs justifying AEO budget to CFOs need both market data (Conductor's 12% benchmark) and projected ROI (typically 3.0–6.0× multiplier for healthy programs).
A 200-person B2B SaaS company with $5M total marketing budget allocates $400K (8%) to AEO in 2026: $50K for tools (Profound + Lantern + Otterly), $200K for AEO-specialized content production, $100K for agency partnership, $30K for attribution tooling, $20K for training and conferences.
The terms in this glossary aren't theoretical — they're what Lantern's product calculates and reports every month for B2B SaaS teams. See yours in 7 days. 14-day free trial.
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