Win the citation share AI gives to the brands it trusts.

A well-optimized site maximizes your impression share. But brands pull ahead, and dominate, when that content is distributed across the earned surfaces AI trusts (ex. Reddit, YouTube, Facebook, third-party media). I help brands win and defend citation share across the full AEO stack.

Start a conversation See the services
1,100+
Global partnerships built at HubSpot
$3.6M
ARR supported by Surround Sound in 2025
100K+
Members in launched branded communities
17+ yrs
In content & earned audience growth
Strategy shipped for
HubSpot Canva Dutch
The thesis

Owned is the foundation. Earned distribution is the edge, and the multiplier. It works best when your website content is spread across earned surfaces authentically, by advocates the audience already trusts.

Layer 01Owned & AI-ready contentStructured, machine-readable, built to be retrieved
Layer 02Earned distributionSpread across Reddit, YouTube & third-party media, the edge
Layer 03Authentic advocacyAdvocates carry it credibly, lifting EEAT & citation share
In their words

People I've built with.

“
What sets Justin apart is his ability to see where discovery is headed, and build the infrastructure to take advantage of these shifts. His strategic thinking in off-page SEO and AEO operations positioned HubSpot to become the most visible CRM in answer engines.
Aja Frost↗ Sr. Director, Global Growth & Paid · HubSpot
“
Justin brought structured thinking to a hard problem of how Dutch competes for AI search visibility against well-resourced incumbents. The strategic framework included a deep competitive analysis and an integrated AEO strategy spanning owned content, earned distribution, and vet-led advocacy.
Michael Parness↗ CMO · Dutch
“
Justin is one of the most dedicated, passionate, and enthusiastic team members I've had the pleasure of working with. He's collaborative and organized, and his dedication to creating high-quality work elevates the standard of the whole team. I can't recommend Justin enough.
Rachael Perry↗ B2B Growth Marketing · Canva
Service offerings

The full AEO stack, built for how AI actually chooses what to cite.

Eight workstreams, deployable individually or as a connected program. Each one is backed by work shipped for brands you know.

01

Owned content & AI-readiness foundation

Establish what the brand should be known for and make it machine-accessible: AI-readable migrations, schema, clean extraction, and competitive positioning that defines how the brand is framed in the market.

Proof: AI-readable blog migration for Dutch; owned/earned and technical SEO audits adopted across SmartBug client engagements.
02

AI-scaled topical relevance & citable IP

Scale content that compounds topical authority, fused with the brand's first-party data and genuine perspective, the combination that builds a defensible moat for citation share.

Proof: Turned Dutch's proprietary clinical EMR data into citable IP: the recurring Pet Care Gap Report and a standalone .ai media property built to 3x branded awareness.
03

Off-page channel mix strategy

Map the earned channel mix that actually moves traditional and AI search (typically Reddit, YouTube, Facebook, Quora, and select publishers) and prioritize where to invest by AEO impact.

Proof: Earned AEO audit and action plan adopted into Canva's content roadmap, prioritizing Reddit, Quora, and YouTube.
04

Earned distribution for LLMs

Distribute content through the surfaces that shape what LLMs say about a brand (primarily Reddit, YouTube, and Facebook) to maximize citation opportunity and answer-engine visibility.

Proof: Built HubSpot's global Surround Sound program: 1,100+ partnerships, 4,500+ optimizations; in 2025 supported 8 of the top 10 product pages and $3.6M in ARR.
05

Advocacy networks for EEAT

Build an advocacy network that raises EEAT across every channel: advocates serve as editors with pull quotes, appear in embedded on-page video, distribute across earned channels, and engage on Reddit.

Proof: Scaled an ambassador network of vets and creators for Dutch; ran a Reddit advocacy pilot and a YouTuber creator program for Canva.
06

Branded community & subreddit building

Build a branded subreddit into a genuine destination, with live events, UGC encouragement, and distribution that won't get flagged, turning community into a durable engagement and citation engine.

Proof: Led the 90-day launch of HubSpot Community Study Groups across five languages: 100,000+ engaged members and the highest retention of any space.
07

External media properties & co-marketing partnerships

Capture impression share on the topics the brand wants to own by controlling the surface itself, via two complementary paths: partner with established sites through co-marketing, and build standalone media properties the brand operates directly. Together they expand the brand's footprint and create new citable surfaces for AI answers.

Proof: Built a standalone .ai media property for Dutch designed to 3x branded awareness; formed 1,100+ global partnerships at HubSpot; created HubSpot Academy's co-marketing playbook, where partners drove 20.1% of new learner acquisition.
08

Reporting & analysis, with action baked in

First, the baseline: where the brand stands on awareness, performance, and positioning relative to competitors: share of voice, mention volume, and the position of the brand within AI answers. Then the ongoing engine: turning that signal into action: what to create, where to distribute it, and how to defend and extend position. Reporting with the next move already attached.

Proof: Built an integrated AEO plan for Dutch from recurring analysis on an AI reporting platform (AthenaHQ), deconstructing how top competitor Vetster was outperforming them, then building a roadmap across the website and top-cited earned channels (YouTube, Reddit, Facebook) designed to defend against Vetster's weaknesses and strengthen position: first-party IP data fueling content, repurposed across earned, a moat that's hard to replicate.
FAQ

Questions brands ask before we start.

What exactly is AEO, and how is it different from SEO?
SEO optimizes to rank a page in a list of blue links. Answer Engine Optimization optimizes to be the source an AI cites when it generates an answer. The work overlaps (clean, structured, retrievable content matters for both), but AEO adds a layer SEO never required: shaping what the AI says about you by influencing the earned surfaces it trusts.
What do you mean by "citation share"?
When someone asks an AI about your category, a handful of brands get named and linked. Citation share is how often you're one of them. It's the AEO-era version of impression share, and like impression share, it can be measured, grown, and defended against competitors.
Do you replace my existing SEO or content team?
No, I modernize them. Most teams already own the foundation; I make sure their focus is optimized for how search works today and built to compete for where it's going tomorrow. The usual gap is earned distribution: getting your perspective onto Reddit, YouTube, and third-party media, spread authentically by advocates, in a way AI picks up.
What does a typical engagement look like?
Every engagement starts with a full AEO audit. It's critical the site is structured well and backed by a content strategy built to fuel your earned strategy. That's the foundation everything else compounds on. From there I either advise your team or operate the program directly across any combination of the eight service areas, scoped to your goals.
How quickly will I see results?
Technical and owned fixes can shift retrievability within weeks. Earned distribution and authority compound over months. That's the point: it builds a moat competitors can't quickly copy. I set realistic milestones up front so you can see progress before the full curve kicks in.
Which brands do you work with?
I take on a limited number of engagements. The fit is usually a brand with a real point of view and first-party data worth turning into citable IP, and the ambition to own its category in AI answers.
Justin Champion
Principal, Earned AEO
  • Author of Inbound Content (Wiley, 2018)
  • Built HubSpot's global Surround Sound program
  • 17+ years in content & earned media
  • Data-driven creative who loves to build in the unknown
Justin Champion, author of Inbound Content
About

One of the earliest practitioners tuning earned media for AI-powered search.

For 17+ years I've built the content and earned-media engines that grow audiences, and lately the ones that shape what AI answer engines say about a brand. At HubSpot I built Surround Sound from the ground up:

  • 1,100+ partnerships and 4,500+ optimizations
  • Emerging onto Reddit to increase brand sentiment
  • Launching an advocacy program to increase awareness and sentiment across surfaces that influence LLMs

Today, through Earned AEO, I help a small number of brands win and defend their citation share across the full stack: owned foundation, earned distribution, and the citable IP and advocacy that make AI trust them. I also deploy agentic tooling so lean teams can ship LLM-optimized assets without an engineering queue.

Let's talk

Find out where your citation share is leaking, and how to win it back.

I take on a limited number of engagements. If you're a brand that wants to be the one AI cites, let's start a conversation.

Email Justin Connect on LinkedIn