---
id: ins_aeo-roadmap-as-executive-readout
operator: Mike King
operator_role: Founder, iPullRank
source_url: https://ipullrank.com/ai-search-strategic-roadmap
source_type: essay
source_title: AI Search Strategic Roadmap
source_date: 2026-04-28
captured_date: 2026-05-02
domain: [pmm, growth-demand, strategy]
lifecycle: [planning-resourcing, growth-loops]
maturity: applied
artifact_class: playbook
score: { originality: 3, specificity: 4, evidence: 3, transferability: 4, source: 4 }
tier: B
related: []
raw_ref: 
---

# Package the AEO audit as a year-long keep/start/stop deck

## Claim
The missing layer between an AEO audit and execution is an executive readout: a year-long keep/start/stop deck that turns audit findings into sprint slots. Without it, audits become artifacts no one funds. With it, leadership sees the AI-search trajectory and can sequence quarterly bets.

## Mechanism
Audits surface dozens of findings; leadership funds at most a handful per quarter. The keep/start/stop frame collapses the audit into a small number of decisions stakeholders can make in one meeting, which converts the audit into a budget line.

## Conditions
Holds when: a human owner can adjudicate which start/stop items deserve sprint slots.
Fails when: the audit has no executive sponsor, even a packaged readout dies in a slide deck.

## Evidence
> "If you are starting at zero with AI Search and you implement all these suggestions we give you, you're going to be poised to be successful."
· Patrick Schofield, quoted in Mike King's iPullRank AI Search Strategic Roadmap, 2026-04-28

## Signals
- Monthly auto-deck step appended to the AEO audit workflow.
- Start/stop items mapped to sprint slots by quarter.
- Executive sponsor named per recommendation.

## Counter-evidence
For mature programs, the start/stop frame can over-simplify nuanced calls, a more granular roadmap may be needed.

## Cross-references
- (none in current corpus)