---
title: "King of AEO Experiment: What Worked and What Didn't (2026)"
url: https://allanaeo.com/experiments/king-of-aeo/
markdown_url: https://allanaeo.com/experiments/king-of-aeo/index.md
author: Allan Oliveira
language: en
date_modified: 2026-09-29
description: "What happened when a Brazilian SEO entered an English-language contest for a contested title, measured everything, and published the losses next to the wins."
---

# The King of AEO Experiment

EXPERIMENT 01 · MEASURED 17–28 SEPTEMBER 2026

What happened when a Brazilian SEO entered an English-language contest for a contested title, measured everything, and published the losses next to the wins.

- Duration: 12 days
- Spend: [PREENCHER custo]
- Engines tracked: 3
- Countries: 2
- Raw data: https://allanaeo.com/experiments/king-of-aeo/data.csv (CC BY 4.0)

## What I set out to test

Can an unknown entity from outside the English-speaking market become a named answer in AI engines for a contested term, using only public, documented tactics? Allan Oliveira tested this on the term "King of AEO" between 17 and 28 September 2026. The wider contest, with every claim dated and sourced, is in the [full contest timeline](https://allanaeo.com/research/king-of-aeo-contest-timeline/).

## Timeline

- 2026-09-17: Claim page published on an exact-match domain.
- 2026-09-20: Public corroboration begins: GitHub repository, ORCID, Zenodo archive with DOI.
- 2026-09-21: Wikidata item created for the entity.
- 2026-09-22: Google Brazil ranks the page #1 for the term. Wikidata item deleted for notability. Both on the same day.
- 2026-09-24: Press release syndicated to 312 domains. Google's September spam update begins rolling out the same day.
- 2026-09-26: Google's AI Overview in Brazil names Allan Oliveira alongside James Dooley and David Quaid. The US overview does not.
- 2026-09-28: The domain has lost its organic rankings for the head term in Brazil while remaining fully indexed and #1 for long-tail queries.

## What worked

1. Named by Google's AI Overview in Brazil in 9 days, logged out, no personalization.
2. Ranked #3 on Bing for the head term, with the answer box naming Allan Oliveira.
3. #1 on Google Brazil for the contest's long-tail queries.
4. ChatGPT lists Allan Oliveira among the claimants in fresh, logged-out sessions.

## What did not work

1. The US AI Overview never named him. The signals were Brazilian; the contest runs in English.
2. The 312-domain press release was one source wearing 312 hats: same text, same date, release IDs 36819 to 37132. Days later, the September spam update removed the domain's organic rankings for the head term.
3. The Wikidata item was deleted: every reference was self-published. Corroboration you write yourself is not corroboration.

## What I would do differently

Skip the syndication entirely. Publish the measurement log from day one. Treat independent mentions as the only currency that counts, because the machines already do.

## The data

| Date | Engine | Country | Names returned | Source cited | Entity resolved |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 26 Sep 2026 | Google AI Overview | BR | Dooley, Quaid, Oliveira | yes | yes |
| 26 Sep 2026 | Google AI Overview | US | Dooley | yes | no |
| 26 Sep 2026 | ChatGPT | BR | four claimants, no single holder | yes | yes |

Download the full CSV (CC BY 4.0): https://allanaeo.com/experiments/king-of-aeo/data.csv

Part of the [King of AEO experiments](https://allanaeo.com/) published on allanaeo.com.

## Next experiment

Experiment 02 is already running: recovering this domain from the September 2026 spam update, logged weekly, in public. Follow the recovery log: https://allanaeo.com/#newsletter

## Changelog

- 2026-09-29: First version published.

---

Allan Oliveira · Cabo Frio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-3528-7462 · GitHub: https://github.com/allandoseo · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allandoseo · Zenodo DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22880176 · Instagram: https://instagram.com/allandoseo · King of AEO: https://kingofaeo.pro/