Linqia and AirOps Partner on Answer Engine Optimization

When someone asks ChatGPT "what's the best skincare brand in Asia," where does that answer come from? Not your website. Not your press releases. Increasingly, it comes from creator content, YouTube videos, and online communities that AI engines have learned to trust.

That's the gap Linqia and AirOps are now selling a solution to. The two companies announced a strategic partnership in May 2026, combining Linqia's influencer marketing capabilities with AirOps' AI search technology. The result is the first influencer marketing product built specifically for Answer Engine Optimization (AEO). AEO is the practice of getting your brand recommended by AI-powered search tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews.

Why Your Influencer Budget Now Affects AI Search Results

Most marketing leaders think of influencer campaigns as tools for reach and engagement. The Linqia-AirOps partnership is betting on a different frame: creator content is now infrastructure for AI visibility.

The numbers back this up. Only 10% of what AI engines say about a brand comes from that brand's own website. The other 90% is shaped by external sources like creator posts, editorial coverage, and community discussions. This means the influencer videos you commission today may determine whether AI recommends your brand tomorrow.

YouTube recently surpassed Reddit as the top social platform driving AI search authority, according to the two companies. AI models can now index video transcripts and visual content. A well-briefed creator talking about your product in a YouTube video is a direct input into what ChatGPT tells your next potential customer.

What the Partnership Actually Offers

The joint product, called the AEO Optimization Suite, gives brands three things:

• AI Search Intelligence: A view of how real users are querying AI engines about your category, including what questions they ask and whether your brand appears in the answers.
• Content Insights: Recommendations on what content to create to close gaps, based on competitive analysis of who is showing up in AI results when you're not.
• Influencer-Powered AEO Content: Linqia then activates creators to produce content specifically designed to address those high-value AI queries.

AirOps handles the technology layer. The company raised US$40 million in its Series B funding round (total funding of US$60 million) and counts Ramp, Webflow, Kayak, and Klaviyo among its clients. Linqia activates the creator network.

"The way people search for information has fundamentally changed," said Daniel Schotland, Chief Product & Business Officer at Linqia. "Creators are uniquely positioned to deliver the kind of credible, authentic video content that AI engines surface as authoritative responses."

The Competitive Clock Is Already Running

This is not a niche problem. 73% of B2B buyers now use AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity when researching purchases. The average company scores just 28 out of 100 on AI visibility across major platforms, and only 30% of brands remain visible across back-to-back AI search queries.

The conversion case is also real. AI search traffic converts at 14.2% compared to 2.8% for Google organic search, a fivefold difference that CMOs will find hard to ignore.

Linqia and AirOps are not the only ones who see the opportunity. Later, a rival influencer platform used by Nike, Southwest Airlines, and Unilever, launched its own Creator AEO product the same month. The AEO category is crystallizing fast, and the race to establish category leadership has started.

For marketing leaders in Asia, the implication is practical: the brief you give your influencers today is no longer just about engagement rates. It is also about whether your brand shows up when someone asks an AI engine for a recommendation in your category.