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."
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)