Prioritizing Subtopics with Business Intent (ICE Scoring): A Practical Framework for AEO

You’ve mapped your pillar & cluster, and you’ve expanded one head term into dozens of conversational questions. Now comes the hard part: deciding what to ship first. This guide shows how to use ICE scoring—tuned for AEO/GEO—to prioritize subtopics that have real business intent and a high chance of being cited in AI answers.

New to clustering and long-tails? Start with Designing Topic Clusters for AEO and Query Fan-Out, then see how answer engines work in How AI Overviews Work and how AEO differs from SEO in AI Search Optimization vs. Traditional SEO.

The Scoring Rubric (1–5)

Use a Weighted ICE (with Ease)

Many teams weight the factors so business intent leads decisions. A common starting point is I: 0.5, C: 0.3, E: 0.2. Because Effort is “lower is better,” convert Effort to Ease as Ease = 6 − Effort on a 1–5 scale.

Weighted ICE = (wI * Impact) + (wC * Confidence) + (wE * Ease)
Default weights: wI = 0.5, wC = 0.3, wE = 0.2
Ease = 6 - Effort  (so less effort = more ease)

Scoring Sheet (Copy-Paste for Google Sheets/Excel)

Columns: A Subtopic · B Impact · C Confidence · D Effort · E Ease · F Weighted Score. Put weights in H2:H4 (I, C, E).

Ties? Use business tie-breakers: key account fit, feature launch support, seasonality, or whether a page unlocks multiple siblings.

Google Sheets Setup (Formulas)

1. Put weights in H2 = 0.5 (Impact), H3 = 0.3 (Confidence), H4 = 0.2 (Ease).
2. In E2 (Ease) use: =6 - D2 and copy down.
3. In F2 (Weighted ICE) use: =ROUND($H$2*B2 + $H$3*C2 + $H$4*E2, 2) and copy down.
4. Add data validation for B:C:D (numbers 1–5). Use conditional formatting to color by score.

Copy-Paste CSV (Template)

Subtopic,Impact,Confidence,Effort,Ease,Weighted_ICE
, , , ,=6-D2,=ROUND($H$2*B2+$H$3*C2+$H$4*E2,2)

Where ICE Lives in the AEO Workflow

Query Fan-Out → Cluster Design → ICE Prioritization → AEO Content Brief → Draft → Review → Ship → Measure → Refresh
(See: Query Fan-Out • Topic Clusters • AEO Content Brief Template)

Use the AEO Content Brief Template to turn your top-scoring items into answer-first pages with the right schema and links.

Best Practices & Pitfalls

• Define Impact with sales/CS. Include ICP fit, revenue motion, and product alignment—avoid “traffic for traffic’s sake.”
• Ground Confidence in evidence. Prefer topics with authoritative, citable sources and clear intent. For YMYL, plan expert review.
• Be honest on Effort. Account for SME calendars, legal, diagrams, and JSON-LD—rushed content rarely earns citations.
• Re-score quarterly. Markets shift; update weights and re-run.
• Document tie-breakers. Decide criteria up front to avoid endless meetings over close calls.

Further Reading & References

• Google Search Central: Creating helpful, people-first content
• Google: E-E-A-T guidance
• Internal links: Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), How AI Overviews Work, Designing Topic Clusters for AEO.