LLMs vs SEO: What’s Changing in Search Discovery

Search is changing – and not in a slow, creeping way. It’s flipping on its head.

For years, SEO has been about keywords, rankings, and that sweet spot on Google’s first page. You wrote for search engines so people could find you. That was the deal.

But something big is happening now. Instead of just matching words, search engines are trying to understand what users actually want. And it’s not just Google quietly tweaking its algorithm anymore. We’ve got Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini stepping in, answering questions directly, and sometimes skipping the whole “10 blue links” thing altogether.

That’s great for users. Ask something, get an answer. No more hunting for that one paragraph buried on page three. 

So, what does this mean for brands and SEO pros who’ve spent years mastering the old rules? If AI tools are the new gatekeepers of information, where does that leave websites?

Is SEO dead? Are we all just writing for robots now? Or is there a smarter way to show up on search engines? That’s what we’re digging into, because online search tactics are getting rewritten.

Traditional SEO: what’s worked until now

For years, SEO has been about three main things: keywords, backlinks, and answer the search intent. If you nailed these basics with solid on-page structure, internal linking, clean meta tags, you stood a good chance of climbing the ranks.

Even better if you landed a featured snippet – that neat little box at the top that made you look like the authority.

Google’s job was to crawl your site, index your content, and decide where it should show up based on how well it matched what someone typed in. So naturally, SEO became all about making your site crawlable, indexable, and rankable.

Everything came back to one goal: show up when people search. So what’s happening now?

LLMs: a new layer of search discovery

Large language models (LLMs) – like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Bing Copilot – don’t search the web the way Google does. They don’t return a list of links. They return answers.

LLMs are trained on massive amounts of data, which means they’ve already read a big part of the internet. So when someone asks a question, the model isn’t really searching in real time. It’s generating a response based on what it’s learned.

This means people aren’t just “searching” anymore, they’re having conversations with AI. The discovery process is shorter, more direct, and less frustrating for the user.

That’s a huge shift. It means users can skip the click entirely. They don’t have to visit your blog post when they just get the summary. Maybe your brand gets mentioned. Maybe not.

Search discovery is not just about ranking on Google anymore; it’s about making sure your information is good enough to be picked up and shared by AI-powered tools. In other words, the answer box is the new front page.

Dig deeper: LLMs.txt: The New SEO Hack for AI-Powered Search

Key differences between SEO and LLM-based discovery

SEO and LLMs both aim to connect people with information – but they take very different routes to get there.

Content access vs. content generation

• Traditional SEO is about getting found. You create content, optimize pages, add schema, and if Google decides it’s useful, people can access it through search. 
• LLMs flip that model. They generate content on the spot, often pulling from a mix of sources or sometimes, just their own training data. 
• Instead of sending people to your website, they might just paraphrase it into a neat summary in the chat, no click needed.

SERP rankings vs. AI citations/answers

• Old-school SEO is obsessed with SERP rankings-where you show up on Google’s results page. The higher, the better. Spot #1 gets the most clicks, and so on. 
• With LLMs, there are no rankings – there’s just the answer. Sometimes you get citations (like in Perplexity or Bing Copilot), but often, you just get a direct answer. Your brand might be mentioned, or it might not. 
• The “ranking” is now about being included in the AI’s response, not just showing up as a blue link.

Clicks to site vs. information retention in AI

• SEO has always been about driving traffic – get more clicks, get more customers. 
• But LLMs can answer a user’s question without them ever leaving the chat. 
• Your information might help the AI answer, but you may not see a spike in site visits.

Structured markup vs. semantic understanding

• SEO loves structure: schema markup, meta tags, headings. You make it easy for Google’s bots to understand your content. 
• LLMs go deeper. They use semantic understanding, meaning they try to grasp the actual intent and context behind a query. They’re not just looking for keywords or structured data, but for meaning, relationships, and relevance. 
• Schema still matters.

Bottom line: SEO is about being visible in the index. LLMs are about being useful in the answer. Different rules, different outcomes.

How LLMs are changing user behavior

It’s time to accept the changing user behaviour. People have started asking ChatGPT stuff they used to Google earlier. You type a question, and the answer just appears, often in a neat paragraph, with no need to hop from site to site.

And it’s not just theory. The numbers back it up. In 2025, nearly 60% of Google searches end without a single click to an external website. A 2024 study from Gartner predicts that over 25% of all search interactions will happen through AI chatbots by 2026. 

And with Google’s new AI Overviews, this shift is only accelerating. In March 2025, 13.14% of all Google queries triggered an AI Overview, up from just 6.49% in January.  Even more telling, 88.1% of queries that trigger an AI Overview are informational, meaning users are getting direct answers for the kinds of questions they used to research across multiple sites. 

Industries like Science (+22.27%), Health (+20.33%), People & Society (+18.83%), and Law & Government (+15.18%) are seeing the fastest growth in AI Overview coverage, showing just how fast user habits are shifting in high-trust, information-heavy spaces.

Zero-click searches have reached a new high. A study conducted by Rand Fishkin of SparkToro using clickstream data from Datos (a Semrush company), found that in 2024, approximately 58.5% of Google searches in the U.S. and 59.7% in the EU resulted in zero clicks.

For one of our clients, we saw organic traffic disappearing. On inquiring about what went wrong, we were surprised to find out that the traffic went to LLM. In the screenshot below, you can see the drop in organic traffic and a raise in LLM referral. ⬇️

When we say AI chatbots are answering user queries, we’re not just talking about simple stuff like “weather in Paris” or “NBA scores.” LLMs are handling complex, exploratory queries like “What’s the difference between LLMs and traditional SEO?” or “How do I optimize my site for AI Overviews?” These models pull from a massive pool of sources and serve up answers that used to take several clicks and a lot of reading to find.

Tools like Perplexity already combine real-time web browsing with conversational answers. Gemini answers follow-up questions. Bing Copilot pulls in citations but rarely makes you click unless you want to. This is zero-click search on steroids: users ask, LLMs answer, and websites often don’t get a visit at all.

Instead of hunting down info across five tabs, users now get a personalized, summarized take without ever seeing your site.

What this means for your SEO strategy

First, no – SEO isn’t dead.

But if you’re still playing by the old rules, you’re going to get left behind. The reality is, search is evolving, and your strategy needs to evolve with it. 

Instead of just optimizing for Google’s crawler, you now need to consider AIs that are scraping, summarizing, and remixing your content into answers.

Real results: Quoleady clients featured in LLMs and Google AIO

Here’s what LLM visibility actually looks like in practice. Our clients have seen their brands and content show up directly in Google AI Overviews and LLM-powered answers across the web.

ResponseScribe featured in Google AI Overviews:

Our content for ResponseScribe was cited right in Google’s AI-generated summaries, putting their brand in front of users.

Pass Kit and Loop Loyalty highlighted in LLM answers:

Both Pass Kit and Loop Loyalty have been referenced as authoritative sources by LLMs, including in Google AI Overviews and major chatbot platforms. Their expertise and solutions are now part of the instant answers users see.

These results show how strategic, well-structured content can get you cited by LLMs and Google AI Overviews.

Learn about how to create LLM referral report in GA4

Optimizing for LLM discovery: what you can do

So, you want your brand to show up in AI answers, not just on Google’s results page? Here’s how to give your content the best shot at getting noticed (and cited) by LLMs.

1. Create content that gets cited by LLMs

LLMs love clear, fact-based snippets. Think of your content like a cheat sheet for AI: short, direct statements, stats, and answers that are easy to grab and rephrase. The more “fact-checkable” your content, the more likely it is to show up in an AI answer. Use upfront summaries, bullet points, and Q&A sections to make your expertise obvious and easy to quote.

2. Be an authority in your niche

LLMs don’t just want any answer, they want the right answer from a trusted source. Build authority through guides, case studies, research, or thought leadership. If you’re the go-to source for your niche, AIs are more likely to pull from your content. 

Authority still matters – but today, you’re earning it with AI, not just with human readers. Consistency matters too: keep your brand details and messaging the same across your website, social channels, and anywhere else you show up online.

3. Add structured data, schema markup, and Q&A formats

It’s technical, but it works. Structured data helps LLMs understand what your page means, not just what it says. Use schema markup (FAQ, How-To, Article, Organization, etc.) to help AIs understand exactly what your content is about. Q&A formats work especially well because LLMs love clear questions and direct answers.

4. Distribute content across platforms that LLMs crawl

LLMs don’t just read your website. They scan through Reddit threads, Quora answers, forum posts, and even your public LinkedIn content. So repurpose your insights. Join the discussions. Get quoted. These platforms can become indirect SEO assets, especially if your domain isn’t already ranking. The more places your expertise shows up, the more likely it is to be picked up by language models.

5. Monitor how your brand shows up in AI answers.

We should be cautious about checking in your personal ChatGPT account because just like with google the results could be personalized. If I ask my ChatGPT what’s the best SaaS content marketing agency in the world, it will say Quoleady. If you ask the same you won’t get the same answer.

6. Build holistic topic clusters:

Don’t just write one-off articles and hope for the best. Cover your main topic from every angle: beginner’s guides, advanced how-tos, expert interviews, case studies, and everything in between. Link them all together so it’s obvious you’re the go-to source. LLMs notice when your content is deep and connected-they’re more likely to trust you (and cite you) if you’re clearly the authority.

7. Share unique data and original insights:

Got your own stats, a mini-survey, or a hot take from an industry expert? Put it front and center. The more unique and verifiable your content, the more likely an AI will grab it for an answer. LLMs love unique, verifiable information and are more likely to cite your content if it stands out.

8. Keep your content fresh and up-to-date:

LLMs and AI Overviews prioritize fresh content. If your stats are from 2019 or your “ultimate guide” hasn’t changed in years, you’re going to get skipped. Update your articles with the latest info, swap in new examples, and put a “last updated” date on your pages. It signals to both humans and AIs that you’re on top of things.

9. Optimize for readability and snippetability:

If you start thinking like an AI, what is easier to pull into an answer box? Short paragraphs, bullet points, clear headings. The more scannable your content, the more likely it is to show up in Google’s AI Overviews or chatbot responses. Skip the walls of text and make your answers pop.

10. Understand LLM knowledge cut-offs:

Some models only know what’s current as of their last update. If you’re in a fast-moving industry, focus on getting your content into sources LLMs retrain on, or prioritize platforms with real-time browsing

Bonus tips:

• Use conversational language and anticipate the kinds of questions users (and AIs) might ask.
• Link related articles internally so LLMs see your site as a connected, trustworthy resource.

The end goal is to make your content not just rankable, but referenceable. It should be easy for both humans and AIs to understand, trust, and cite. Because to win a spot in the LLMs, it is not enough to be found. You’ve got to be worth quoting.

Will traditional SEO still matter?

Short answer: yes. Just not in the same starring role.

Google isn’t ditching search results. What’s happening is more of a mashup: AI overviews and traditional results are showing up side by side. Sometimes you get a direct answer, sometimes you get a list of sites, and sometimes you get both.

Still useful. But now it fuels two things:

• The search results people still click
• The AI summaries people read instead of clicking

In other words, SEO isn’t going away. It’s just sharing the stage. Your optimized content helps you show up in both places: on Google’s results page and inside AI-powered answers. The better your SEO, the more likely you are to be the source that gets cited, summarized, and surfaced – no matter where the question gets asked.

Conclusion: don’t choose between SEO and LLMs – cover both

This isn’t an either and or situation. If you want to stay discoverable, you can’t pick sides.

Be it SEO or LLMs. It’s both, all the time. Ignoring either channel means missing out on relevant traffic from your target audience.

Write for both bots: Google’s crawler and AI chatbots. Keep publishing content that’s clear, structured, and genuinely helpful. Use simple language. Add schema. Make your content worth citing, not just clicking. Whether it’s a human, a crawler, or an LLM reading it, the goal’s the same: be the trusted voice they want to reference.

Search discovery is evolving fast. But if you stay focused on quality, clarity, and authority, you’ll be ready for whatever comes next. Because at the end of the day, it’s not just about ranking. It’s about showing up where the answers are.

Want your brand to show up in Google’s AI Overviews and chatbot answers? Quoleady helps SaaS companies create content that gets cited and not just ranked.

We’ve already helped dozens of clients get featured in LLM responses. Ready to see your brand in AI answers? Let’s talk.

Also, check out our latest research on whether Reddit influences LLM results?

FAQs about LLMs vs SEO

How is optimizing for LLMs different from traditional SEO?

Traditional SEO focuses on ranking your pages in search results, while optimizing for LLMs means creating clear, authoritative content that AI models can easily understand, cite, and reuse in their answers.

Can my existing content be adapted for LLM discovery?

Absolutely! With some tweaks like adding structured data, clarifying key points, and making answers more direct-you can make your current content more AI-friendly and increase its chances of being featured.

Which platforms do LLMs crawl besides my website?

LLMs also scan public platforms like Reddit, forums, LinkedIn, and other community sites. Sharing your expertise across these channels can boost your chances of being sourced by AI.

How do I measure if my content is being used by LLMs?

You can monitor AI citations and featured snippets using specialized SEO tools, track changes in traffic patterns, and keep an eye on how your brand appears in AI-generated answers to understand your impact.