LLM SEO: Guide to ranking in AI search results

If you’ve spent the last decade learning how to keep up with Google’s updates, the new wave of AI search brings both good news and bad news.

First, the good news. LLM SEO is not a completely new universe that you need to relearn from zero. It’s more like an extension pack on top of your current SEO thinking.
The bad news, though, is that it does require some significant adjustments. Especially if you’re still optimizing only for traditional search behavior. But, this is not that bad, right?

So, your job these days is not to rank in search engines alone. Now, you have to earn LLM visibility and become citable. In other words, make your content the kind of source AI models naturally want to pick.

How do you do that? We’re about to explain it in detail in this guide.

What LLM SEO really is

LLM SEO is the practice of making your content findable and citable by AI search engines. But the real difference lies in the tactics and priorities you need to change compared to traditional SEO.

When it comes to the usual search engines, you mainly optimize for keywords and SERP intent. In LLM search, you optimize for:

Information structure,
Clarity and uniqueness,
Factual density,
Your broader digital reputation.

None of these will hurt your “normal” optimization, though. After all, a clear structure and better brand visibility will only benefit SEO, right? So, it isn’t an LLM vs. SEO battle. These are just two different approaches that are still interconnected.

A quick experiment: Is LLM different from traditional optimization?

Let’s run a simple experiment to understand how LLM “algorithms” differ from traditional optimization. We asked ChatGPT to give us some “web design agency” suggestions.

This is what we got:

Now, let’s check whether these brands quoted by ChatGPT are actually ranking well for the keyword “web design agency”.

Note: We’ve used Semrush and the US region for this. So, the results might differ a bit with a different setup. But they will still be similar.

The first two brands rank in positions #1 and #10. Awesome, this makes total sense.

But what about the rest? This is where it gets interesting.

One brand ranks in position #78 (!). This means that it’s basically invisible in SERPs: pretty much no one goes beyond the second page of search when googling.

But wait for it. It gets better than that. The two other brands aren’t even in the top 100 of SERPs. Moreover, one of those websites literally has no organic keywords except for their brand name.

And the other one only ranks for branding-related keywords.

So, how, in the world, did ChatGPT find them? And why did it decide to recommend them?

We’ll get into the exact tactics in the next section. But here is a quick answer to satisfy your curiosity. Both of these brands have 7K+ backlinks. And many of them come from articles like “X Best Web Design Agencies”.

That’s why, when assessing your link-building strategy next time, you might consider getting some link exchanges for listicles like that. And even if you can’t get an exchange deal, sponsored blog posts where your brand pays a fee could also work, as long as the content is high-quality.

To sum all this up, you can already take note that LLMs often pay more attention to:

The overall brand exposure (i.e., how often you get mentioned on other credible sites).
Listicles like “X Best…”.

6 tactics to rank in AI search

Now, let’s explore the strategy we’ve tested across multiple websites, which consistently earned citations in AI results. All you need is 6 steps.

1. Make your website AI-readable

Here, you have to combine technical SEO best practices and LLM optimization. A few non-negotiables for that are: site and content structure and schema.

Use a predictable site structure

Why is this a must? Because LLMs hate chaotic layouts. All they demand from you is clarity. So, make sure that your:

Website and URLs have a clear hierarchy (e.g., /section/subsection/topic).
Headings (H1, H2, H3, etc.) are consistent.
Sections have descriptive headings and target one point at a time.
Paragraphs stay short.
Content is clearly formatted with bullet points, lists, and visuals.

Use a schema where it makes sense

LLMs love structured data because it makes everything…clear (yes, again). So, it’s a good idea to add:

FAQ schema,
HowTo schema,
Product schema (if relevant),
Author schema (for credibility),
Article schema (for more chances to get cited).

2. Rethink keyword research for AI

The biggest mistake people still make is assuming that the phrases users type into Google are the same as what they ask ChatGPT or Perplexity. Well, surprise-surprise, they aren’t:

Traditional search queries are short and often clipped.
Prompts, on the other hand, sound more like a conversation.

Let’s take a look at the actual example.

Someone might google “espresso beans best”. Or something else a bit unnatural to a human ear, but completely okay for search engines.
But in an LLM, the same person would type: “I’m new to making espresso at home. What beans should I choose?”

That’s the real shift you must acknowledge. There is no reason to chase awkward keyword stems anymore. Instead, you want to understand how people think about your topic.

What could you do practically?

Keep targeting your usual search queries based on the volume and keyword difficulty that works for your domain authority, but also do this:

Target whole keyword clusters to make sure that you’re becoming an authority for your main topic. Start with something smaller if you can (personal finance, apartment gardening, etc.).
When writing content, don’t limit yourself to just search queries from your SEO tool. Create a question map that humans ask, and address your keyword from different angles. Go deeper to avoid creating a superficial “SEO-friendly post”.

3. Adjust your content strategy

Most people write with Google in mind, which means they care about ranking positions. But LLMs don’t care much about that (we’ve already seen this in our “web design agency” example). They look for content that is complete, trustworthy, and usable.

We’ve already touched on making your long-form pieces more practical and usable by answering more questions related to your topic. But there is more to that.

When writing blog posts, try to always add at least some of these elements:

Deep explainers with real-world examples: Models pull these because they answer the query properly. Besides, real-world examples are unique and actionable, which is something any AI search engine can’t replicate.
Comparisons and pros/cons breakdowns: These simply mimic the structure of AI answers. And when you create them based on your experience, you’re more likely to end up being cited.
Content focused on niche expertise: This gives you authority signals that LLMs notice. But this expertise only comes with time, after publishing dozens of quality content pieces and being mentioned in several external sources.
Original research or data-backed posts: LLMs want “safe” sources, and numbers feel that way. Besides, stats make your content more credible for humans as well.

If you add at least one of these to every post you publish, you have a much better chance of getting into AI Overviews and other AI search results.

4. Write with AI in mind

Who are we even writing for these days? Search engines, LLMs, or our readers? That’s a good question. Ideally, we should be writing for all of them. While it sounds like “mission impossible,” it isn’t that hard. And you’ll see why.

Writing “AI-friendly” content is mostly about little things that will benefit your overall SEO and make your copy clearer for visitors. Here is what you could do:

Lead with clear answers. If your H2 is “What is the Mediterranean diet?” Your first sentence of that section should ideally be “The Mediterranean diet is…” Be direct first and add examples, stories, etc., later.
Add summaries. You can add summaries, key points, TL; DRs, etc., in every major section or just one per article.
Use expert and human language. Something like, “Here’s what we tested…” or “From our experience…” sends a sign that you know your thing instead of just rephrasing what’s already out there.
Formatting. We’ve already mentioned it. But this is really important for LLM rankings, so once again: make your content look clean and skimmable.

5. Work on your brand reputation and external mentions

LLMs look beyond just your website to determine how credible you are. So, off-page SEO matters even more now for LLM visibility. If you remember the example we’ve seen in the beginning, most of the brand recommendations we got from ChatGPT didn’t have high DA/DR or top rankings in SERPs. Instead, they had lots of links. What could these be?

Mentions on industry blogs and other websites that are related to your niche.
Review platforms like Capterra, G2, etc.
Product/service reviews and interviews with your team.
Reddit threads and Quora answers.
Product/service roundups and those “X Best…” listicles.

If your brand is mentioned across trusted sources, LLMs treat you as someone they can trust. But how do you get all those brand mentions? While there are many link-building tips, you should always start with a strategy:

Find tactics that work for your business.
List websites and platforms that fit your requirements.
And turn it into a consistent process you actually care about.

From there, you’ll only need to find proper tools and backlink services that can make this process easier. And over time, you’ll see how your overall brand exposure helps improve your LLM rankings.

6. Become a true source

This is the single most important part of LLM optimization, and the one most of us underestimate.

LLMs don’t need a 1,500-word paraphrase of what’s already on the first page of Google. Why? They were trained on that. They already know it. What they want (and what they cite) is information that came from a human who has actually done the work.

Your content should reflect your true experience:

Things that worked for no logical reason,
Mistakes you made during campaigns,
Strategies you refined,
Real numbers.

Give super-specific examples, provide screenshots, and the weird little nuances that no generic guide mentions. If you want your articles cited, give the model something it can’t find anywhere else. Be the person who brings new angles, new questions, and new thoughts.

LLM visibility in action: Real examples that actually work

Let’s look at some pieces that show up in AI-generated answers, and understand why.

1. Clear examples and content depth

First, we have an article titled Indirect distribution channels explained with examples that made it to AIOs.

Why was it cited? There are at least 3 good reasons for that:

It includes very clear, real-life examples (you have a whole section on them).
It has depth and addresses exactly what users want to know (not just the definition, but also pros and cons, use cases, things to consider, indirect vs. direct channels, etc.).
It’s detailed and non-fluffy with a structure that LLMs understand.

2. A listicle with detailed descriptions

The next example is an article on Google alternatives.

Here are the reasons why this one has worked:

The structure is clean and understandable for both humans and AI.

It’s a listicle, and it’s something that LLMs like, as we’ve already seen.

You get a detailed description of each tool with unique features and best use cases.

3. Original research within your area of expertise

Here comes the research titled How much should you pay for a guest post [We analyzed 37,542 websites].

There was no doubt that this guide would end up in AIOs. Why? Because:

It’s original research within the expertise and topic authority.
The part that “we analyzed 37K+ websites” gives actual credibility.
The content is very detailed because you can see prices based on traffic, domain authority, niche, geography, etc.

Conclusion

You can safely say that traditional optimization was about rankings, while LLM SEO is about being chosen as a reliable source. Now, you’re competing for trust.

The path to earning AI visibility is not as hard as it may seem. But it requires you to be intentional. Be generous with your knowledge and transparent with your experience, and you’ll get there.