{"id":191075,"date":"2025-09-02T04:38:56","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T09:38:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/?p=191075"},"modified":"2025-09-02T09:05:50","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T14:05:50","slug":"llm-search","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/llm-search\/","title":{"rendered":"What We Actually Know About Optimizing for LLM Search"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"intro-txt\">When you search on the internet, there\u2019s a good chance LLMs are involved somewhere in the process.&nbsp;<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want any chance of visibility in LLM search, you need to understand how to make your brand visible in AI answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The latest wave of experts claim to know the \u201csecret\u201d to AI visibility, but the reality is we\u2019re all still figuring it out as we&nbsp;go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here is what we <em>do<\/em> know so far, based on ongoing research and experimentation.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"What is LLM search?\" data-section=\"llm-search\">\n<h2><a id=\"post-191075-_6arf0tc1ivld\"><\/a>What is LLM search?<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>LLM search refers to how large language models gather and deliver information to users\u2014whether that\u2019s via Google\u2019s AI Overviews, ChatGPT, or Perplexity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Where search engines hand you a list of options, an LLM goes straight to producing a natural language response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sometimes that response is based on what the model already knows, other times it leans on external sources of information like up-to-date web results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That second case is what we call <strong>LLM search<\/strong>\u2014when the model actively fetches new information, often from cached web pages or live search indices, using a process known as retrieval-augmented generation (RAG).<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"How does LLM search compare to traditional search?\" data-section=\"llm-search-traditional-search\">\n<h2><a id=\"post-191075-_667hetb0ntep\"><\/a>How does LLM search compare to traditional search?<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Like traditional search, LLM search is becoming an ecosystem in its own right\u2014only the end goal is a little different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Traditional search was about ranking web pages higher in search results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>LLM search is about ensuring that your brand and content are discoverable and extractable in AI-generated answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<table id=\"tablepress-458\" class=\"tablepress tablepress-id-458 tablepress-responsive tablepress-ahrefs-width-720px\">\n<thead>\n<tr class=\"row-1 odd\">\n\t<th class=\"column-1\">Characteristic<\/th><th class=\"column-2\">Traditional search<\/th><th class=\"column-3\">LLM search<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr class=\"row-2 even\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Main goal<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Help people find the most relevant web&nbsp;pages.<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Give people a straight answer in natural language, backed by relevant sources.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-3 odd\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Answers you&nbsp;get<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">A list of links, snippets, ads, and sometimes panels with quick&nbsp;facts.<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">A written response, often with short explanations or a few cited\/mentioned sources.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-4 even\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Where answers come&nbsp;from<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">A constantly updated index of the&nbsp;web.<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">A mix of the model\u2019s training data and info retrieved from search engines.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-5 odd\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">How fresh it&nbsp;is<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Very fresh\u2014new pages are crawled and indexed all the&nbsp;time.<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Not as fresh\u2014Retrieves cached versions of web pages, but mostly current.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-6 even\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Query composition<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Short-tail, intent-ambiguous keyword queries.<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Conversational, ultra-long-tail queries.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-7 odd\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">What happens to traffic<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Pushes users toward websites, generating clicks.<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Intent often met inside the answer, meaning fewer clicks.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-8 even\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Ways to influence<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">SEO best practices: keywords, backlinks, site speed, structured data,&nbsp;etc.<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Being a trusted source the model might cite: mentions and links from authority sites, fresh, well-structured, and accessible content, etc.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<!-- #tablepress-458 from cache -->\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"How to optimize for LLM search\" data-section=\"optimize-llm-search\">\n<h2><a id=\"post-191075-_equ504wy51qy\"><\/a>How to optimize for LLM search<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>AI companies don\u2019t reveal how LLMs select sources, so it\u2019s hard to know how to influence their outputs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s what we\u2019ve learned about LLM optimization so far, based on primary and third-party LLM search studies.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"1. Boost your brand\u2019s presence on third party websites\" data-section=\"step-one\">\n<h3><a id=\"post-191075-_mu5onet1wrvk\"><\/a>1. Boost your brand\u2019s presence on third party websites<\/h3>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>We studied 75,000 brands across millions of AI Overviews, and found that <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-overview-brand-correlation\/\">branded web mentions correlated<\/a> most strongly with brand mentions in AI Overviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1769\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-1.png\" alt=\"Horizontal bar chart titled &quot;Factors that correlate with brand appearance in AI overviews&quot; based on a study of ~75K brands from Ahrefs. Shows Spearman correlation values, with &quot;Branded web mentions&quot; having the highest correlation at 0.664, followed by &quot;Branded anchors&quot; at 0.527, and decreasing values down to &quot;Number of site pages&quot; at 0.17.\" class=\"wp-image-191076\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-1.png 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-1-384x425.png 384w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-1-768x849.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-1-1389x1536.png 1389w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More brand mentions mean more training examples for a LLM to learn&nbsp;from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The LLM effectively \u201csees\u201d those brands more during training, and can better associate them with relevant topics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But that doesn\u2019t mean you should go chasing mentions for mentions\u2019 sake. Focus, instead, on building a brand <em>worth<\/em> mentioning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Quality matters more than volume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s proof. <a href=\"https:\/\/checkr.com\/\">Checkr, Inc<\/a> did a study on the best job markets, which got picked up by no more than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=checkr+best+job+market&amp;num=10&amp;sca_esv=74352027cc1c8752&amp;biw=1800&amp;bih=1004&amp;source=lnt&amp;tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A7%2F22%2F2025%2Ccd_max%3A8%2F28%2F2025&amp;tbm=nws\">a handful<\/a> of authoritative publications, including Newsweek and&nbsp;CNBC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet, within the month, Checkr was being mentioned consistently in relevant AI conversations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/feed\/update\/urn:li:activity:7362092296093245440\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"878\" height=\"1708\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-2.jpg\" alt=\"LinkedIn post by Noah Greenberg, CEO at Stacker, discussing how PR and content teams impact ChatGPT results. Includes a case study about Checkr's job market study and shows a ChatGPT response about best job markets, with arrows pointing to &quot;This is the new top of funnel&quot; and highlighting how Checkr appears as the authority source.\" class=\"wp-image-191077\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-2.jpg 878w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-2-218x425.jpg 218w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-2-768x1494.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-2-790x1536.jpg 790w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 878px) 100vw, 878px\"><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I verified this across different ChatGPT profiles to account for personalization variance, and Checkr was mentioned every&nbsp;time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/does-being-mentioned-on-highly-linked-pages-influence-ai-mentions\/\">research by Ahrefs\u2019 Product Advisor, Patrick Stox<\/a>, securing placements on pages with <strong>high authority<\/strong> or <strong>high traffic<\/strong> will compound your AI visibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mentions in Google\u2019s AI Overviews correlate strongly with brand mentions on heavily-linked pages (\u03c1 ~0.70)\u2014and we see a similar effect for brands showing up on high-traffic pages (\u03c1 ~0.55).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1264\" height=\"1200\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-3.png\" alt=\"Stacked bar chart titled &quot;Mentions on highly cited web pages vs. AI visibility correlations&quot; showing Spearman's p values for three AI platforms. Google AI Overviews shows the highest correlation (approximately 0.7), ChatGPT shows a very low correlation (approximately 0.1), and Perplexity shows a moderate correlation (approximately 0.4). Each bar uses different colors - blue for Google AI Overviews, orange for ChatGPT, and green for Perplexity.\" class=\"wp-image-191078\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-3.png 1264w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-3-448x425.png 448w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-3-768x729.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1264px) 100vw, 1264px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s only a matter of time before AI assistants begin assessing qualitative dimensions like sentiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When that happens, positive associations and lasting authority will become the real differentiators in LLM search.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Focus on building <strong>quality<\/strong> awareness through:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-191075-_p7pwrkdbruea\"><\/a>PR &amp; content partnerships<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>For sustained AI visibility, collaborate with trusted sources and brands. This will help you build those quality associations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At Ahrefs it\u2019s no secret that we\u2014like many\u2014are trying to boost our authority around AI topics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To find collaboration opportunities, we can head to <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/brand-radar\">Ahrefs Brand Radar<\/a> and use the Cited Domains report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1989\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-4.png\" alt=\" Screenshot of Ahrefs Brand Radar showing cited domains for &quot;AI SEO&quot; market analysis. Displays a trending graph with multiple colored lines from June to August 2025. Below shows a table of domains including www.reddit.com (80 responses, 547K volume), www.techradar.com (61 responses, 499K volume, highlighted in yellow), en.wikipedia.org, www.linkedin.com, and www.forbes.com (highlighted in yellow).\" class=\"wp-image-191079\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-4.png 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-4-438x425.png 438w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-4-768x746.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-4-1536x1492.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In this example, I\u2019ve set my niche to \u201cAI SEO\u201d, and am looking at the most cited domains in ChatGPT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are two authoritative publications that may just be open to a PR pitch: Tech Radar and Forbes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can repeat this analysis for your own market. See which sites show up consistently across multiple niches, and develop ongoing collaborations with the most visible ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-191075-_brao5enbbgg8\"><\/a>Reviews and community-building<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>To build positive mentions, encourage genuine discussion and user word-of-mouth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We do this constantly at Ahrefs. Our CMO, Tim Soulo, puts <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/timsoulo\/status\/1952335762776859062\">call outs for feedback<\/a> across social media. Our Product Advisor, Patrick Stox, contributes regularly to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/user\/patrickstox\/\">Reddit discussions<\/a>. And we point all our users to our <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.canny.io\/\">customer feedback site<\/a> where they can discuss, request, and upvote features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can use Ahrefs Brand Radar to get started with your own community strategy. Head to the Cited Pages report, enter your domain, and check which UGC discussions are showing up in AI related to your&nbsp;brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1891\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-5.png\" alt=\" Screenshot of Ahrefs Brand Radar showing cited pages for ChatGPT mentions. Contains filtering options and shows a graph with trend lines over time. Below displays Reddit URLs with various subreddit names highlighted in yellow (DigitalMarketing, SEO_cases, SEO, GuestPost, seogrowth) along with response counts and volume metric\" class=\"wp-image-191080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-5.png 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-5-460x425.png 460w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-5-768x709.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-5-1536x1418.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In this example, I\u2019ve taken note of the subreddits that regularly mention Ahrefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One tack we could take here is to build a bigger presence in those communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My colleague, SQ, wrote a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.growandconvert.com\/marketing\/reddit-marketing\/\">great guide<\/a> on how to show up authentically on Reddit as a brand. It\u2019s a couple of years old now, but all the advice still rings true. I recommend reading it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Brand messaging<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>When you get your messaging right, you give people the right language to describe your brand\u2014which creates more awareness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The more the message gets repeated, the more space it takes up in a customer\u2019s mind, and in LLM search.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This gives you a greater \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/posts\/jes-scholz_cookies-are-dying-but-llm-memories-are-born-activity-7325779612469264384-H2n_\/\">share of memory<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can gauge the impact of your brand messaging by tracking your co-mentions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Head to the main dashboard of Ahrefs Brand Radar. Then:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Add your co-mention topic in the \u201cbrand\u201d field<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Add your brand name in the \u201cmarket or niche\u201d field<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Head to the AI Share of Voice report<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Select the AI platform you want to analyze<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Track your co-mention percentage over&nbsp;time<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1429\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-6.png\" alt=\"Screenshot of Ahrefs Brand Radar overview comparing &quot;AI&quot; brand against competitors (Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot). Shows AI visibility metrics across platforms with &quot;AI Share of Voice&quot; tab selected. Displays individual platform performance including AI Overviews (6.8%), AI Mode (98.3%), ChatGPT (29.7%, highlighted in orange box), Gemini (71.5%), and Perplexity (60.3%). Includes a trend graph and numbered callouts (1-5) highlighting key interface elements.\" class=\"wp-image-191081\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-6.png 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-6-609x425.png 609w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-6-768x536.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-6-1536x1072.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This shows me that 29.7% of \u201cAhrefs\u201d mentions in ChatGPT also mention the topic of&nbsp;AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we want to dominate AI conversations in LLM search\u2014which, incidentally, we do\u2014we can track this percentage over time to understand brand alignment, and see which tactics move the needle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>*<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When it comes to boosting brand awareness, <strong>relevance<\/strong> is&nbsp;key.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You want your off-site content to align with your product and&nbsp;story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The more relevant mentions are to your brand, the more likely people will be to continue to mention, search, and cite&nbsp;it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think of it in terms of our Business Potential matrix. We aim to write about topics that score \u201c3\u201d on the Business Potential scale\u2014these are the ones that can\u2019t be discussed <em>without<\/em> mentioning Ahrefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1422\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-7.png\" alt=\"Ahrefs Business Potential matrix with a scoring system from 0-3. Shows four rows explaining what each score means, with examples. Score 3 represents &quot;irreplaceable solution,&quot; Score 2 is &quot;helps quite a bit,&quot; Score 1 is &quot;fleeting mention,&quot; and Score 0 is &quot;no way to mention product.&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-191082\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-7.png 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-7-478x425.png 478w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-7-768x683.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-7-1536x1365.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>When it comes to LLM search, your MO should be covering high Business Potential topics to create a feedback loop of web mentions and AI visibility.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"2. Structure content to please LLMs\u2014without losing readers\" data-section=\"step-two\">\n<h3>2. Structure content to please LLMs\u2014without losing readers<\/h3>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>A lot of advice has been flying around about structuring content for AI and LLM search\u2014not all of it substantiated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Personally, I\u2019ve been cautious in giving advice on this topic, because it\u2019s not something we\u2019ve had a chance to study&nbsp;yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Which is why Dan Petrovic\u2019s recent article on how <a href=\"https:\/\/dejan.ai\/blog\/inside-chromes-semantic-engine-a-technical-analysis-of-history-embeddings\/\">Chrome and Google\u2019s AI handle embedding<\/a> was such a welcome addition to the conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s what we took from&nbsp;it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-191075-_o64xzollab65\"><\/a>Write \u201cBLUF\u201d content\u2014Bottom Line Up&nbsp;Front<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Chrome only ever considers the first 30 passages of a page for embeddings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That means you need to make sure your most important content appears early. Don\u2019t waste valuable passage slots on boilerplate, fluff, or weak intros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also, a very long article won\u2019t keep generating endless passages\u2014there\u2019s a ceiling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want coverage across multiple subtopics, create separate focused articles rather than one massive piece that risks being cut off midstream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-191075-_njwehxgqrwig\"><\/a>Organize your content logically<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Google\u2019s AI uses a \u201cTree-walking algorithm\u201d, meaning it follows the exact semantic HTML structure of a webpage from top to bottom\u2014which is why well-formatted and structured content is easier for it to process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Organize your content logically\u2014with clear headings, subheadings, and bulleted lists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1478\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-8.jpg\" alt=\"Side-by-side comparison showing HTML heading structure examples. Left side labeled &quot;Hard to skim&quot; shows improper heading hierarchy with h3, h2, then h1. Right side labeled &quot;Easy to skim&quot; shows proper hierarchy with h1, h2, then h3. Both examples include placeholder text lines.\" class=\"wp-image-191083\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-8.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-8-460x425.jpg 460w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-8-768x709.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-8-1536x1419.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve been doing this already anyway!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-191075-_y2g8i56dqnqi\"><\/a>Keep content tight\u2014there\u2019s no need to \u201cchunk\u201d<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>LLMs break content into smaller \u201cpassages\u201d (chunks) for embedding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/dejan.ai\/blog\/inside-chromes-semantic-engine-a-technical-analysis-of-history-embeddings\/\">Dan Petrovic\u2019s findings<\/a>, Chrome uses a \u201cDocumentChunker Algorithm\u201d, which only analyzes 200-word passages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What this means:<\/strong> structure matters\u2014each section is likely to be retrieved in isolation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What this doesn\u2019t mean:<\/strong> \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-chunk-optimization\/\">chunking<\/a>\u201d is the answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You don\u2019t need to make sure every section of your content works as its own standalone idea just <em>in case<\/em> it gets&nbsp;cited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And you definitely don\u2019t need to write articles like a series of status updates\u2014that\u2019s not something a user wants to&nbsp;read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead logically group paragraphs, and develop ideas cleanly\u2014so that they make sense even if they get spliced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1248\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-9.png\" alt=\"Side-by-side comparison of two webpage layouts showing content structure differences. The left layout (marked with red X) shows mixed content blocks with blue headers, light blue text sections, green highlighted areas, and orange sections scattered throughout in a less organized manner. The right layout (marked with green checkmark) displays a more structured approach with blue headers at the top, followed by organized green content blocks, then blue sections, and orange content at the bottom, demonstrating better visual hierarchy and organization.\" class=\"wp-image-191084\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-9.png 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-9-545x425.png 545w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-9-768x599.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-9-1536x1198.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Avoid long, rambling sections that might get cut off or split inefficiently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also, don\u2019t force redundancy in your writing\u2014AI systems can handle overlap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, Chrome uses the <code>overlap_passages<\/code> parameter to make sure that important context isn\u2019t lost across chunk boundaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, focus on natural flow rather than repeating yourself to \u201cbridge\u201d sections\u2014overlap is already built&nbsp;in.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"3. Build long-tail keyword content clusters\" data-section=\"step-three\">\n<h3><a id=\"post-191075-_ndhrqcfc40jq\"><\/a>3. Build long-tail keyword content clusters<\/h3>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Building content clusters and targeting niche user questions may increase your odds of being surfaced in an AI response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/insights-from-56-million-ai-overviews\/\">AI Overview research<\/a> shows that user prompts in AI are longer and more complex than those in traditional search.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1644\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-10.png\" alt=\"Line graph comparing &quot;AIO distribution vs. Normal search distribution by Word count.&quot; Shows two lines (blue for Non-AIO, red for AIO) plotting percentage against word count from 1-10+. AIO peaks at 3 words (24.96%) while Non-AIO peaks at 3 words (21.61%).\" class=\"wp-image-191085\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-10.png 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-10-414x425.png 414w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-10-768x789.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-10-1495x1536.png 1495w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In AI assistants like ChatGPT and Gemini, prompts skew ultra long-tail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Growth Marketing Manager at <a href=\"https:\/\/appsamurai.com\/\">AppSamurai<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/metehan.ai\/blog\/i-analyzed-1827-real-user-prompts-from-chatgpt-here-what-ive-found-agentic-search\/\">Metehan Ye\u015filyurt<\/a>, studied ~1,800 real ChatGPT conversations, and found the average prompt length came in at 42&nbsp;words&nbsp;(!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And long-tail prompts only multiply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>AI assistants essentially \u201cfan out\u201d prompts into numerous long-tail sub-queries. Then, they run those sub-queries through search engines to find the best sources to&nbsp;cite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Targeting long-tail keywords can therefore increase your odds of matching intent and winning citations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can get long-tail keyword ideas by performing a competitor gap analysis in Ahrefs Brand&nbsp;Radar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This shows you the prompts your competitors are visible for that you\u2019re not\u2014your AI prompt gap, if you&nbsp;will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Drop in your brand and competitors, hover over an AI assistant like ChatGPT, and click on \u201cOthers only\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1216\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-11.png\" alt=\"Screenshot of Ahrefs Brand Radar tool showing competitive analysis for Patagonia against competitors Arc'teryx, Columbia Sportswear, and Marmot. Displays overview metrics including AI Share of Voice (29.2%), Search demand (7M), and Web visibility (2.3M). Shows mention data across different platforms with ChatGPT highlighted showing 26.6K mentions.\" class=\"wp-image-191086\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-11.png 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-11-680x404.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-11-768x456.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-11-1536x912.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Then study the returning prompts for long-tail content ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1146\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-12.png\" alt=\"Screenshot of Ahrefs Brand Radar showing AI responses for Patagonia brand analysis. The interface displays a query &quot;Which brand camping tent is best?&quot; (highlighted in yellow) with 1.7K volume. \" class=\"wp-image-191087\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-12.png 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-12-680x381.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-12-768x430.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-12-1536x860.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>One theory by <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/LiLD7_tjn4o?t=1494\">Nathan Gotch<\/a> suggests that query filters in GSC containing <code>\/overview<\/code> or <code>\/search<\/code> reveal long-tail keywords performed by users in AI Mode\u2014so this is another potential source of long-tail content ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-13.jpg\" alt=\"Split-screen comparison from Nathan Gotch showing two Google Search Console Performance reports with red boxes highlighting query data. Both panels show similar layouts with query performance metrics, search appearances, and dates. The queries listed appear to be related to search visibility tracking and optimization tools, with various metrics like impressions and clicks.\" class=\"wp-image-191088\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-13.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-13-680x383.jpg 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-13-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-13-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Creating content to serve long-tail keywords is smart. But what\u2019s even more important is building content clusters covering every angle of a topic\u2014not just single queries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For this you can use tools like <a href=\"https:\/\/alsoasked.com\/\">Also Asked<\/a> or Ahrefs Parent Topics in <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/keywords-explorer\">Ahrefs Keyword Explorer<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just search a keyword, head to the Matching Terms report, and check out the Clusters by Parent Topic&nbsp;tab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then hit the Questions tab for pre-clustered, long-tail queries to target in your content\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"><div style=\"display: contents;\">\n\n<div data-mode=\"normal\" data-oembed=\"1\" data-provider=\"youtube\" id=\"arve-youtube-yuixpls0vk4\" style=\"max-width:900px;\" class=\"arve\">\n\t<div class=\"arve-inner\">\n\t\t<div style=\"aspect-ratio:4\/3\" class=\"arve-embed arve-embed--has-aspect-ratio\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"arve-ar\" style=\"padding-top:75.000000%\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t<iframe allow=\"accelerometer 'none';autoplay 'none';bluetooth 'none';browsing-topics 'none';camera 'none';clipboard-read 'none';clipboard-write;display-capture 'none';encrypted-media 'none';gamepad 'none';geolocation 'none';gyroscope 'none';hid 'none';identity-credentials-get 'none';idle-detection 'none';keyboard-map 'none';local-fonts;magnetometer 'none';microphone 'none';midi 'none';otp-credentials 'none';payment 'none';picture-in-picture;publickey-credentials-create 'none';publickey-credentials-get 'none';screen-wake-lock 'none';serial 'none';summarizer 'none';sync-xhr;usb 'none';web-share;window-management 'none';xr-spatial-tracking 'none';\" allowfullscreen class=\"arve-iframe fitvidsignore\" credentialless data-arve=\"arve-youtube-yuixpls0vk4\" data-lenis-prevent data-src-no-ap=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/YUIxpLs0Vk4?feature=oembed&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;rel=0&amp;autohide=1&amp;playsinline=0&amp;autoplay=0\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"675\" loading=\"lazy\" name referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-presentation allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/YUIxpLs0Vk4?feature=oembed&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;rel=0&amp;autohide=1&amp;playsinline=0&amp;autoplay=0\" title width=\"900\"><\/iframe>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>To see how much ownership you have over existing long-tail query permutations, add a Target filter for your domain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1806\" height=\"2048\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-14.png\" alt=\"Screenshot of Ahrefs Keywords Explorer for &quot;coffee&quot; showing &quot;Clusters by parent topic&quot; analysis based on topics like &quot;how much caffeine in coffee,&quot; &quot;is coffee good for,&quot; &quot;does coffee,&quot; etc. Below shows ranking positions for the target site &quot;rhealsuperfoods.com&quot; for coffee-related keywords.\" class=\"wp-image-191089\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-14.png 1806w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-14-375x425.png 375w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-14-768x871.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-14-1355x1536.png 1355w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1806px) 100vw, 1806px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Content clusters aren\u2019t new. But evidence points to them being of even greater importance in LLM search.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"4. Optimize content for commands\u2014not just questions\" data-section=\"step-four\">\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. Optimize content for commands\u2014not just questions<\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>All of the problems that Google couldn\u2019t solve are now being handed over to&nbsp;AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>LLM search can handle multi-step tasks, multi-modal content, and reasoning, making it pretty formidable for task assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Going back to the ChatGPT research mentioned earlier, Metehan Ye\u015filyurt found that <a href=\"https:\/\/metehan.ai\/blog\/i-analyzed-1827-real-user-prompts-from-chatgpt-here-what-ive-found-agentic-search\/\">75% of AI prompts<\/a> are commands\u2014not questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This suggests that a significant number of users are turning to AI for task completion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In response, you may want to start <strong>action mapping<\/strong>: considering all the possible tasks your customers will want to complete that may in some way involve your brand or its products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To map customer tasks, head to <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer\">Ahrefs Competitor Analysis<\/a> and set up a search to see where your competitors are visible\u2013but you\u2019re not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1460\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-15.jpg\" alt=\"Screenshot of Ahrefs Competitive Analysis setup page. Shows options to analyze competitors' websites compared to yours, with tabs for &quot;keywords,&quot; &quot;referring domains,&quot; and &quot;referring pages.&quot; Contains input fields for target website (ahrefs.com) and competitor websites (backlinko.com, semrush.com, moz.com, seranking.com) with an orange &quot;Show keyword opportunities&quot; button at the bottom.\" class=\"wp-image-191090\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-15.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-15-596x425.jpg 596w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-15-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-15-1536x1095.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Then filter by relevant action keywords (e.g. \u201cmake\u201d, \u201ctrack\u201d, \u201ccreate\u201d, \u201cgenerate\u201d) and question keywords (e.g. \u201chow to\u201d or \u201chow&nbsp;can\u201d&nbsp;).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1927\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-16.png\" alt=\"Screenshot of Ahrefs Content Gap tool comparing ahrefs.com against competitors. Shows keyword analysis with filters applied for phrases containing &quot;make or track or create or...&quot; Displays a table of keywords like &quot;how to get more views on youtube&quot; with metrics including search volume, keyword difficulty, and competitor positions.\" class=\"wp-image-191091\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-16.png 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-16-452x425.png 452w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-16-768x723.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-16-1536x1445.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you know what core actions your audience wants to take, create content to support those jobs-to-be-done.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"5. Keep content fresh\" data-section=\"step-five\">\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">5. Keep content fresh<\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>We analyzed 17 million citations across 7 AI search platforms, and found that <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/do-ai-assistants-prefer-to-cite-fresh-content\/\">AI assistants prefer citing fresher content<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Content cited in AI is 25.7% fresher than content in organic SERPs, and AI assistants show a 13.1% preference for more recently <em>updated<\/em> content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ChatGPT and Perplexity in particular prioritize newer pages, and tend to order their citations from newest to oldest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why does freshness matter so much? Because RAG (retrieval-augmented generation) usually kicks in when a query requires fresh information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the model already \u201cknows\u201d the answer from its training data, it doesn\u2019t need to search.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But when it doesn\u2019t know, it looks for the most recent information available\u2014especially when it comes to emerging subjects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the example below, Hubspot pushed an update to a blog on \u201csmall business ideas\u201d on April 9th, based on Content Changes data in <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer\">Ahrefs Site Explorer<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1073\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-17.png\" alt=\"Screenshot of Ahrefs Site Explorer showing organic traffic performance for blog.hubspot.com\/sales\/small-business-ideas. The graph displays a dramatic drop in organic traffic around April 9th 2025 (marked as &quot;9th April update&quot;), falling from around 200K+ monthly visits to under 50K, followed by a recovery to about 150-200K by August 2025.\" class=\"wp-image-191092\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-17.png 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-17-680x356.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-17-768x402.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-17-1536x805.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The article is now their most cited blog in AI Overviews, according to Ahrefs Brand Radar. That single content update has driven 1,135 new AI Overview mentions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"850\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-18.png\" alt=\"Screenshot of Ahrefs Brand Radar showing a &quot;Cited pages&quot; report with filtering options. The graph displays multiple colored trend lines over time from August 2025 to August, with a notable spike around April 9th marked as &quot;9th April update.&quot; Below shows search results with blog.hubspot.com pages, including metrics for responses and volume.\" class=\"wp-image-191093\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-18.png 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-18-680x282.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-18-768x319.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-18-1536x638.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Our research suggests that keeping your content updated can increase its appeal to AI engines looking for the latest information.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"6. Make sure AI crawlers can access your site\" data-section=\"step-six\">\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">6. Make sure AI crawlers can access your&nbsp;site<\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>For your content to be cited in AI answers, you need to allow AI bots to crawl&nbsp;it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A growing number of sites have started blocking AI scrapers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Going by our own research, <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-bot-block-rates\/\">~5.9% of all websites disallow OpenAI\u2019s GPTBot<\/a> over concerns about data use or resource strain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1399\" height=\"2048\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-19.png\" alt=\"Horizontal bar chart titled &quot;AI Bots blocked (%)&quot; showing blocking percentages for various AI crawlers and bots. All bars appear to be roughly the same length (around 6% on the scale), indicating similar blocking rates across different AI bots including GPTBot, CCBot, Amazonbot, Bytespider, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended, Anthropic-AI, FacebookBot, and many others. The chart lists approximately 20 different AI bots with consistent blocking percentages across all entries.\" class=\"wp-image-191094\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-19.png 1399w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-19-290x425.png 290w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-19-768x1124.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-19-1049x1536.png 1049w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1399px) 100vw, 1399px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>While that\u2019s understandable, blocking might also mean forfeiting future AI visibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If your goal is to have ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and other AI assistants mention your brand, double-check your robots.txt and firewall rules to make sure you\u2019re not accidentally blocking major AI crawlers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Make sure you let the legitimate bots index your&nbsp;pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This way, your content can be part of the training or live browsing data that AI assistants draw on\u2014giving you a shot at being cited when relevant queries come&nbsp;up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can check which AI bots are accessing your site by checking your server logs, or using a tool like <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.cloudflare.com\/ai-audit\/\">Cloudflare AI&nbsp;audit.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1711\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-20.png\" alt=\"Screenshot of Cloudflare's AI Audit Beta tool. Contains a multi-colored line graph tracking different AI providers (Amazon, Anthropic, Apple, Arquivo, ByteDance, Internet Archive, Meta, OpenAI, Perplexity) over time from Wed 23 to Tue 29. Below shows a summary table with bot names, providers, types (AI Search Crawler, AI User Action, AI Data Scraper, Archiver), and request counts.\" class=\"wp-image-191095\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-20.png 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-20-509x425.png 509w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-20-768x642.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-20-1536x1283.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"7. Diversify your marketing strategy for different platforms\" data-section=\"step-seven\">\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">7. Diversify your marketing strategy for different platforms<\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The top-cited domains vary a lot between different LLM search surfaces. Being a winner in one doesn\u2019t guarantee presence in others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In fact, among the top 50 <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/top-mentioned-sources-are-not-shared-across-ai-assistants\/\">most-mentioned domains<\/a> across Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity, we found that only 7 domains appeared on all three&nbsp;lists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1973\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-21.jpg\" alt=\" Three-circle Venn diagram titled &quot;Overlap of the Top 50 most cited brands in AI Assistants by count.&quot; Shows Google AI Overviews (orange circle, 19 unique), ChatGPT (blue circle, 35 unique), and Perplexity (green circle, 16 unique) with overlapping sections showing shared citations: 1 brand cited by all three, 7 brands shared between all pairs, and various other intersection counts.\" class=\"wp-image-191096\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-21.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-21-345x425.jpg 345w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-21-768x947.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-21-1246x1536.jpg 1246w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>That means a staggering 86% of the sources were unique to each assistant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Google<\/strong> leans on its own ecosystem (e.g. YouTube), plus user-generated content\u2014especially communities like Reddit and&nbsp;Quora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>ChatGPT<\/strong> favors publishers and media partnerships\u2014particularly news outlets like Reuters and AP\u2014over Reddit or&nbsp;Quora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And<strong> Perplexity<\/strong> prioritizes diverse sources, especially global and niche sites\u2014e.g. health or region-specific sites like tuasaude or alodokter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s no one-size-fits-all citation strategy. Each AI assistant surfaces content from different sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you only optimize for Google rankings, you might dominate in AI Overviews but have less of a presence in ChatGPT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the flip side, if your brand is picked up in news\/media it might show up in ChatGPT answers\u2014even if its Google rankings lag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In other words, it\u2019s worth testing different strategies for different LLMs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can use Ahrefs to see how your brand appears across Perplexity, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google\u2019s AI search features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just plug your domain into Site Explorer and look at the top-level AI citation count in the Overview report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"892\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-22.png\" alt=\"Screenshot of Ahrefs Site Explorer showing AI citations data for ahrefs.com. Displays metrics for different AI platforms: AI Overview (4.6K citations), ChatGPT (1.1K citations), and other AI tools like Perplexity (868), Gemini (298), and Copilot (604). Also shows backlink profile with DR 91, UR 61, and other link metrics.\" class=\"wp-image-191097\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-22.png 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-22-680x296.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-22-768x335.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-22-1536x669.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then do a deeper dive in the Cited Pages report of Brand&nbsp;Radar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This will help you study the different <strong>sites <\/strong>and <strong>content formats<\/strong> preferred by different AI assistants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, mentions of Ahrefs in AI Overviews tend to pull from Zapier via \u201cBest\u201d tool&nbsp;lists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"2040\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-23.png\" alt=\"Screenshot of Ahrefs Brand Radar showing cited pages for AI Overviews. The interface shows &quot;ahrefs&quot; as the brand with &quot;AI Overviews&quot; selected in the dropdown (highlighted with orange box and arrow). Below displays a trend graph with multiple colored lines and a list of cited pages including zapier.com blog posts, with some entries checked and highlighted with orange underlines.\" class=\"wp-image-191098\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-23.png 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-23-427x425.png 427w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-23-768x765.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-23-1536x1530.png 1536w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-23-120x120.png 120w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whereas in ChatGPT, we\u2019re mentioned more in Tech Radar \u201cBest\u201d tool&nbsp;lists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"2018\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-24.png\" alt=\"Screenshot of Ahrefs Brand Radar showing cited pages filtered for ChatGPT mentions. The interface shows filtering options with &quot;ahrefs&quot; in the brand field and &quot;ChatGPT&quot; selected in the AI platform dropdown. Below displays a trend graph and a list of pages including www.techradar.com URLs, with some entries checked\/selected and showing orange underlines.\" class=\"wp-image-191099\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-24.png 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-24-431x425.png 431w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-24-768x757.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-24-1536x1514.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And in Perplexity our top competitors are controlling the narrative with \u201cvs\u201d content, \u201creviews\u201d, and \u201ctool\u201d lists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2005\" height=\"2048\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-25.jpg\" alt=\"Screenshot of Ahrefs Brand Radar showing cited pages for Perplexity AI platform (highlighted in orange box with arrow). The interface shows &quot;ahrefs&quot; as the brand with multiple trend lines on the graph from June to August 2025. Below displays a comprehensive list of cited pages including morningscore.io, zapier.com, backlinko.com, and various other SEO-related websites with their corresponding response counts, volumes, and metrics. Several entries are checked\/selected in the list.\" class=\"wp-image-191100\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-25.jpg 2005w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-25-416x425.jpg 416w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-25-768x784.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191075-25-1504x1536.jpg 1504w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2005px) 100vw, 2005px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>With this information, we&nbsp;can:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Keep Zapier writers aware of our product developments, in hopes that we\u2019ll continue being recommended in future tool guides, to drive AI Overview visibility.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ditto for Tech Radar, to earn consistent ChatGPT visibility.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Create\/optimize our own versions of the competitor content that\u2019s being drawn into Perplexity, to take back control of that narrative.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-191075-_1g5gtwchtozp\"><\/a>Final thoughts<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>A lot of this advice may sound familiar\u2014because it\u2019s largely just SEO and brand marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The same factors that drive SEO\u2014authority, relevance, freshness, and accessibility\u2014are also what make brands visible to AI assistants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And tons of recent developments just prove it: ChatGPT has recently been outed for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theinformation.com\/articles\/openai-challenging-google-using-search-data\">scraping Google\u2019s search results<\/a>, GPT-5 is <a href=\"https:\/\/dejan.ai\/blog\/gpt-5-made-seo-irreplaceable\/\">leaning heavily<\/a> on search rather than stored knowledge, and LLMs are buying up <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=pNzZnbGBkGI\">search engine link graph data<\/a> to help <strong>weight <\/strong>and <strong>prioritize <\/strong>their responses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By that measure, SEO is very much not dead\u2014in fact it\u2019s doing a lot of the heavy lifting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, the takeaway is: double down on proven SEO and brand-building practices if you also want AI visibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Generate high-quality brand mentions, create structured and relevant content, keep it fresh, and make sure it can be crawled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As LLM search matures, we\u2019re confident these core principles will keep you visible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you want any chance of visibility in LLM search, you need to understand how to make your brand visible in AI answers. The latest wave of experts claim to know the \u201csecret\u201d to AI visibility, but the reality is<span class=\"ellipsis\">\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\">Read more \u203a<\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[469,335],"tags":[],"coauthors":[464],"class_list":["post-191075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ai-search","category-general-seo","odd"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What We Actually Know About Optimizing for LLM Search<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The latest wave of experts claim to know the \u201csecret\u201d to AI visibility, but we\u2019re all still figuring it out. 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