The short answer
AI models describe businesses using two things: what they learned in training, and what they look up when someone asks. You can't change the first quickly. You can change the second, by making sure search and AI crawlers can reach your pages and that those pages answer real questions with specific, consistent, provable facts.
What is LLM optimization (LLMO)?
LLM optimization, or LLMO, means making your business easy for large language models to find, understand and cite. You will also see it called LLM SEO, GEO (generative engine optimization) or AI SEO. The names describe the same job: being found, trusted and cited when people ask AI assistants for help. It rests on the same foundation as classic SEO, so plan it as part of your SEO work rather than as a separate product. SEO, GEO and AEO explains how the terms overlap.
How do AI models learn about your business?
Each AI company runs separate crawlers for these routes, and you control them separately in robots.txt. Blocking a training crawler opts your content out of future model training; it doesn't remove you from AI search. Blocking a search crawler does keep you out of the answers it feeds. OpenAI, for example, says sites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot are not shown in ChatGPT search answers.
| Company | Search and answers | Model training | Visits a user asked for |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | OAI-SearchBot | GPTBot | ChatGPT-User |
| Anthropic | Claude-SearchBot | ClaudeBot | Claude-User |
| Perplexity | PerplexityBot | Not covered here | Perplexity-User |
| Googlebot (AI Overviews and AI Mode use Google Search) | Google-Extended (a control token, not a crawler) | Not covered here | |
| Microsoft | Bingbot (Copilot draws on Bing) | Not covered here | Not covered here |
How do LLMs see your brand?
A language model doesn't keep a file on your business. When it answers a question about you, it draws on what it learned in training and, more and more, on pages it retrieves at that moment. So what it says reflects what the web says about you, most of all where sources agree:
- Facts that match across your site, Google Business Profile, directories and reviews become the facts it repeats.
- Conflicting facts, such as an old address on one directory, are where wrong answers come from.
- The topics you are named alongside, in lists, reviews and articles, shape the questions you come up for. That is how LLMs associate brands with topics.
- Pages it can't reach, or that don't state things plainly, don't count.
To see how LLMs describe you today, ask them, using the method in how to track your brand in AI search. Ask the same questions about your competitors to see who is named and which sources are cited for them.
Seven ways to make your content easier for AI to use
- Let the search crawlers in. Check that Googlebot, Bingbot, OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot and PerplexityBot are allowed in your robots.txt with our Robots.txt Tester. Decide about training crawlers separately.
- Get your key pages indexed in Google and Bing. Google says a page must be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet to appear in its AI features, and Copilot draws on Bing. Google's own guidance is in how to rank in Google AI Overviews.
- Answer the question first. Open each page, and each main section, with one or two sentences that answer what the buyer asked. Detail can follow. The AEO Checker flags long openings.
- State facts plainly and the same way everywhere. Your name, services, areas, opening hours, who you work with and how pricing works should match across your site, Google Business Profile and directories. LocalBusiness markup states them in a form machines read reliably.
- Show evidence. Describe your process, give real examples with dates, name the person who wrote or checked the page, and show results you can stand behind.
- Keep the important facts in the page text. Facts that only appear inside images, PDFs or pop-ups are easy to miss. Use headings that read like the questions buyers ask.
- Earn mentions on the sites AI already trusts. Directories, review sites, industry lists and local news are often what AI answers cite. Be listed accurately on the ones that matter in your market.
What doesn't work
Google's guidance for its AI features is unusually direct. It says you don't need new machine-readable files, AI text files, markup or Markdown to appear in Google Search. It says there's no special schema.org markup for generative AI search, no requirement to break your content into tiny pieces, and no need to write in a special way for AI. What it recommends is content people find unique, compelling and useful.
- Mass-produced pages. Hundreds of near-identical city or “best of” pages fall under Google's scaled content abuse policy, and they rarely give an AI answer anything worth quoting.
- Hidden text and keyword stuffing aimed at AI. Text that visitors can't see, or lists of phrases written for machines, are spam under the same policies.
- Paying for “AI schema” or an llms.txt file as the main deliverable. Neither is needed to appear in Google Search. An llms.txt file can help some AI tools, but it isn't a ranking lever: what is llms.txt? explains why.
- Buying links or reviews. It breaks Google's rules and the review sites' rules, and it puts the sources AI trusts at risk.
How to get mentioned in LLM answers
Mentions follow from being the clearest, best-supported answer, and from being named by sources the models trust. In practice: find the sites cited when you ask your buyer questions (directories, review sites, comparison articles, local news), make sure you are listed on them accurately, and give them a reason to mention you, such as original data, expert comment or a useful free tool. Answers change slowly, so judge the effort over months, not weeks. This is the core of generative engine optimization.
How to tell whether it's working
Track a fixed set of 20 to 30 buyer questions in ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, Perplexity and Copilot every month, and log whether you are named and cited. Add Search Console's Generative AI performance report for your AI Overviews and AI Mode impressions, and watch your analytics for visits tagged utm_source=chatgpt.com. Expect to judge the trend over months, not weeks. For a full baseline across four platforms, see the AI Visibility Audit.
Checklist for one priority page
Run this for each of your five most important pages. Mark yes or no, then write the fix.
| Check | Yes / No | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The first two sentences answer the main buyer question | Not supplied | Not supplied |
| Service, customer and area are named in the text | Not supplied | Not supplied |
| Facts match your Google Business Profile and main directories | Not supplied | Not supplied |
| Evidence on the page: examples, dates, a named author or reviewer | Not supplied | Not supplied |
| Key facts are in text, not only in images or PDFs | Not supplied | Not supplied |
| The page is indexed (check with URL Inspection in Search Console) | Not supplied | Not supplied |
| Search crawlers are allowed in robots.txt | Not supplied | Not supplied |
Questions people ask about LLM SEO
What is LLMO?
LLMO, or LLM optimization, means making your business easy for large language models to find, understand and cite. It is also called LLM SEO, GEO or AI SEO, and it rests on the same foundation as classic SEO.
How do I get mentioned by LLMs?
Be the clearest, best-supported answer, and be named by the sources models trust: find the sites cited for your buyer questions, get listed on them accurately, and give them a reason to mention you, such as original data, expert comment or a useful free tool.
How do I do SEO for ChatGPT?
Allow OAI-SearchBot in your robots.txt, get your key pages indexed, and make each page answer its question in the first lines with specific facts. OpenAI says sites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot are not shown in ChatGPT search answers.
How do LLMs see my brand?
Through what the web says about you, most of all where sources agree. Facts that match across your site, Google Business Profile, directories and reviews are the facts it repeats; conflicting facts are where wrong answers come from.
Does AI-generated content hurt SEO?
Not because it's written with AI. Google says appropriate use of AI or automation isn't against its guidelines, but using it to generate content mainly to manipulate rankings breaks its spam policies. What counts is whether the page is helpful, accurate and original.
Can ChatGPT write SEO content?
It can write a draft, but a draft isn't a page worth ranking or quoting. Check every fact, add what only your business knows, such as your prices, process and results, and edit it into your own voice before you publish.
About this article
Fernhill Accounting and its pages are fictional examples, not RankNexus clients. Crawler names come from each vendor's own documentation as of October 2026; vendors add and rename crawlers, so we recheck them when they change.