LLMO for SEO: What It Means for Your Business (and Why An LLMO Agency Matters)

Understanding how Large Language Model Optimisation (LLMO) works for SEO is a key part of getting your brand found online.

The way brands need to write their content is changing as large language models (LLM) are gaining increasing popularity, serving better, more direct responses to user search queries.

You definitely would have seen this tech in action if you’ve Googled anything in the last couple of months.

For example, working in a design agency environment prompted me to ask the question: “Is above the design still relevant?”

Below is Google’s AI overview snippet which uses a large language model (in this case, Gemini) to scour different sites to compile the best answer.

You’ll also see that it’s linked me off to different sources at the side so I can explore the articles in more detail if I want to.

And that’s really the basis of large language models – to save you the hard work sifting through different search results as it pulls the best content together for you.

LLMs have created both excitement and anxiety for brands who are now wondering:

• Has this replaced traditional SEO?
• What will happen to content moving forward?
• How do brands write now for LLMs?
• does LLMO work with SEO?

There’s a lot of questions circling, and a lot of acronyms too! So we’re here to simplify the conversation around large language models and search optimisation, helping you understand how these two things work together, what you need to do to be featured, and how the future of content looks moving forward.

What Is An LLM?

LLM stands for large language model and it is a type of artificial intelligence that processes and understands large amounts of text data (hence the name).

Using machine learning techniques, it analyses data on a massive scale allowing it to learn on a deeper level. This means it can generate human language accurately, understanding search intent and context to produce relevant information.

Put simply, it has been fed so much information, usually from sources across the internet, that it understands what you’re looking for and can provide relevant answers.

LLMs has evolved to such a scale, that talking to an LLM can feel like you’re talking to a real human, and its responses are rapid! Try it for yourself using tools like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini and see how quick it responds.

How Does An LLM Work?

As we’ve mentioned above, LLMs are trained using large amounts of data often compiled from the internet.

This way it transforms this information and feeds it back to you is through a set of neural networks, similar to the ones we have in our brain. These networks have an encoder and a decoder and are able to extract meanings from a sequence of text. They can also understand the relationship between the text, taking basic grammar and language style into account.

For example:

If you asked an LLM to finish the sentence ‘The cat sat on the xxx’ it would complete it with the word ‘mat’. That’s because it’s predicted the right response due to the frequency and context of similar phrases it has seen. Rather than just looking at the last word, it takes the entire sentence into consideration, allowing it to understand context and predict the right response more accurately.

In contrast to earlier recurrent networks (RNNs), such as Long Short-Term Memory networks (LSTMs), which processed inputs word by word, large language models can understand entire inputs all at once. For example, early versions of Google Translate used RNNs before switching to Transformer-based models, which dramatically improved translation quality and context.

This means training an LLM is much quicker as they can consider millions of parameters at the same time rather than processing each token individually.

Why Are LLMs Important For Your Business?

Due to the size of LLMs, and the speed at which they can process a number of search queries all at once, they’re changing the way people use the internet for information.

Previously users would scroll through various search results visiting a few websites to find the information they were looking for. This meant ranking highly in search results, preferably on page 1, was desirable for brands as it increased the likelihood of people clicking onto their content.

Now, LLMs dominate the search results as you would have seen with the AI overview snippet at the top of Google. This is the position brands need to be in as it increases your visibility and the likelihood of engagement.

Aside from changing the way the search results look, the answers from LLMs have also changed the way people consume information as they are very direct. They aim to give users the best answer in the most succinct way, saving them time scouring the internet.

For brands, this means paying attention to the way you write and structure content ensuring it’s easily scannable by an LLM who can then use your information to feature in their response.

This is why having an LLMO agency on board is important as they understand how to optimise your website for large language models. However we’ll be covering this in more detail further in the blog.

What Is LLMO?

Now that we’ve covered large language models and how they work, let’s explore large language model optimisation (aka LLMO).

As if you didn’t have enough acronyms to contend with, we’re throwing another one in the mix! Essentially large language model optimisation refers to the way you prepare content for AI-driven discovery.

In simple terms this means understanding how LLMs process and extract information, ensuring your content is served in their responses. Rather than purely writing for search engine algorithms, you need to write in a way that is easily understood and extracted so it can be reused in systems such as ChatGPT.

The more you learn about large language model optimisation the better you can position your content ensuring it meets the right criteria and can be scanned by AI. The most important thing is not to panic, as LLMO is not too dissimilar from traditional SEO in the sense that it still prioritises quality and clarity.

For example take the sentence below about the importance of branding:

“When considering your business’s public perception and long-term growth strategy, it’s important to acknowledge the significant role that branding plays in shaping audience trust and market positioning.”

This contains a lot of unnecessary words and is too long-winded. Whilst it accurately talks about the importance of branding, it’s quite fluffy and takes a while to get to the point.

In contrast, the sentence below is succinct and straight to the point:

“Branding builds trust and helps your business stand out.”

As the second sentence answers the users search query in the most succinct, direct way, it’s saving them time. Consequently, this type of content is more likely to be scanned by AI and featured in LLMs as it’s clear, focused, and easily extractable.

How to Optimise Your Content for LLMO

Knowing how to adjust your content so that it appeals to both traditional SEO practices and an AI-driven landscape is important for your business’s online presence.

The good news is, if you’ve been investing in your SEO for some time, not too much has changed. You’ll already have a solid foundation to build on; so it’s less about a total change-up and more about a refinement of what you’re already doing.

Let’s explore some ways to optimise your content for LLMs whilst doubling down on your current SEO efforts.

Keep information relevant

Your audience wants relevant and up to date information that they can rely on and trust. The same notion goes for LLMs as they want to serve readers with the best information that’s timely and accurate.

This means updating your content and keeping it fresh is key.

If you wrote a great in-depth article that ranked highly in Google Search but it was from 2021 with lots of outdated statistics, give it some TLC.

Revisit the article, update it with fresh research, and update the publishing date as this shows LLMs such as ChatGPT and Gemini that your content is timely and trustworthy.

People love statistics and studies when doing their research as this helps them make an informed decision. For example, if someone is considering buying an electric car over a petrol car, and they learn that electric car sales have increased by 60% in the last year, it gives them confidence they’re making a good decision.

LLMs will want to feature this research as it is seen as authoritative and valuable to users.

Avoid fluff

As we’ve already said, avoid fluff in your content or any unnecessary words that don’t add value to your audience.

It’s an easy trap to fall into as it’s about striking a balance between being natural and conversational without it being waffle.

Your audience is more than likely time-short and just wants a quick response to their burning query. This means fluffy content that requires them to scan through for the answer they need is not going to be featured in AI.

Think about the quickest and best way to phrase your content. This is where proofreading content comes into force as it’s easy to write copy, whether that’s a blog, an article or website content without reading it back.

See how well it flows and if there are any words you can remove to make the point more succinct. Obviously you don’t want to remove every additional word as it still needs to make sense and feel natural, but if you can say something in 10 words rather than 20, do it.

Be clear and direct

This ties into the point above about avoiding fluff as clear and direct information is more valuable, rather than sifting through paragraphs or text.

However this point also extends to the way you structure and present your content ensuring it is easily digestible.

Instead of writing paragraph after paragraph of text, think about the user experience and how they engage with content. Consider different formats such as:

• Bullet point list
• Infographics
• Headers and subheaders
• Putting important text in bold
• Keeping paragraphs short

By implementing a range of styles, it not only helps humans scan your content better but also helps with LLMO as clear formatting improves readability and relevance.

Stay human

Whilst you’re writing for search engines and AI, your main focus still needs to be writing for humans – real people.

When you use AI to write your content, it’s not only obvious that you’ve not written it yourself, but it’s also unenjoyable to read.

That’s because AI uses a lot of the same words and phrases meaning everyone’s content reads the same. It’s learning from a large dataset, understanding frequent styles, patterns, and certain terms and phrases meaning the output can lack the nuance that makes content feel genuinely human.

Instead, use the tool to refine what you already have, ensuring your content is authentic, genuine, and most importantly, human. This will enable it to read better and also differentiates your content from other people online.

Key things to ask yourself when creating content:

• Does this sound like my brand?
• Would I say this to a real customer?
• Is this helpful and engaging, or just filler?
• Am I adding anything unique?

Note: Large language model optimisation is about making content easier for AI to understand and prioritise, not writing like an AI.

Spread the word

As we’ve said, large language models prioritise content that is seen as authoritative and trustworthy.

One way to incorporate this in your own content is by building a strong link profile where other websites are mentioning and linking back to yours.

If AI recognises that your brand is consistently being mentioned on other credible websites, it will favour your brand in its responses. To increase the likelihood of this happening, consider reaching out to different blogs or websites with a relevant news article or blog. Not only are you providing quality content for their site, but also earning backlinks that improve your authority in the eyes of both search engines and AI models.

Another tactic is engaging in discussions about your product or service on forums such as Reddit or Quora as these mentions help establish topical relevance and signal that your brand is part of human-led conversations.

You might have already heard of this tactic in terms of boosting your SEO; well the same concept applies to LLMO as the more your brand is talked about, the more it signals that your content is trusted.

LLMO and SEO: What’s the Difference?

LLMO and SEO work similarly in terms of prioritising high-quality, relevant, and authoritative content.

However there are some key differences, one being the focus on keywords. Traditionally SEO focussed on the integration of specific keywords, however LLMO focuses more on context and phrases.

It’s uncommon in an AI tool like ChatGPT for users to be short with their prompt. For example, instead of saying ‘best marketing automation tools’ people will interact with the model much more conversationally, asking ‘can you give me a list of the 5-10 marketing automation tools.”

This transition to more conversation-led prompts means brands need to understand how to write content that answers natural, question-based queries and mirrors the way people actually speak.

Another factor to take into account is how AI models interpret and summarise content. Rather than directing users to a single web page, LLMs are more likely to extract and present concise answers directly from your content. This means clarity, structure, and standalone value in your writing are more important than ever.

However, aside from that, LLMO and SEO are not dissimilar. They both:

• Prioritise quality content that’s well-researched and well-written
• Value relevance to the user’s query or intent
• Reward backlinks and mentions from credible sources as signals of authority
• Emphasise writing for humans, not just algorithms
• Favour clear and succinct answers that are easy to understand and extract

In summary, good content principles aren’t redundant; LLMO just asks you to take them a step further.

LLMO for SEO: What It Means for Your Business (and Why An LLMO Agency Matters)

As we pivot towards large language models, knowing how to optimise your content to appear in AI-driven tools is important to stay competitive and visible to your audience.

That said, don’t panic if these acronyms are filling you with dread, as they mostly use the same principles as SEO – they’re just a new field.

The most important takeaway is being natural and authentic in your brand, but that’s something which has always been true. Trying to write purely for search engines whether that’s Google or an AI tool like ChatGPT has never been the answer.

Be authentic and true to your brand by writing high quality, relevant content that brings real value to your audience.

If you need any help understanding LLMO or any other part of your marketing, get in touch with our team. We’ll be more than happy to share our expertise in large language models having developed some of our own AI tools in-house.