What is LLMO: SEO Guide to Get Traffic from ChatGPT, Perplexity & Gemini

Have you heard the news? SEO is dead!

First, video killed the radio star; then ChatGPT killed Google. If you still care about traditional search engine rankings you’re a dinosaur. (But not a T-Rex. Those are too cool for you.)

Forget that Google processes almost 6 trillion searches a year. Or that Alphabet, Google’s parent company is worth about $2 trillion, depending on when you check the stock price.

Doesn’t matter. Smart SaaS brands will abandon search engine optimization. (And file for bankruptcy. AI is about to kill the SaaS model too. Didn’t you know?) So, get ahead of the curve and ditch your SEO strategies ASAP!

Still reading? Good, now we can talk like rational human beings. Here’s the truth:

SEO isn’t dead, but it is changing. You don’t need to abandon your strategy, you need to update it. Basically, you need to invest in LLM for SEO. Good news: I’m about to show you how.

Keep reading to learn how large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini impact search. Then stick around to learn what your SaaS brand should do about it.

What is LLMO?

LLMO is short for large language model optimization. It aims to enhance digital content so it appears in AI-generated answer platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini.

You might hear LLMO referred to by different names. The most popular alternatives are:

• GAIO: Generative AI Optimization
• GEO: Generative Engine Optimization
• AIO: AI Optimization
• AEO: Answer Engine Optimization
• EI-EIO: Er, wait, never mind…

If you’re thinking, “Great balls of fire, that’s a lot of acronyms!” I agree with you. So, for your sanity and mine, I’ll only use the term “LLMO” in this article. At SaaStorm we have your back 😉

How is LLMO Different From SEO?

Remember 2022? The Winter Olympics happened. The “Slap” happened. X happened. The Eras Tour was still a twinkle in Taylor’s eye. And until November, no one knew what a GPT was.

More importantly, SEO strategies were straightforward. Analyze search trends, do keyword research, write content, get backlinks, repeat. Then Sammy and his team changed the game.

Why? Because LLMs process content differently from traditional search engines.

Traditional Search Engines

Google, Bing, etc. search uses software to explore the internet and index web pages. Then people search for information and Google shows them content to match their query.

Marketers capitalized on this approach for years, driving mass amounts of traffic in the process. All they had to do was learn which words and phrases their target audience used. Then add them to their content (keyword optimization). That way Google included it in search results.

To be clear, this strategy still works. It just doesn’t work as well as it did because of LLMs.

Large Language Models (LLMs)

LLMs don’t provide a simple list of web pages. They summarize content from the internet, then link to multiple sources for more information. This is a very different search experience.

LLMs don’t rely on keywords either. This is because users interact with LLMs differently. They tend to ask LLMs full questions, sparking true conversations between themselves and these apps. (This is especially true when using voice search, which has become more popular in recent years.) Because of this, LLMs are trained to focus on search intent, not keywords.

Finally, LLMs are “smarter” than traditional search engines. These apps are trained on a ridiculous amount of information and programmed to find connections between datapoints. So LLMs are able to analyze factors beyond keywords to decide which content to feature.

Why Your SaaS Brand Needs LLMO

Still with me?

Good, because I’m about to answer the question, “What does this have to do with my brand?“

AI-driven search assistants like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini have exploded in popularity. More and more people use these tools to search the web and find information.

If your SaaS company doesn’t invest in LLM optimization, it risks losing organic visibility. And if that happens, lead generation will get a lot harder. Fortunately, LLMO isn’t rocket science…

8 Tactics to Optimize Content for LLM SEO

LLMO is important. The question is, how do you improve search visibility in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini? Simple: implement these eight tips. Your traffic metrics will thank you.

1. FAQ Optimization

LLMs love clear, structured answers.

So, do yourself a favor and add an FAQ page to your company’s website. When the LLMs see it, they’ll think, “Oh La La!” They might even reference the page in their generated content.

If you really want to jazz up your FAQ pages, use a relevant structured data markup. This will make your content easily extractable. (If you’re not familiar with schema, it’s just a bit of code.)

One of the best things about the FAQ schema markup — or any schema markup, for that matter — is that it will improve multiple aspects of your SEO strategy. LLMs love it. Traditional search engines love it. And end users love it because it helps them find answers quickly.

2. Schema Markup Implementation

Did you add FAQ schema markup to your FAQ page?

Good. Now implement structured data markups (i.e. schema) on other web pages. This will improve indexing from traditional search engines and boost contextual relevance for LLMs.

You’re probably wondering, “Which schema markups are most important?” Glad you asked. I suggest using the FAQPage, HowTo, WebPage, and Organization schemas. Doing so will help LLMs understand the relationship between the topics you cover and the content you produce.

3. TL;DR & Content Summarization

Think back to about five minutes ago.

You started reading this incredibly informative article. You were entranced by my industry knowledge; dazzled by my witty wordplay. In fact, you were so engaged you almost missed it.

I’m talking about the content summary at the top of the page, which is important for LLM SEO optimization. Why? Because AI tools like to feature summaries in their search responses. They like TL;DR sections, too. So don’t be shocked when you see one of those at the end of this post.

The best article summaries are concise. Cover the main points of your article in as few words as possible, without removing key information. The same goes for TL;DR sections.

Here’s an example prompt: “Please use the attached document to write a concise article summary and TL;DR section. The result should be concise but informative. It should also be optimized for both search engine results pages and LLM answers. But avoid keyword stuffing.“

4. Topic Clusters & Internal Linking

LLMs want to highlight the best information.

By organizing your content into topic clusters and using a robust internal linking strategy, you can prove to the LLMs that your company has in-depth knowledge on certain subjects.

Take time to create pillar pages, i.e. web pages that cover all aspects of a topic. Then link them to high-quality content that dives deeper into the individual subjects on each pillar page.

At SaaStrorm, we worked with Lingio, a digital training solution for frontline workers, to create pillar pages. Said pages covered topics like “skills training” and “workforce development“. 

Then we wrote articles that addressed related subjects and linked them to the pillar pages they aligned with. For instance, one article in the “skills training” category was about “skills gap analysis” An article in the “employee development” category tackled “development plan examples.”

The result? Lingio now ranks for a broad range of essential keywords. Plus, the company’s content captures niche queries that drive qualified traffic on a daily basis. All in all, Lingio’s organic traffic is up 500% since we started working with them. Win!

5. High-Authority Link Building

There’s an old saying, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.“

Backlinks are gold in traditional SEO. In fact, it’s hard to rank content without them. Guess what—backlinks are important in LLMO too, as they increase credibility in AI-generated search.

The best way to generate backlinks for your company is to partner with other brands in the SaaS industry. You can do this a few different ways:

• Write guest posts and include links to your content
• Add your company’s site to respected industry directories
• Find broken links, then suggest your content as a replacement

Only chase backlinks from authoritative websites. How do you know if a site has authority or not? You can check it with a free tool, like Ahref’s Website Authority Checker. Aim for websites that have an “authority” score of at least 50. The higher the score, the more valuable the link.

Backlink building is one of our core services at SaaStorm. For example, we developed an external link-building plan for Lingio. (In addition to the content creation strategy I mentioned.)

In a short amount of time, we built 30+ high DR backlinks with an average DR of 68. These high-quality backlinks significantly boosted Lingio’s domain authority and search rankings.

Want to achieve similar results? Contact us to learn more about our B2B SaaS linkbuilding services.

6. Optimize for Answer Engines

What’s an answer engine, you ask?

That’s easy: an answer engine is a digital tool that gives quick, detailed answers to questions.

Perplexity AI is a great example. Pull up the website, type in your query, and read the results. If you want more information, you can click the individual links Perplexity references.

You can drive traffic to your SaaS website if you optimize your content for answer engines. The key to success in this area is to give clear, direct answers to specific questions.

Say, “Natural language processing (NLP) helps computers understand human language. The technology is a subset of artificial intelligence (AI).” Rather than, “When it comes to the crazy world of artificial intelligence (AI), natural language processing (NLP) is important. This future shaping technology helps computers understand human language—just like you and me!“

The first answer uses as few words as possible. The second answer rambles and includes personal opinions no one asked for. It will almost certainly be ignored by answer engines.

Also, get to know each answer engine and their unique approach to content.

Perplexity, for example, focuses on factual accuracy. To appear in its answers, make sure the information you share is verifiable. Google’s Gemini, on the other hand, prefers Google Knowledge Graph-linked content. To win at SEO for LLMs, optimize your content for each platform. You can do this by including the authoritative signals they’re programmed to look for.

7. Implement the LLM.txt File

The Robots.txt file tells traditional search engines how to crawl websites. Used correctly, this file helps websites appeal to search engines, boosting traditional SEO efforts.

The LLM.txt file does something similar for LLMs SEO.

I won’t bore you with the details. Suffice to say, the LLM.txt file basically tells AI models which content to index and display. As such, it can promote certain content for AI answers, while protecting sensitive information from scraping. Pretty sweet deal, right?

8. Leverage User-Generated Content

Finally, jump on the user-generated content (UGC) bandwagon.

While nobody knows exactly how LLMs are trained, most people think UGC plays an important role. So, the more of it your SaaS company has, the more likely it will appear in AI answers.

Focus your UGC strategy on Reddit. The site gets 1.1B monthly unique visitors and often appears in Google search results. So it’s an important channel. To capitalize on it:

• Build a community of people who love your SaaS product
• Host Ask Me Anything interviews (AMAs) on a regular basis
• Build partnerships with niche influencers on the platform
• Encourage users to share content related to your brand
• Do NOT spam subreddits with links to your website

How SaaStorm Drives LLM Traffic for Clients

The tips above aren’t theory.

SaaStorm, uses them on a daily basis to drive traffic for our clients.

Take OneUp Sales, for example. When we started working together, the company’s blog only received 25-30 clicks per day. After working with SaaStorm? That number jumped to 150-200 daily clicks — many of which came from AI searches. This led to £250+ of inbound revenue.

Then there’s Reditus, an affiliate management software for SaaS companies.

By editing existing content, conducting keyword research for new articles, and building topic clusters, we increased the Reditus inbound pipeline by 128% and helped achieve $1.3M ARR.

And while a lot of the traffic Reditus enjoys today comes from Google, a significant portion are AI generated. This shows the power of the SaaStorm approach, now and in the future.

Win the Traffic War With LLMO

LLMO is not replacing traditional SEO. But it has changed the game in important ways.

To appear in AI-powered search assistants, your content needs to be well-structured, verifiable, and concise. Bungle these things and you won’t drive as much traffic.

Fortunately, the tactics above will help you play nice with LLMs, while maintaining your current results in traditional search engines. In other words, they’ll help you win the traffic war!

Of course, staying on top of SEO and LLMO changes is tricky. Need help? At SaaStorm, we can create tailored SEO and LLMO strategies for your SaaS business. Then we can implement them using our years of experience and executional expertise.

Get in touch with SaaStorm today to see if we’re the right fit for your SaaS brand!

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