If your business has an online operation then the chances are you’ve been hearing plenty about the increase of AI recently, including how it could help (or not) you. If you haven’t then check out a recent presentation I did on Gemini AI and its impact on the search engine results page.
With search engines including AI generated information within their search listings, such as Google’s Gemini and Bing’s ChatGPT-4 integration, it means you now need to think beyond traditional search engine optimisation (SEO) to ensure your business or products are visible.
And if that wasn’t enough to digest as a business owner or marketing team – then why is no one speaking about Large Language Model Optimisation?
Recently ChatGPT-4 started to include search results into its platform. Could this be the start of a big shift away from using search engines? Will your future customers be finding you via ChatGPT-4 as much as they do now on Google? Or will it be a blend of both.
Either-way we need to talk LLMO.
Large Language Model Optimisation (LLMO) – a new approach that is thought by some to replace much of SEO in the near future.
In this guide we take a look at LLM Optimisation and consider what you can do to start taking advantage of this form of digital marketing.
What is LLM Optimisation?
LLM Optimisation, which is also known as Generative AI Optimisation (GAIO), is an approach to help improve the quality of the results that LLMs (such as ChatGPT or Gemini) deliver, by making them more effective and efficient.
Whilst LLMs are becoming increasingly useful to produce information, assist with manual tasks, or even to generate images and video content, their usage requires a large amount of processing power, which equates to a large energy consumption.
Optimising the models can lead to a reduction in this energy consumption, by improving the speed and accuracy of it.
From a marketers point of view, LLM Optimisation can be used to try and position their brand and its products or services in a way that the LLMs will look to include them more within the output it produces.
And with this output now being a prominent part of the search engine results, this means that brand could see itself with increased visibility within the search results.
Ways of optimising for LLMs
As with many areas related to search, LLM Optimisation is still in its early days and there are no guaranteed approaches so far, however below are some ways we think you should be starting to approach your website content, to help improve the chances of increasing your brand visibility within AI generated search results.
- Semantic depth – focus on the substance of a topic and explore the meaning of it in more detail, as opposed to simply focusing on a specific keyword.
- Use E-A-T for content – as with SEO, you should be looking to ensure your content gives off E-A-T signals. This means Expertise (of the creator of the content), Authoritativeness (of both the creator and the website) and Trustworthiness (of the website).
- Content structure – ensure that your content is easy to consume, by making large chunks of it into smaller, concise sections. Organise it clearly too, using the correct headings on pages.
- Content length balance – ensure you have content that is short and concise, which is preferable by LLMs, as well as longer form content with more in-depth answers.
- Site structure and navigation – in the same way you need to help a search engine crawl your website, you need your content (including URLs) to map to expected user journeys for LLMs to explore.
Overall, the LLM optimisation approach involves producing content that is richer, with deeper context, that provides clear and concise answers to users matching their needs.
Should I stop doing SEO?
So will LLM Optimisation take over SEO? Not at all, optimising for SERP’s will still be required, just with a focus on AI within SERP’s. LLM Optimisation will become a secondary channel of traffic, just like we currently have traffic coming from Direct, Social, E-mail.
Our team at Marwick Marketing prides itself on being ahead of the curve in digital marketing for the benefit of our clients. If your current agency isn’t discussing AI in search engine results pages (at the very least) of LLMO – then it might be time to shake things up.
If you would like to learn more about this or have any further questions, then give our experts a call today on 01637 226 229 or drop us an email.
