Here’s what it really takes to win in the age of AI search

Major Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity are changing the way people search for information. Questions that once went to Google are now answered directly in AI chat boxes. For entrepreneurs, this shift leads to new concerns: IIf clients find answers in LLMs, how do I ensure my company is part of them?

Those concerns have fueled a rapidly growing market for “AI SEO.” It’s pitched as the next evolution of search optimization and promises to make your brand more visible in generative AI responses. But here’s the truth: LLM visibility isn’t just SEO with new tricks. It’s closer to public relations – or at best a combination of PR and SEO. And just like in the early days of the search, the space is already filled with exaggerated claims, shortcuts and black-hat operators.

Related: How AI is Transforming the SEO Playbook – and What Companies Must Do to Ensure Long-Term Relevance and Visibility

The llms.txt example

Take llms.txt, a proposal launched in 2024 as a way to make websites more machine-readable for language models. The idea is simple: place a markdown file at the root of your domain that points to your most authoritative content. In theory, it’s a curated guide that helps LLMs prioritize your best material when generating answers.

In practice, adoption is minimal. Audits up to 2025 show that major AI companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google do not request or honor llms.txt. That doesn’t mean it’s worthless. Adding the file is harmless, and if adoption comes later, early movers can benefit. The problem is how it is sold. Too many agencies today are pitching llms.txt as a guaranteed visibility lever. It’s not.

A well-known species in a new habitat

This is not the first time that entrepreneurs have had to deal with inflated promises. SEO itself has long had two sides. First, ethical practitioners help companies gain visibility with useful content, technical clarity, and authentic authority. On the other hand, black-hat operators promise gimmicks: link farms, keyword stuffing, ‘guaranteed rankings’.

That species is not extinct. It has migrated to the world of AI SEO. Instead of linking schemes, today’s quick fixes are llms.txt sold as a silver bullet, “knowledge graph entries” that don’t exist, or made-up dashboards that show AI references. The vocabulary has changed, but the pattern is the same: take advantage of uncertainty, offer shortcuts and collect fees before reality catches up with you.

The bigger promises

Besides llms.txt, the boldest claims in AI SEO revolve around guaranteed placement in LLMs. Some consultants tell entrepreneurs that they can “submit” a site directly to an LLM’s knowledge graph. Others suggest they can guarantee your brand will be mentioned in ChatGPT comments. These claims are fiction. There is no submission pipeline and no way to hard code your business into AI outputs.

Tools are also part of the hype machine. Some advertise full audits for “LLM readiness” or guarantee inclusion in generative results. A few are useful: they monitor quotes, highlight confusion about entities, or suggest ways to clarify content. But no one can force your material into an LLM answer. The best suppliers are transparent about this. The rest hides behind buzzwords.

Related: How to Get Your Business Recommended by AI Tools Like ChatGPT – and How to Win More Customers

The analytical mirage

By measuring, hype can turn into outright deception. Because AI referrals are difficult to track, some agencies resort to tricks. One of these is tagging links with utm_source=chatgpt, so that Google Analytics reports ‘ChatGPT traffic’ even if the visit came from elsewhere.

Even if the data is not fabricated, it is often worded in a misleading manner. Reports claim that ChatGPT now accounts for a significant portion of search activity. But those numbers include every prompt—writing code, composing poems, or playing games—and not just the searches that send people to websites. The real referral traffic is much smaller, usually less than 1%.

Yet marketers are celebrating “triple-digit growth” in AI traffic. On closer inspection, these increases often come from small bases: from 10 visits to 40 visits is technically a 300% increase, but it doesn’t change your business.

Why the hype works

Why do entrepreneurs fall for these pitches? Because uncertainty creates opportunities for exploitation. Leaders know AI is reshaping discovery, but no one knows how quickly. When an agency arrives promising to ‘future-proof’ your brand in ChatGPT, it feels like insurance.

The psychology is identical to that of the early 2000s, when black-hat SEO companies promised overnight rankings and clients paid for link farms. Back then it was the fear of being invisible in Google. Today it is the fear of being invisible in generative AI.

What actually works

The fundamentals of LLM visibility are less like gaming and an algorithm and more like building credibility. That’s why it feels more like PR than pure SEO.

Authority comes first. LLMs are more likely to cite sources that are trusted and widely referenced. That means earning coverage in respected media, being mentioned in industry publications and cultivating signals of trust.

Clarity follows next. LLMs are prone to confusion and hallucinations. Clean ‘About’ pages, consistent naming and schema formatting help them correctly interpret your brand. This is where SEO discipline strengthens PR credibility.

Finally, focus on evidence-rich content. Generative models prefer material based on facts, statistics and quotes. Thin copy is ignored; substantive content is more likely to turn into answers.

llms.txt may still be worth adding, but consider it optional documentation, not leverage. Until platforms adopt it, it won’t change your visibility.

Related: Is Your SEO Strategy Ready for the AI ​​Search Engine Takeover? Act now – or you risk being left behind.

The takeaway

The AI ​​SEO hype machine is loud and llms.txt is the perfect example of how quickly an unproven idea can be marketed as a must-have. Black-hat SEO operators have simply found a new playground. Instead of link schemes and keyword tricks, the gimmicks are now wrapped in ‘AI’.

Entrepreneurs should be skeptical of any pitch that guarantees citations, inflates analytics, or hides behind jargon. Real visibility in the LLM era does not come from gimmicks. It comes from the same mix of trust and clarity that has always worked: PR to build authority, SEO to disambiguate your signals, and content that’s actually worth quoting.

The visibility of LLM is real. But it can’t be hacked. As with any other shift in digital marketing, the winners won’t be those who buy shortcuts. They are the companies that deserve trust, one credible mention at a time.

Major Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity are changing the way people search for information. Questions that once went to Google are now answered directly in AI chat boxes. For entrepreneurs, this shift leads to new concerns: IIf clients find answers in LLMs, how do I ensure my company is part of them?

Those concerns have fueled a rapidly growing market for “AI SEO.” It’s pitched as the next evolution of search optimization and promises to make your brand more visible in generative AI responses. But here’s the truth: LLM visibility isn’t just SEO with new tricks. It’s closer to public relations – or at best a combination of PR and SEO. And just like in the early days of the search, the space is already filled with exaggerated claims, shortcuts and black-hat operators.

Related: How AI is Transforming the SEO Playbook – and What Companies Must Do to Ensure Long-Term Relevance and Visibility