The digital landscape has undergone a seismic shift. While marketers have spent decades perfecting their Google rankings, a new player has quietly entered the game—and it’s changing everything about how people discover brands, products, and services.
Welcome to the era of LLM Engine Optimisation (LEO), where being mentioned by AI matters more than ranking on the first page of Google.
The Reality Check: Your SEO Strategy might be Obsolete
Here’s a hard truth: millions of people have stopped Googling. Instead, they’re opening ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini and asking direct questions, such as “What’s the best project management tool for small teams?” or “Which CRM should I choose for my startup?”
If your brand doesn’t appear in those AI responses, you’ve essentially become invisible to a growing segment of your target audience. This isn’t a distant future scenario—it’s happening right now.
Understanding LEO: The New Rules of Digital Visibility
LEO operates on fundamentally different principles from traditional SEO:
SEO focuses on:
- Keywords and search intent
- Backlink authority
- Technical website optimization
- Click-through rates
LEO focuses on:
- Semantic understanding and context
- Authoritative mentions across the web
- Structured, factual content
- Trust signals in training data
The goal isn’t to get clicked—it’s to get mentioned and recommended by AI systems that millions of people now trust for decision-making.
Action Plan: 7 Strategic Steps to Master LEO
1. Audit Your Current AI Visibility
Take action: Test your brand visibility across major AI platforms immediately.
How to do it:
- Open ChatGPT, Claude, and Google Bard
- Ask specific questions about your industry: “What are the top 5 [your service category] for [your target market]?”
- Try variations: “Best,” “most reliable,” “recommended,” “trusted”
- Document which competitors appear and why
- Note the language and context used to describe them
Why it works: You can’t optimise what you can’t measure. This baseline audit reveals your starting point and identifies optimisation opportunities.
2. Create AI-Friendly Content Architecture
What to do: Restructure your content to be easily digestible by AI systems.
How to do it:
- Write clear, factual statements about what you do
- Use consistent terminology across all platforms
- Create FAQ sections with direct, authoritative answers
- Develop case studies with specific outcomes and metrics
- Build comprehensive resource pages that establish expertise
Practical Tip: Utilise the “Wikipedia Test” to evaluate your content. Write descriptions of your services as if you were creating a Wikipedia entry—factual, neutral, and comprehensive. Include specific numbers, dates, and measurable outcomes to support your claims. For example, instead of “We help businesses grow,” write “We help SaaS companies increase monthly recurring revenue by an average of 40% within 6 months through conversion rate optimisation.”
Why it works: AI systems favour content that’s structured, factual, and contextually clear. Ambiguous marketing speak gets filtered out.
3. Build Semantic Authority
What to do: Establish your brand as the definitive source for specific topics or solutions.
How to do it:
- Identify 3-5 core topics where you want to be the go-to authority
- Create deep, comprehensive content on these topics
- Use consistent language and terminology across all content
- Link related concepts to build semantic relationships
- Partner with industry publications for guest content
Practical Tip: Create a “Topic Authority Map” by choosing one specific phrase you want to own (like “email deliverability for SaaS” or “sustainable packaging solutions”). Then create 20+ pieces of content around this exact phrase and related terms. Use tools like AnswerThePublic or AlsoAsked to find every question people ask about your topic, then create definitive answers for each one.
Why it works: AI systems identify patterns and associations. Consistent, authoritative content on specific topics helps AI understand your domain of expertise.
4. Optimise for Conversational Queries
What to do: Align your content with how people ask AI questions.
How to do it:
- Research natural language queries in your industry
- Create content that answers complete questions, not just keywords
- Use conversational headings: “How to choose…” instead of “Choosing…”
- Include context and reasoning in your answers
- Address follow-up questions within the duplicate content
Practical Tip: Record yourself having a 10-minute conversation with an AI about your industry, asking the questions a potential customer would ask. Transcribe this conversation and use the exact phrasing as headings and subheadings in your content. For example, instead of “Product Features,” use “What makes this different from other solutions?” Then answer in the same conversational tone.
Why it works: People ask AI systems complete questions in natural language. Content optimised for these patterns gets surfaced more frequently.
5. Leverage Third-Party Validation
What to do: Generate mentions and discussions about your brand on authoritative platforms.
How to do it:
- Engage meaningfully on industry forums and communities
- Contribute to trade publications and industry reports
- Participate in podcasts and webinars as an expert
- Encourage satisfied customers to mention you in their content
- Build relationships with industry influencers and thought leaders
Practical Tip: Use the “5-Touch Rule”—for every piece of content you create, ensure it gets mentioned or referenced on five different external platforms. This could be sharing insights on LinkedIn, commenting on relevant Reddit threads, contributing to industry Slack communities, being quoted in someone else’s newsletter, or appearing on a podcast. Create a simple checklist to track these external touches for each significant piece of content.
Why it works: AI systems heavily weigh third-party mentions. Being discussed by others carries more authority than self-promotion.
6. Monitor and Iterate
What to do: Establish ongoing monitoring of your AI visibility and adjust strategies based on results.
How to do it:
- Set up monthly AI visibility audits
- Track changes in how different AI systems describe you
- Monitor competitor mentions and analyse their strategies
- Test new content approaches and measure impact
- Document what works and scale successful tactics
Practical Tip: Set up a “Leo Alert System” using Google Alerts, Mention.com, or Brand24 to track when your brand name appears in AI training data sources, such as news articles, blog posts, and academic papers. Additionally, create a monthly calendar reminder to run your standard 10 AI queries and take a screenshot of the results. This creates a visual timeline of your LEO progress that you can share with stakeholders.
Why it works: LEO is still evolving. Regular monitoring helps you adapt to changes and identify new optimisation opportunities.
7. Future-Proof your Strategy
What to do: Stay ahead of LEO evolution by understanding underlying technology trends.
How to do it:
- Follow AI research and development news
- Test new AI tools as they emerge
- Join communities focused on AI and content strategy
- Experiment with emerging formats (voice, video, interactive content)
- Build relationships with AI researchers and technologists
Practical Tip: Subscribe to 3-5 AI newsletters (like The Batch, AI Breakfast, or Import AI) and spend 15 minutes every Friday reading them. When you spot a new AI tool mentioned, immediately test it with your standard brand queries. Keep a “New AI Tools” bookmark folder and test one new tool per week. This keeps you ahead of where your audience might be getting information next.
Why it works: LEO strategies will continue evolving. Early adopters who understand the technology gain competitive advantages.
Common LEO Mistakes to Avoid
Don’t stuff keywords: AI systems recognise and penalise blatant keyword stuffing even more than search engines do.
Don’t ignore context: AI values contextual relevance over exact matches. Focus on comprehensive, helpful content.
Don’t neglect consistency: Mixed messaging across platforms confuses AI systems and dilutes your authority.
Don’t over-optimise: Natural, helpful content performs better than content written for algorithms.
Measuring LEO Success
Track these key metrics to gauge your LEO performance:
- Mention frequency: How often do AI systems reference your brand?
- Context quality: Are mentions positive, neutral, or negative?
- Competitive positioning: Where do you rank among competitors in AI responses?
- Query coverage: What percentage of relevant queries include your brand?
- Recommendation strength: Are you mentioned as a top choice or just listed?
The Bottom Line: LEO is your Competitive Advantage
The businesses that master LEO now will dominate their industries in the AI-first future. This isn’t about abandoning SEO entirely—it’s about expanding your optimisation strategy to include the platforms where your customers are increasingly making decisions.
Start with the audit. Test your current visibility. Then, systematically implement these strategies to ensure your brand thrives in the age of AI-powered discovery.
The question isn’t whether LEO will matter—it’s whether you’ll master it before your competitors do.
