Your best customer just asked ChatGPT for recommendations in your category.
Did your name pop up?
I've been experimenting with this myself, and honestly? The results are fascinating (and a little scary).
Truth is this: customer behavior is shifting.
Let's pretend you're in the fitness business.
Many are not googling "gyms near me" anymore (example!)
They're having full conversations with AI like: What's the best crossfit gym that has childcare in Cincinnati, OH.
And the businesses that show up in those AI responses? They're not always the ones ranking #1 on Google.
Let's get into it...
What I'm seeing in the AI SEO game
I've been digging into how AI models choose which businesses to recommend, and here's what I'm finding:
Generic service pages get ignored.
AI seems to favor businesses with really specific content that matches exact customer scenarios.
The pattern?
Instead of one page about "Our Services," the businesses getting AI mentions seem to have content like:
→ "Best gym for busy parents who want early morning classes"
→ "Family law attorney who handles amicable divorces under $5k"
→ "Emergency plumber with good reviews available weekends in Cleveland"
Here's what I hear the bigger brands are doing (and starting to see work!)
1 / Testing hyper-specific content
They're creating super specific content around their target market persona.
Example: A fitness facility creating pages like:
- Strength training gym for teen athletes with sport-specific programs
- Personal training for postpartum recovery with childcare available
- 24-hour gym access for shift workers in Akron
So, as people are using AI for recommendations to solve their very specific problem, pages like these are starting to get cited.
2 / Mining real customer stories
They're pulling actual customer wins and weaving them into their content.
That member who lost 30 pounds training for their first marathon?
That's the kind of specific story that gives AI something concrete to reference.
No fancy case studies needed. Just actual stories and real results.
3 / Testing mention strategies
Instead of traditional link building...
Brands aiming for LLM optimization are now experimenting with getting their business mentioned in:
- Industry directories with detailed service descriptions
- Review sites where customers specifically describe problems solved
- Community forums where real recommendations happen
They hypothesis: AI trains on these sources, so being mentioned there matters a lot.
What I'm learning (and unlearning!)
The old playbook:
- Generic service pages
- Broad "About Us" content
- SEO keyword optimization
The playbook I'm placing my bets on today:
- Specific solution pages for exact customer situations
- Real customer success stories with concrete details
- Content that mirrors how people actually describe their problems to AI
So, here's my current bet:
(I haven't cracked the code on this, BTW.)
Less gaming the system and building massive content libraries.
More understanding how AI makes recommendations and positioning your business as the specific answer to specific problems.
The early data suggests we don't need 100 pages.
We might just need 10 really specific ones that nail exact customer scenarios.
And we'll close with this:
I think AI search will reward businesses that know exactly who they serve and can articulate it in very specific terms.
And I'm building strategy around that!
...but we're all really figuring this out together.
Curious your take on this...
See ya next week,
Dani