KPI Crisis? 4 Strategies to Increase AI Visibility

LLM visibility instead of website clicks

If the number of visitors to your website is the only metric you measure, your figures probably look poor. However, this trend reflects a fundamental shift with new requirements – visibility is no longer primarily about attracting traffic to your website. It’s now just as important to be cited by large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and Claude.

You don’t need a top ranking on Google’s search results page anymore – what matters now is appearing within the answers generated by zero-click searches and LLMs. The good news is that being cited by LLMs isn’t pure chance. AI visibility is something you can actively optimize your content for.

Increase AI visibility: Strategies that work now

Over recent months, it has become increasingly clear which practices drive greater visibility. Just like SEO before it, large language model optimization (LLMO) has now established itself as a distinct discipline. And the takeaway is that the following four strategies can significantly impact your brand’s visibility.

#1 Metadata and structure: Order over chaos

LLMs can only process content reliably when it’s clearly structured. The easier you make it for the models to identify and categorize information, the more likely they are to include your content in their answers.

Your to-dos to boost AI visibility:

• Use a clear HTML structure, maintain metadata carefully and use alt tags so that the content of images is accessible to machines.
• Avoid hiding your content behind login screens or paywalls; otherwise, LLMs won’t be able to process it.

#2 Content organization: Text blocks instead of long paragraphs

Keep it short and sweet: LLMs prefer clearly defined blocks of information with descriptive headings that they can process quickly.

Your to-dos to boost AI visibility:

• Present each piece of information in a separate paragraph. Make use of descriptive H2 headings and add H3 and H4 headings as needed. By maintaining a clear hierarchy, you can tackle subtopics without human or machine readers losing track of the big picture.
• Create content that LLMs can reproduce directly as snippets. Keep your definitions concise, your statements clear and your paragraphs well-structured to increase the number of times your brand is cited.

#3 Where to start: Write for prompts, not for keywords

Keyword research used to be the gold standard if you wanted to make sure your copy met search engine requirements. Although keywords are still useful content markers that can help you structure your text, it’s now becoming more important that your content answers specific questions that users ask LLMs. This makes it easier for AI tools to link your content to users’ queries.

Your to-dos to boost AI visibility:

• Focus your research on user questions and tailor your content to provide the answers.
• Create an FAQ section for your blog or website. It’s also a good idea to provide brief summaries of key content on your page for the benefit of both readers and LLMs.
• In FAQs, be sure to answer the questions in the opening sentence. This isn’t the place for storytelling.
• Use elements like bullet points, lists, information boxes and tables. But make sure you don’t embed tables as images, because LLMs have a hard time processing them.

#4 Thought leadership: Authority is key

LLMs want to provide reliable answers. That’s why they prefer to draw on sources they classify as trustworthy. What this means for your brand is that visibility isn’t generated solely by your own website – the entire digital ecosystem plays a role.

Your to-dos to boost AI visibility:

• Focus on creating content that explicitly demonstrates your company’s expertise.
• Position your brand as a thought leader by writing guest pieces and posting in social media communities.
• Clearly attribute your brand’s blog articles and posts to individual authors and highlight their role as experts. This builds trust among both LLMs and human users.

Best practice: Techniques that still work

No matter how much large language model optimization you do, remember that your website is still a key touchpoint for your human audience. Users who want to delve deeper into certain topics or have a specific purchasing intention will continue to click through and convert on your site. So, it’s important not to forget human needs:

• Make sure navigation is intuitive and offer clear user guidance
• Provide clear information architecture
• Craft clear and compelling CTAs

How to measure AI visibility

Measuring LLM visibility is still a major challenge for most standard software. However, significant progress has been made in recent months. In addition to innovations from established tools like SE Visible, start-ups such as Peec AI and Profound are offering innovative solutions for measuring these new KPIs.

You can use these tools to see exactly:

• Which prompts produce references to your brand (and which don’t)
• Where you have visibility gaps
• What content is earning your competitors LLM citations

This data will give you an overview of the extent to which your content already features in LLM responses and help identify areas where you can target efforts to boost your AI visibility.

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