Optimizing Content for AI Search

Getting visibility on LLMs and AI search requires a number of strategies, among them content specifically created for answer engine optimization.

Your pain point is simple: your business isn’t showing up in ChatGPT or Google AI Overviews, while your competitors are (even though their solutions aren’t necessarily even as relevant). At this point, you’ve probably realized that part of the reason comes down to content.

You need authority content that gets picked up by AI. But you aren’t sure how, and aren’t necessarily familiar with the answer engine optimization strategies that get the best results. Here, I think we can help.

In this post, I’ll try to answer questions like:

• What kinds of content should you create to better show up on ChatGPT and other AI Search?
• Why isn’t the content you’re creating now optimized for AI SEO? And what to do about it.
• How are strategies like keyword research, content planning, and content brief creation tied to AEO?

What content shows up best in AI searches?

You already know that AI search is changing how people discover information. Instead of relying on search rankings, LLMs generate answers that cite trusted, high-value content. But here’s the big challenge for B2B: you need to ensure your content is the source that AI systems reference.

You can’t go about this the old way. Here are 4 things you can (and should!) do immediately to achieve results.

1. Create foundational content: Develop resources that answer broad questions, such as detailed comparison guides, resource hubs, and step-by-step instructions. Publish bottom-of-funnel content as well, like “quick-start” checklists or integration glossaries. When you cover both educational and transactional intent, it ensures your content is useful across the customer journey.
2. Publish first-party data and proprietary insights: AI search favors information not available elsewhere, like I was saying at the top of this section. So you might want to conduct studies on industry benchmarks, time savings, or cost comparisons. Or, create interactive tools like profitability calculators or readiness assessments. Finally, you could build executive-level resources like toolkits, investor starter kits, or long-form reports. These all can become reference points for both customers and (salient to AEO strategy) AI models.
3. Use listicles and best-of guides: When it comes to LLMs, these comparison and best-of articles are some of them most cited content. A few examples include industry-specific comparisons, top-solution roundups, or “must-have” tool lists. You’re going to need to keep them practical, comprehensive, and updated regularly. Just like when you’re appealing to Google or other search engines, fresh content is more likely to be cited by AI search than older stuff. (Aim for content produced within the last 12 months.)
4. Build interactive content: I love interactive content, and so do LLMs/answer engines. Interactive tools attract citations and qualify leads. Examples include calculators, readiness assessments, or AI-guided setup tools. These assets provide immediate value and spread organically, making them attractive to both users and generative AI.

Why your content isn’t showing up on LLMs

You’re not alone. Lots of B2B companies find that, despite solid SEO programs, their content isn’t appearing in AI responses. Common reasons include:

• No presence in citation-heavy categories. Basically, your competitors are producing fresh content where you have none, so AI models default to them.
• Missing foundational resources. Mentioned above, LLMs rely on guides, comparisons, and explainers. Without them, you can’t really expect your content to be cited.
• You don’t have first-party data. Proprietary research, surveys, calculators, and interactive tools provide that unique evidence that LLMs prefer. Time to create some!
• Outdated content. Even strong content loses visibility over time. LLMs prioritize up-to-date material. I was going to add “especially in fast-changing industries,” but actually: especially in everything. They always prioritize the fresh content because the internet is full of outdated, irrelevant stuff. LLMs aren’t aware enough (or aware at all) to actually know what’s right and what isn’t, so they just default to assuming if it’s new it’s more accurate than if it’s old.

And, maybe this is putting too fine a point on it, but you have to first create ANY content. LLMs can’t cite content that doesn’t exist. Of course you don’t want to waste your time on non-AI-SEO-optimized content, but some content is better than no content.

What are the best content strategies for AEO?

To appear in AI-driven results, content has to be designed with answer engine optimization (AEO) in mind. Here are two additional strategies to improve citation potential:

• Identify content gaps through citation analysis: Study where competitors are cited and identify categories where your content is absent. Target two or three categories for the next 60 to 90 days to build momentum.
• Scale smartly: AI tools might be able to help scale content, but you have to use them extremely carefully. Apply AI content creation tools only to low-complexity tasks like writing meta descriptions, brainstorming new angles, or testing headline variations. Do not produce large volumes of low-quality material. You can, however, use AI to accelerate tactical work while focusing your human effort on creating authoritative, differentiated content.

(And I want to add, as you’re reading this, you probably understand that it was written by a human. Maybe I don’t have the best writing voice, but I have decades of marketing experience and that probably comes through at least a little bit. When you’re reading AI advice you always kind of know it’s AI. And, it never really has anything new to say.)

Last, employ keyword research, content planning, and content brief creation:

1. Keyword research. This identifies those prompts/phrases people use when interacting with LLMs. You don’t want to only target high-volume search terms, and AEO emphasizes the natural-language queries likely to be fed into AI models. An example might be to write for “how to set up a pop-up store in 30 days” rather than the traditional SEO keyword of “pop-up store set up.”
2. Content planning. You want coverage across intent types. Foundational resources (guides, comparisons, glossaries) satisfy informational queries, while programmatic and functional content addresses bottom-of-funnel needs. When you’re planning you also want to prioritize those area/categories where your competitors are already cited but your brand is missing in action.
3. Content brief creation. This helps align every piece of content you create with your AEO goals. A well-structured brief doesn’t just go after keywords and target audience but also: which of your competitors are already being cited, what proprietary data can be included to make the piece unique (remember, you want cold, hard data!), and how the content should be formatted (e.g., lists, comparisons, step-by-step guides). All of this will maximize that sweet, sweet citation potential.

How can an AEO agency help

This post really just covers a fraction of the work needed to get your content in shape for AI visibility. (And, that’s not even counting the generative engine optimization strategies for your website, strategies for third party visibility, GEO reporting, and the multitude of non-content elements that go into optimizing for AI search.)

When you’re ready to reach out to an AEO agency like On Marketing, which focuses uniquely on getting your B2B brand and solutions to rank on AI search and LLMs, please contact us. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!