Great read, Alex! Really appreciate how this piece pulls it all together: the tech, the behavior shift, and the deeper questions behind it.
I’ve been seeing more people on Substack talk about how we now need to optimize our content not for ranking, but for summarization. It’s no longer just about showing up in search, it’s about showing up well in AI-generated answers. That means writing with clarity, structure, and standout value so that when models scan, summarize, or synthesize our work, the core message survives, and still gives people a reason to click through. It’s a whole new layer of visibility we’re optimizing for now.
Absolutely — it’s not SEO anymore, it’s SAO: Summarization Optimization. The new game isn’t getting ranked, it’s getting retained by the AI. Clarity is currency, structure is strategy, and standout insight is what earns the click in a world where the bot reads first.
Great point — the pivot from traditional SEO to optimizing for LLMs reflects a deeper shift: from surfacing content to shaping how knowledge is interpreted. As LLMs increasingly become the interface between users and information, the new game is about influencing what answers get synthesized, not just what pages get ranked.
This could blur the line between marketing and knowledge distribution, especially in B2C spaces where brand voice, trust, and AI visibility intersect. Whether B2C chatbots become just another marketing channel or evolve into true customer advisors will depend on how they're governed — and how deeply they're integrated into strategic content ecosystems.
Curious to hear how others are approaching LLM visibility in their strategy stacks.
Loved reading it! This is such an exciting topic and time 👏🏻
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Nils - glad you liked it !
Great read, Alex! Really appreciate how this piece pulls it all together: the tech, the behavior shift, and the deeper questions behind it.
I’ve been seeing more people on Substack talk about how we now need to optimize our content not for ranking, but for summarization. It’s no longer just about showing up in search, it’s about showing up well in AI-generated answers. That means writing with clarity, structure, and standout value so that when models scan, summarize, or synthesize our work, the core message survives, and still gives people a reason to click through. It’s a whole new layer of visibility we’re optimizing for now.
Absolutely — it’s not SEO anymore, it’s SAO: Summarization Optimization. The new game isn’t getting ranked, it’s getting retained by the AI. Clarity is currency, structure is strategy, and standout insight is what earns the click in a world where the bot reads first.
SEO professionals are turning their attention to LLMs. It’s possible that B2C chatbots will go the way of the web. Dominated by consumer marketing …
Great point — the pivot from traditional SEO to optimizing for LLMs reflects a deeper shift: from surfacing content to shaping how knowledge is interpreted. As LLMs increasingly become the interface between users and information, the new game is about influencing what answers get synthesized, not just what pages get ranked.
This could blur the line between marketing and knowledge distribution, especially in B2C spaces where brand voice, trust, and AI visibility intersect. Whether B2C chatbots become just another marketing channel or evolve into true customer advisors will depend on how they're governed — and how deeply they're integrated into strategic content ecosystems.
Curious to hear how others are approaching LLM visibility in their strategy stacks.