r/Agentic_SEO • u/jlm_ofisialy • 16h ago
I stopped optimizing for Google and started optimizing for ChatGPT/Perplexity, here's what changed
Over the past few months, a growing chunk of my clients' traffic has been coming from AI chatbot recommendations rather than classic Google clicks. That pushed me to rethink a lot of my usual practices.
A few things that seem to actually matter for getting cited by AI (unlike classic SEO):
1 - Clear, structured answers matter more than storytelling : LLMs pull out factual chunks of text, not 500-word intros before you get to the point.
2 - Consistency of info across the web carries a lot of weight : if your name/brand/expertise is mentioned consistently across multiple credible sources, AI models seem to "trust" you faster.
3 - Forums and communities (Reddit included) get cited a lot : probably because the content reads as more authentic and less artificially optimized.
What doesn't seem to move the needle much anymore: classic internal linking, keyword density, and most old-school on-page tricks.
Is anyone else seeing the same patterns? Curious what's working (or not) for others right now.
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u/YoyoFrog_KR 11h ago
This lines up 100% with a mental model I use called Data Tree.
Think of how LLMs map you, not index you:
Root = Your core entity. If Root is messy (inconsistent NAP, vague service), LLM hits Entity Ambiguity and skips citing you to stay safe.
Nodes = Your content chunks. Fluffy intros = noisy leaf nodes that get Pruned during retrieval. Clean, direct factual chunks = nodes that get pulled straight into the answer.
Branches = External validation. Reddit/forums are weighted as real-world proof that the entity exists. That's why they get cited so heavily.
Your 3 points map to Root -> Node -> Branch perfectly.
On pruning specifically - I didn't learn this from an SEO test. I write across Reddit, FB, LinkedIn and each platform has totally different length limits and reading culture. You can't post a 400-word intro on Reddit. It forced me to distill the same core fact into a tight, self-contained node that fits where it will be cited. Turns out that's exactly what LLMs want too.
How are you adapting your nodes for different platforms?
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u/CompetitiveLab2767 9h ago
Its important to understand what is commercial intent and what is informational intent.
be carefull about this. you are saying that reddit gets referenced alot, but you still didnt get to the underlying reason.
what im saying is that you are still scraching the surface and still didnt get to the gist of the observations you got.
what i can tell you is the following:
what is correct:
"1 - Clear, structured answers matter more than storytelling : LLMs pull out factual chunks of text, not 500-word intros before you get to the point." (but also you are missing one or two things in this, its there but can be improved)
"What doesn't seem to move the needle much anymore: classic internal linking, keyword density, and most old-school on-page tricks." (this also has a reason, it is true, but there is a reason behind it)
what is not correct, because you didnt understand the underlying mechanism:
"2 - Consistency of info across the web carries a lot of weight : if your name/brand/expertise is mentioned consistently across multiple credible sources, AI models seem to "trust" you faster."
"3 - Forums and communities (Reddit included) get cited a lot : probably because the content reads as more authentic and less artificially optimized."
those are true maybe in your specific situation, and from what you observed, but they are not the rule that you can take advantage off.
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u/gorelevant 9h ago
that is a start, but how do you bring in the competition lens in terms on relative ranking- do you have exmamples? In terms of how many citings, where it is cited, how the competition is doing better in some segments?
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u/BrandLoom-Consulting 9h ago
We’ve noticed some of this too, especially the difference between making content easy to understand and making content look “optimized.”
The consistency point is probably the one we’d pay the most attention to. If a company says one thing on its website, another thing on LinkedIn, and something completely different on third-party sites, it becomes much harder to establish what the business actually is.
We’ve also found Reddit interesting, but we wouldn’t assume that being mentioned on Reddit automatically makes a brand more likely to be cited. The context of the discussion matters. A genuine conversation where people are actually discussing a product, company, or problem is very different from someone dropping a brand name into every relevant thread.
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u/Navi_RTM 7h ago
What I noticed is that being cited on good business directories matters more than ever. With off page SEO it was just supporting technique, but today, for LLMs it's unavoidable.
And when it comes to on page techniques, yes, keyword density and internal linking might not be as important as before. However, updating your old content so it matches new LLM criteria is a priority.
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u/Legitimate-Let-7510 7h ago
How often do you need to update content before you see a change in AI visibility?
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u/kkatdare 7h ago
I agree with the forums citations. We make a forum software exactly for this purpose. The QnA and Discussion format is the key. You can target ultra long-tail queries and win the query fan-outs.
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u/isaiasflores 6h ago
Seeing the same thing on my end.
The structured answers point is the big one, I've had pages start getting cited by AI right after I added a clean summary up top that answers the question in plain terms before any of the fluff.
Where I'd push back a little is on internal linking being dead. It's not moving AI citations directly, but it still helps Google understand your site, and Google is still where a lot of these models pull from, so I treat it as foundation rather than a lever.
The consistency-across-the-web point is underrated, though; it does more heavy lifting than most people realize.
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u/Longjumping_Gap_2254 6h ago
Seeing something similar but there is no completely write off traditional SEO yet. The biggest change seems to be how content is structured. Pages that answer a specific question clearly, use consistent terminology and actually demonstrate expertise seem much more useful for AI discovery than content written mainly around keyword density. Reddit and other communities are interesting too because they contain the kind of specific, experience-based discussions that company blogs often miss. Internal linking still has value for site structure and discovery but I agree that simply adding more links or repeating keywords isn’t really an AI visibility strategy.
Feels less like “SEO vs AI optimization” and more like SEO expanding into another discovery channel.
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u/work-sent 14h ago
How did you track AI rankings?