Influencing AI results isn't about traditional SEO tactics. It's about getting your brand mentioned in the sources AI models are trained on, like Reddit, industry publications, and news articles. The most effective way to achieve this is through modern PR and consistent social media activity, as journalists and writers use these platforms for discovery.

The fundamental goal of search optimization has changed. Instead of focusing on getting a click to your website to provide an answer, brands must now aim to be included as a source in answers generated by AI, which occur on third-party platforms.

For visibility in AI tools like ChatGPT, the rules are different from Google SEO. Patel explains that AEO prioritizes the frequency and sentiment of brand mentions across the web, whereas traditional SEO heavily relies on backlinks, even if they don't explicitly name the brand.

While on-site technical SEO still matters, the most significant impact now comes from off-site activities. Distributing a single piece of content across high-Domain Rating (DR) platforms like LinkedIn, Medium, and X provides the most leverage for ranking and visibility in the age of AI search.

Data shows that the vast majority of brand mentions within AI-generated search answers come from external websites, not a brand's own content. This elevates the importance of off-site SEO, digital PR, and securing features on other reputable domains for visibility in the AI era.

In an AEO analysis for Dell, their own website drove only 4% of AI mentions. Peer content (55%) and earned media (26%) were far more influential. This shows that on-site optimization is a small part of a much larger off-site content ecosystem that shapes AI opinions.

Unlike traditional SEO's focus on backlinks, ranking in AI search depends on the density and authority of brand mentions across diverse sources like PR, podcasts, Reddit, and review sites. AI models look for consensus in online conversations to determine which brands to recommend for specific queries.

As users turn to LLMs for answers, brand visibility depends less on optimizing owned web content. The focus must shift to nurturing the community and third-party content (e.g., Reddit, forums) that AI models are trained on. What customers say about you is the new SEO.

Unlike traditional SEO that relied on backlinks, modern search engines and LLMs recognize and value mentions of your brand name even without a hyperlink. This broadens the scope of brand-building for SEO, as any text mention across the web contributes to your authority.