A Q&A with LLM expert Rosemary Brisco of ToTheWeb.
In this blog: We dig into the questions every marketer is asking about LLMs, including:
- How to show up in searches
- Upleveling existing content
- How SEO and LLMO overlap
- Tools to measure impact
Clients keep asking us the same thing: How do we get more of our content to show up in ChatGPT? (and other large language models (LLMs))
We don’t want to just be mentioned by these tools. We want to become the source when a buyer asks a question, we can answer.
Like early SEO, leadership teams now ask how to rank in LLM results—only now the stakes are higher. If you’re in PR or content marketing, chances are you’ve already started testing how to show up in LLMs. Maybe you’ve seen some early wins, but now you’re ready to go deeper and get more strategic.
We sat down with LLM and GEO expert Rosemary Brisco to clarify common questions, highlight effective strategies, and outline how to advance your LLM visibility.
If you’re serious about showing up in the tools your buyers are using, the insights below are worth bookmarking.
The Fletcher Group: What are brands asking about LLM optimization (LLMO)? The #1 question we’re getting from clients is: ‘How do we show up in LLMs?’ Do you hear that too?
Rosemary Brisco: Absolutely—it’s reshaping how marketing leadership thinks about visibility. Remember 20 years ago when Page One on Google was the boardroom obsession? LLMs are the next frontier—still opaque, but moving faster.
Foundational AI models remain opaque, much like Google’s early algorithms. But compared to the early days of organic search optimization, we didn’t know anything about how Google ranked content. With LLMs, I feel we know much more, much earlier in the game.
We have already identified key steps to LLMO and lots of examples of how this works (more on that below). Of course, showing up is only half the battle. Getting a link is what everyone wants.
TFG: Speaking of getting links, how do you think about quick wins vs. long‑term strategy: What quick wins can we surface—and what should a long-term LLM strategy include?
RB: You’re right—showing up in LLMs is a marathon, but you can have some quick wins. Start by upscaling your high‑value, evergreen content.
How to upscale existing content for LLMs:
- Refresh content with natural‑language, chunked headings (“What is X?”, “How it works”)
- Add on‑page FAQs and schema (but be careful about using ChatGPT to create FAQ schema–for me, it always causes an error in the structured data tool – so we created our own, and for us, it works without causing errors)
- Link to reputable third-party sources (peers, industry bodies, research). In fact, content with specific data points is 30-40% more likely to be rated highly by LLMs.
These upgrades significantly improve visibility in LLMs. Over time, you’ll be publishing content that gets cited—not merely indexed. That means presence in top-tier trade outlets, and forums like Reddit.
Case in point: an old post we refreshed for one client suddenly ranked again. Their insights from 2019 are now resonating *more* today in an AI‑first context. And LLMs now favor concise page summaries—one or two‑line punchy intros help.
Long-term? Think beyond keywords. You need presence in places LLMs learn from—like Wikipedia, Reddit, and high-authority sites. Publish content that gets cited, not just indexed.
This is what we know now, and no one knows how LLMs will change in the future. For example, recently we started to learn that LLMs like a short summary of what the content is about. Luckily, it doesn’t have to be long – usually one or two sentences can be enough.
Here’s what a good AI-optimized summary looks like. And here is the article that example is from.
TFG: What is the biggest misconception you hear about showing up in LLMs?
RB: There are so many! But this one surfaces the most: If my site ranks well on Google, will it also show up in LLMs? Many assume strong SEO equals LLM visibility, but that assumption overlooks key differences.
If you have done a good job of implementing SEO best practices, you are off to a great start because there’s a lot of overlap between LLMO and SEO. But many marketers think LLMO is a quick fix, so it’s important to do some expectation setting.
LLMs update on slower and less predictable schedules than search engines. And LLMs have two primary ways of “knowing” about your brand:
- Their foundational training data. This may only update every few months to a year, depending on the provider (e.g., OpenAI’s ChatGPT updates less frequently than models like DeepSeek). Cutoff dates vary by model (each platform and individual model has different training cutoff dates)
- Search-augmented responses. These pull in newer web content—but even these updates often lag by days or weeks, not hours.
As a result, changes to your content may take time to appear in AI-generated answers—even longer than traditional SEO. We build this lag into the client strategy, so everyone is aligned on expectations and results.
TFG: Let’s talk about “owned” vs “earned.” According to a recent report, more than 89% of links cited by AI are earned media, so we know it’s essential. Can you talk about why it’s so important for brands to show up well in both owned website content and earned media coverage?
RB: Good PR and good content are really important, and I regularly tell clients this. Let’s use this example from one of my presentations to discuss “earned” because it’s the hardest one.
The image below shows how AI thinks. LLMs connect concepts that appear together often in training data. When a publication mentions your brand alongside relevant topics, you signal trust and relevance.
Think of Salesforce and Slack. Salesforce owns Slack, and therefore has heavily documented their integrations online and are often cited together, so LLMs build that connection semantically. One respected mention beats dozens of minor ones. By generating curated coverage, you’re essentially programming future AI recommendations.
More mentions across diverse platforms help form stronger semantic connections in LLMs.
Here’s what this means for brands: You’re literally teaching future AI systems through the authoritative content that mentions you. When top-tier sites write about your brand, you’re programming AI recommendations.
TFG: This is why it’s so important to be working on your LLM presence right now, to shape the future of your brand visibility.
RB: Absolutely, the key insight here is that quality beats quantity. One mention in a respected publication is worth more than dozens of low-quality mentions (same as in SEO). You’re building brand awareness and that shapes how AI will understand and recommend your brand in the future.
That’s the power of consistent, high-quality mentions versus sporadic or weak associations.
TFG: We are seeing many new ways to try to measure progress in brand presence on LLMs and this is a fast-evolving space. What are the best ways to measure your progress?
RB: Everyone can start by looking in their Google Analytics to see if traffic is coming from LLMs (it probably is). And there are some sophisticated tools on the market, like Revere, as well as more basic options like ChatHub. The more sophisticated tools do require an investment, but they are becoming invaluable as analytics data because they can deep-dive into what’s being said about your brand, where basic tools that only run individual queries can’t.
But anyone can start by looking at their analytics to see if traffic is coming from LLMs. You can also use an inexpensive tool called ChatHub to run single queries.
But the secret weapon? Answering real questions—especially in product docs and knowledge bases. LLMs often pull from those sources. A smart content strategy integrates FAQs and schema across both marketing and support materials.
This chart shows the gap between how well LLMs and brand websites are prepared to deliver answers to user queries. Brand websites should prioritize clear, direct answers to common user queries.
Next steps for marketing and PR teams
It’s clear that LLMO is changing rapidly, and it’s essential for brands to start adapting their approach right away to boost their presence. If you’re already running an integrated PR and content marketing strategy and have decent SEO, you’re on the right path.
Here’s a recap of the next steps you can take today:
1. Audit your existing content for “upscale” opportunities.
2. Update your owned + earned coverage strategy to prioritize quality over quantity and high authority sources.
3. Document AI‑driven referral patterns in your existing analytics tools. Then, test paid tools that support your measurement needs.
Learn more about integrated PR and content marketing strategies that drive visibility in LLMs. Learn more about Rosemary Brisco’s training.
You must be logged in to post a comment.