We’re entering an era where people are using LLMs (large language models) like ChatGPT as their research assistant when looking for a service.
This means that a savvy business owner now has a huge opportunity to stand out from the crowd and start getting recommended by LLMs to potential clients.
Here’s how it works:
Traditionally, people would open up Google and search for something like “kitchen extension companies Manchester” or “weight management nutritionist”.
And SEO people (including myself) always gave the advice to optimise your website pages for these specific keyphrases, to hopefully show up in the Google search results.
But now, the way people do their research is changing.
More and more often, someone will open up ChatGPT instead of Google, and ask something like:
“We’ve been planning a kitchen extension ourselves but keep getting stuck on the layout. Which design-and-build companies near Manchester handle both planning and construction? We want to have plenty of say in the final designs of the layout, so this needs to be a collaborative process.”
or
“I need a nutritionist who’s familiar with PCOS and sustainable weight management, ideally UK-based and who offers online sessions. It would be great if they can help me co-create a meal plan, but I have a lot of intolerances and we’d need to work around those.”
Then, the LLM will give the user a list of tailored recommendations.
But how do you make sure that your business is one of the ones recommended to your ideal clients when they’re in research mode?
How to get more traffic from ChatGPT:
💡 This next bit is REALLY IMPORTANT if you want to get found and recommended by LLMs like ChatGPT:
The content on your website needs to go into detail about:
- who are the specific type of clients you work with
- how exactly you get results for your clients
- the kinds of problems they’re having right now
- what you specialise in, and why
- what working with you looks and feels like
- how their life/business/financial situation is going to be transformed after working with you
- why they should trust you
- how much it costs to work with you
- and anything else you think your ideal client might need to know before making a decision about a service provider
⚠️ If your site is vague, inconsistent, or full of generic content or outdated info, LLMs can easily get the wrong idea, or skip you altogether.
👉🏽 Ranking in search engines still matters
LLMs don’t have access to some secret database of websites; they use the results of search engines too. But AI has infinite patience (unlike human users), so it’s more likely to keep working through the results, moving onto page 3, 4, 5 of Google and beyond, until it finds the right match for the user.
So while traditional keyphrases and ranking in search engines still matter, it’s not essential to be showing up on page 1 to be recommended when people are using ChatGPT for research. (It probably helps though - there isn’t much data yet about how exactly LLMs crawl the search engine results - I’ll update this article as more research comes out!)
Why traffic from AI sources can be the most valuable of all
Now, let’s say the AI shortlists your business, alongside a few others, and the user then decides to click through to your site.
That visitor is not like the average Google user who’s browsing options.
The LLM has already explained to them how your business could be a great fit. This visitor knows what they want, they know why they’re clicking, and they’re arriving with intent.
💡 Pay attention to this:
When those high-quality visitors arrive, they’re already half-convinced. Your website’s job is to reinforce that confidence and guide them smoothly to the next step.
If they find an amateur looking design, confusing navigation, or friction in your enquiry process, they’ll disappear to check out one of the other options, and you’ll lose one of the most valuable leads you’ll ever get.
This is where a credible visual identity, great UX, clear messaging, and a streamlined enquiry process aren’t just “nice to have”. They’re business-critical.
Here are a few resources for you to get started on this:
How to streamline your website navigation for a better user experience
How to create an irresistible contact form
Here’s a website usability checklist (how many can you tick off?)
What’s AI saying about your business?
Curious to know what an LLM would say about your business if someone asked it specifically? Here’s an experiment you can do right now:
Go to perplexity.ai and type:
“Can you give me an overview of this business: [insert your website URL here]”
It’ll take about 10 seconds… and the result might surprise you.
When I did this with the Pie Heart Studio website, it gave me a tidy little summary of what we do - check out the screenshot below:
The summary was pretty accurate (thankfully).
But it also pulled details from an old ‘About’ page I’d hidden from our navigation. That page is technically still live on the site, and the AI found it.
LLMs don’t just see what your visitors see. They read your entire digital footprint - the visible, the forgotten, and sometimes the outdated. If it’s indexed by search engines, they’ll see it. And they use that to decide how to describe your business to anyone who asks.
Don’t sleep on this: now is the time to be optimising your website and content so that LLMs understand your business and target audience, and start recommending you to ideal clients.
Your main takeaway:
Your website is already out there, quietly talking to AI tools and LLMs, and those AIs are shaping how potential clients perceive your business.
You can’t control whether this happens, but you can control what they read.
Keep your website accurate, detailed and human. Make sure every key page tells the right story, and addresses all the hesitations and concerns a potential client might currently be working through with ChatGPT. If you have old, outdated pages hidden away, get rid of them, or make sure they’re not crawlable by search engines.
When those well-matched visitors finally arrive, make sure they get a great first impression, and give them a very clear and intuitive way to take the next step towards working with you.