I’ve been hearing vaguely about LEO (LLM Engine Optimization), I thought there was no secret to it but what you just described explains that there is a recipe to actually improve website presence to AI. I think this is a really nice breakdown, and I cannot wait to implement some of this, especially by starting to uploade my sitemap to Bing for sure, thanks Jenny!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Wyndo! Yes, there’s definitely a recipe, and probably more still to uncover. Excited to see how your experiments turn out!
Impressive overview, Jenny! I'm not adept at programming, but this was pretty straightforward to follow. It appears that AI favors well-written, well-structured writing that has more depth and more "digestable" elements that human readers also like.
It also sounds like knowing how to make clear, concise overviews and strong hooks are going to help a lot outside of the backend work that needs to be done.
I've noticed in my own AI tinkering that it has referenced a lot of my Medium work when I ask it something that I'm reflecting on so there's another reason to consider not ditching Medium altogether.
Thank you so much for the thoughtful comment, Vince!
Yes, I’ve noticed the same, Medium seems to have solid SEO baked in, whether by design or legacy. I’m not sure how intentional it is, but my content definitely tends to surface more reliably from Medium than Substack. Makes me hesitant to ditch it too!
Excellent breakdown, Jenny! I love how you dive into the complexity of these systems while still keeping everything defined and understandable for anyone.
Thank you, Jenny, for such a thoughtful and practical deep dive into how AI search actually works. I really appreciated your transparency and real-life examples. Indeed, simpler, server-rendered sites can outperform flashier tools in AI visibility. Your clear breakdown of RAG systems and actionable tips on structured data and SSR are incredibly helpful for anyone building digital products today. It’s a must-read for builders aiming to stay relevant in the AI-first search era.
Thanks for this structured breakdown. I am a content marketer, and most businesses have been crazy about appearing in ChatGPT. I agree with some of the structural things here that you mention, but I feel the most overlooked aspect of getting into these LLMs as of now is simply brand mentions, or as SEOs would call—backlinks.
ChatGPT even reveals the JSON file in its answers (as of now). Google's AI overviews don't. And you can pretty much see its reasoning on how it's fetching the content. As you rightly pointed out, ChatGPT relies on Bing. Specifically, you can use that JSON to view the specific Bing queries that ChatGPT conducts. This is especially relevant for commercial queries like "best analytics tools for Substack." Currently, LLM optimization is largely similar to SEO.
Wow, thanks for educating me on this! I agree that backlinks are a very powerful method, possibly even more powerful now? Since LLMs can follow up on those backlinks, unlike how traditional search engines treat them.
But yes, it’s so reassuring to hear from your expertise that GEO is still largely SEO.
Yeah i mean backlinks are all about getting your word going and now they have kind of become a digital form of good old PR. I feel mostly LLM algorithms are still evolving, we know one thing that brand mentions on other websites matter :)
This is very useful, Jenny. Since the day AI appeared, search habits have changed a lot. I’ve caught myself using AI a lot for searching. I’ll follow your detailed steps to optimize my Substack for better discoverability by AI.
Glad this post resonated, Luan! It’s wild to look back (just a couple of years ago) and see just how much AI has already reshaped our everyday habits. I have no doubt it’s only going to keep changing the way we work and live.
The very informative part about optimizing your Substack and blog was my favorite part of the whole piece. So aligned with what I and a lot of other creators do, and packed with practical nuance. I’m saving this for future reference as I refine my own AI-readiness systems. Loved every line.
Hi Jenny, I have the privacy option switched on to block AI training in Substack settings, but am getting traffic referrals from ChatGPT. What is your take on this?
Yeah Jens, likely your sitemap is still being visited by AI bots. Substack is optimized for SEO, and AI crawlers aren’t fully separate from regular search bots, so the traffic makes sense.
Wow! I have been doing SEO professionally for others, but recently started my own business. So I'm currently using AI to create and haven't focused on the SEO part at all. Thanks to your profound post, to bring me up to date with the technical stuff. This makes perfect sense and there are some great actionable steps I will immediately take.
Very helpful breakdown, thank you! And agree that both Google and LLMs are looking for answers. The main issue I see for journalism and other narrative content is how stories that don’t lend themselves to a Notion doc style outline can be surfaced…maybe through a summary or structured schema aimed only at the bots?
Thanks Karen! Yeah, it really depends on the type of content. Like you said, for narrative pieces or stories, a smart workaround is often a summary or structured schema.
I’ve mostly used Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools myself.
I’ve heard good things about Ahrefs, Semrush, and even Screaming Frog for site audits, though I haven’t gone deep with them yet. Let me know if you’ve tried any out!
I’ve been hearing vaguely about LEO (LLM Engine Optimization), I thought there was no secret to it but what you just described explains that there is a recipe to actually improve website presence to AI. I think this is a really nice breakdown, and I cannot wait to implement some of this, especially by starting to uploade my sitemap to Bing for sure, thanks Jenny!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Wyndo! Yes, there’s definitely a recipe, and probably more still to uncover. Excited to see how your experiments turn out!
Impressive overview, Jenny! I'm not adept at programming, but this was pretty straightforward to follow. It appears that AI favors well-written, well-structured writing that has more depth and more "digestable" elements that human readers also like.
It also sounds like knowing how to make clear, concise overviews and strong hooks are going to help a lot outside of the backend work that needs to be done.
I've noticed in my own AI tinkering that it has referenced a lot of my Medium work when I ask it something that I'm reflecting on so there's another reason to consider not ditching Medium altogether.
Thank you so much for the thoughtful comment, Vince!
Yes, I’ve noticed the same, Medium seems to have solid SEO baked in, whether by design or legacy. I’m not sure how intentional it is, but my content definitely tends to surface more reliably from Medium than Substack. Makes me hesitant to ditch it too!
Ugh ChatGPT found me and I was conflated with other Kelly Thompsons: my work listed with theirs as though we’re one person!
Oh no!! Definitely time to get ChatGPT to fix that 😅
I’ve had name collisions too, adding “tech person” or “programmer” usually helps narrow it down. Did you try to ask more specifically?
Yes
Wow… saving this one for continued reference. Incredible analysis as always 👊🏻
Thank you Kyle! Glad this can be helpful! Ask me anything down the road!
Excellent breakdown, Jenny! I love how you dive into the complexity of these systems while still keeping everything defined and understandable for anyone.
Thank you Joel! That means a lot, especially since making it clear and useful was the goal. Glad it landed that way!
Thank you, Jenny, for such a thoughtful and practical deep dive into how AI search actually works. I really appreciated your transparency and real-life examples. Indeed, simpler, server-rendered sites can outperform flashier tools in AI visibility. Your clear breakdown of RAG systems and actionable tips on structured data and SSR are incredibly helpful for anyone building digital products today. It’s a must-read for builders aiming to stay relevant in the AI-first search era.
Thank you so much for the comment, Tom!
I’m really glad the breakdowns and examples resonated.
Hey hey Jenny,
Thanks for this structured breakdown. I am a content marketer, and most businesses have been crazy about appearing in ChatGPT. I agree with some of the structural things here that you mention, but I feel the most overlooked aspect of getting into these LLMs as of now is simply brand mentions, or as SEOs would call—backlinks.
ChatGPT even reveals the JSON file in its answers (as of now). Google's AI overviews don't. And you can pretty much see its reasoning on how it's fetching the content. As you rightly pointed out, ChatGPT relies on Bing. Specifically, you can use that JSON to view the specific Bing queries that ChatGPT conducts. This is especially relevant for commercial queries like "best analytics tools for Substack." Currently, LLM optimization is largely similar to SEO.
Wow, thanks for educating me on this! I agree that backlinks are a very powerful method, possibly even more powerful now? Since LLMs can follow up on those backlinks, unlike how traditional search engines treat them.
But yes, it’s so reassuring to hear from your expertise that GEO is still largely SEO.
Yeah i mean backlinks are all about getting your word going and now they have kind of become a digital form of good old PR. I feel mostly LLM algorithms are still evolving, we know one thing that brand mentions on other websites matter :)
This is very useful, Jenny. Since the day AI appeared, search habits have changed a lot. I’ve caught myself using AI a lot for searching. I’ll follow your detailed steps to optimize my Substack for better discoverability by AI.
Glad this post resonated, Luan! It’s wild to look back (just a couple of years ago) and see just how much AI has already reshaped our everyday habits. I have no doubt it’s only going to keep changing the way we work and live.
Your tips on RAG and making content crawler-friendly are gold. I’m already rethinking my own stuff. Thanks for digging into this!
Glad it resonated!
The very informative part about optimizing your Substack and blog was my favorite part of the whole piece. So aligned with what I and a lot of other creators do, and packed with practical nuance. I’m saving this for future reference as I refine my own AI-readiness systems. Loved every line.
Thanks for sharing your unique voice James!
Looking forward to your next masterpiece!
Thanks for sharing Jenny!
You are always welcome Harrison! Really appreciate your comment.
This is a reason why I stay on Substack. Thank you, that's gold of a post
You’re very welcome. Your comments are what motivate me to keep putting out my best work.
Hi Jenny, I have the privacy option switched on to block AI training in Substack settings, but am getting traffic referrals from ChatGPT. What is your take on this?
Yeah Jens, likely your sitemap is still being visited by AI bots. Substack is optimized for SEO, and AI crawlers aren’t fully separate from regular search bots, so the traffic makes sense.
Wow! I have been doing SEO professionally for others, but recently started my own business. So I'm currently using AI to create and haven't focused on the SEO part at all. Thanks to your profound post, to bring me up to date with the technical stuff. This makes perfect sense and there are some great actionable steps I will immediately take.
Very helpful breakdown, thank you! And agree that both Google and LLMs are looking for answers. The main issue I see for journalism and other narrative content is how stories that don’t lend themselves to a Notion doc style outline can be surfaced…maybe through a summary or structured schema aimed only at the bots?
Thanks Karen! Yeah, it really depends on the type of content. Like you said, for narrative pieces or stories, a smart workaround is often a summary or structured schema.
Favorite line: “AI Doesn’t Crawl the Web Like Google—It Borrows”
Thanks for this. Already implemented several improvements. Do have any recommendations besides Ahrefs to track progress?
Thanks, Daniel!
I’ve mostly used Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools myself.
I’ve heard good things about Ahrefs, Semrush, and even Screaming Frog for site audits, though I haven’t gone deep with them yet. Let me know if you’ve tried any out!
I'm going to take Ahrefs for a spin, will let you know!