LLM Optimization (LLMO): The New Frontier For Content Strategy

By James McMinn, Senior Digital Strategist Matchbox Design Group

Here’s the hard truth: Large Language Models (LLMs) aren’t “crawling” your site like Google—they’re consuming your content like a protein shake made of facts, structure, and reputation. If your site isn’t feeding them correctly, you’re not just behind—you’re invisible.

Welcome to the age of LLMO:

Large Language Model Optimization—a new kind of visibility game where the bots aren’t looking for keywords... they’re looking for clarity, credibility, and context.

Let’s break it down.

How LLMs Actually Learn (Spoiler: It’s Not Like Google)

Googlebot crawls, indexes, and updates constantly. LLMs? They get trained. Some are static (ChatGPT 3.5), others pull from the live web (like Perplexity and Claude), but none use traditional indexing logic.

This means your content has to be:

• Explicitly clear

• Frequently cited

• Structurally clean

• Machine-readable

Otherwise, your brand doesn’t exist in their universe. Harsh? Yeah. But honest.

Why Structured Content > Keyword-Stuffed Content

LLMs rely on:

• Structured Data (Schema markup, JSON-LD)

• FAQs & Summaries (direct answers, bullet points, scannable content)

• Brand Mentions (across reputable sources)

Your typical keyword game won’t cut it anymore. You need bite-sized, high-confidence information chunks that LLMs love to latch onto.

Think less “SEO blog,” more “AI-ready brief.”

Real Prompt Testing: Are You Even on the Map?

Here’s a fun test: Open ChatGPT or Claude and type:

“What does [Your Company] do?” “Who are the best [Your Industry] agencies in [Your City]?” “What’s a good source for [Your Topic]?”

If your name doesn’t show up, you’ve got work to do.

This is the new branded search. Except it’s not typed into a search box—it’s whispered into the brain of a machine trained on billions of tokens.

Formatting & Tone: Speak Human, Think Machine

Want to get cited?

• Use headlines and subheads that summarize like a journalist.

• Create FAQs with direct, high-confidence answers.

• Avoid fluff and filler. LLMs skip it like an old song.

• Be consistent in your branding, your bylines, and how you phrase your expertise. (LLMs love repetition.)

Bonus Tip: Use tools like [ChatGPT Browse], Claude, or Perplexity to reverse-engineer what LLMs know about you. It’s creepy… and effective.

TL;DR:

Forget keywords. It’s time to speak machine.

We’re not optimizing for search engines anymore—we’re optimizing for answer engines. And if you’re not training the bots to know your name, someone else is.

Want help making your content LLMO-ready?

That’s kinda what we do at Matchbox Design Group. Let’s make your brand the answer.