LLM Optimization (LLMO)

LLM Optimization (LLMO) is the discipline of making your content easy for large language models to retrieve, understand, and cite. It is the umbrella term that covers AEO, GEO, and the broader practice of engineering content for the AI retrieval stack.

LLMO is not a replacement for SEO. It is a layer on top of SEO that addresses a new consumer of your content: the language model.

What LLMO optimizes for

• Retrievability — server-rendered HTML, fast load, clean structure, no JS-only content
• Clearness — one question per heading, one answer per section
• Citatability — self-contained passages that stand alone
• Trust — visible authorship, sources, and E-E-A-T signals
• Density of unique value — see information gain

How LLMO differs from SEO

	SEO	LLMO
Consumer	A person clicking a link	A model that retrieves and re-states your content
Unit	Page	Passage
Key signal	Backlinks, keywords, technical health	Retrievability, E-E-A-T, citation density
Success metric	Rank and clicks	Citation rate and share of model

Practical LLMO tactics

1. Treat every H2 as a question and the first paragraph as the answer
2. Add a TL;DR, a “Key facts” box, and an FAQ block at the top of long articles
3. Use schema markup generously
4. Make sure your most important passages render without JavaScript
5. Earn brand mentions on authoritative third-party sites
6. Monitor your AI citations and iterate