LLMs vs SEO: What UK Businesses Need to Know in 2025
LLMs and SEO: What Businesses Should Actually Focus On
The rise of Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude, and others has left many business owners wondering: should we be optimising for AI chatbots instead of Google? As a website design company working with small businesses across the UK, we’ve been closely monitoring this shift. Here’s our take on what actually matters.
The Fundamental Difference: Real-Time vs Historical Data
One of the biggest misconceptions we encounter is that optimising for LLMs works like traditional SEO. It doesn’t, and here’s why:
Traditional SEO offers near-immediate feedback. Update your content today, and you might see changes in your search rankings within days or weeks. Google’s crawlers are constantly scanning the web, indexing fresh content, and adjusting rankings based on current information.
For example, when asking ChatGPT for information on the best web agency, we will receive two different answers depending on the question we ask. It will either use its web search functionality to perform a live search and find most recent information or it will rely on its core training:
“My training includes knowledge up until June 2024. However, for dynamic or very recent information (like rankings, updates, or news), I perform live web searches at the time of your request — those live data checks indicate when I last gathered that info.”
LLMs, however, work with training data that’s often months or even years old. When you ask ChatGPT or Claude about your business, they’re drawing from information they learned during their training period—not from your website as it exists today. This means any content changes you make now won’t impact how these AI models discuss your brand until they’re retrained, which happens infrequently.
What This Means for Your Strategy
Rather than chasing immediate results with LLMs, think long-term. The content you create today might influence how AI chatbots describe your business in future versions, but it won’t change what they say tomorrow.
What Doesn’t Work
The internet is awash with “LLM optimisation tips” that sound clever but lack any real foundation. Let’s address the elephant in the room.
The llms.txt File Myth
You might have seen advice to create an “llms.txt” file for your website, similar to robots.txt. Sounds logical, doesn’t it? The problem is, we’ve found no evidence that any major LLM actually recognises or uses these files.
We’ve not come across any LLM documentation that would mention supporting llms.txt files. Until LLM providers officially announce support for such protocols, creating these files is likely a waste of time.
Other Questionable Tactics
Similarly, many suggested “optimisation” techniques are based on speculation rather than confirmed functionality:
- Special meta tags for LLMs
- Hidden text blocks specifically for AI
- Keyword density formulas for chatbots
Without official documentation supporting these methods, they’re shots in the dark at best. They also remind us of SEO techniques from the early days of the search engines: keyword stuffing, aggressive link building, etc. It didn’t take Google and other major search engines much time to adjust their engines to start punishing those websites. So even if the LLM methods work, AI won’t need long to start ignoring them.
Proven Strategies to Improve Your LLM Visibility
So what actually works? Based on our research, here are strategies that can genuinely help your brand appear more prominently in LLM responses:
Build Authoritative Third-Party Mentions
LLMs often rely heavily on reputable sources. Getting your business mentioned on:
- Industry publications
- Local news websites
- Professional directories
- Wikipedia (if eligible)
- Academic papers or case studies
These mentions carry more weight than anything on your own website. The more your brand gets mentioned by reputable sources, the more LLMs will trust you are a good source of information for them. Consistency is key – AI models do need a bit of time to get trained so information you provide them now might not be fully used until a few months down the road.
Maintain Consistent Information Across the Web
Conflicting information confuses both search engines and LLMs. Ensure your:
- Business name
- Services
- Location details
- Key offerings
Are identical across all platforms, from your Google Business Profile to industry directories.
Create Comprehensive, Factual Content
Whilst you won’t see immediate results, creating detailed, factual content about your business, services, and industry expertise builds a foundation for future LLM training cycles. Focus on:
- Clear, descriptive “About Us” pages
- Detailed service descriptions
- Case studies with specific outcomes
- Industry insights and expertise articles
Just like real users, LLMs appreciate it when they can get their answer quickly. So aim to answer the main question in the first paragraph and then provide more detail further down the page.
Engage with Existing AI Platforms
Some platforms allow businesses to submit information directly:
- Bing Chat uses Bing’s search index
- Google’s Bard/Gemini leverages Google’s knowledge graph
- Perplexity AI often cites recent web sources
Optimising for these search engines indirectly improves your LLM visibility.
Comparison is the thief of … LLM mentions
The problem with trying to store so much information is that finding it gets expensive. That’s why LLMs often rely on content pieces that already offer a comparison of 10 different products rather than using 10 pieces of content that each describe one product. Don’t be afraid to write about your competitors – it gives you control over the narrative and increases your chances of getting your content cited by LLMs.
The Balanced Approach: Don’t Abandon SEO
Here’s the crucial bit: traditional SEO still drives the vast majority of organic traffic for small businesses. Whilst LLMs are growing in popularity, they haven’t replaced search engines for most commercial queries.
Our recommendation? Maintain a strong SEO foundation whilst building long-term authority that will benefit you in the LLM era:
- Continue investing in SEO: It delivers measurable, near-term results
- Build genuine authority: Create content and earn mentions that establish expertise
- Stay informed: Monitor official announcements from LLM providers
- Avoid speculation: Don’t waste resources on unproven tactics
Looking Ahead
The relationship between LLMs and web content is still evolving. We expect to see:
- Official guidelines from LLM providers
- New protocols for AI-content interaction
- Better integration between search and conversational AI
Until then, focus on what’s proven to work: creating valuable content, building genuine authority, and maintaining strong SEO fundamentals.
Ready to Future-Proof Your Online Presence?
Navigating the changing digital landscape doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Whether you need a website that performs well in traditional search or want to build long-term authority for the AI era, we’re here to help.
Get in touch today for a free consultation about your website and digital strategy. Let’s ensure your business thrives online, whatever the future brings.
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The AI world changes with the speed of light. We are currently working on another article that focuses on Cloudflare and their new AI filtering features which should be published soon.