Every LLM Reads the Internet Differently, and Your AEO Strategy Should Keep Pace
One of the many ways that AEO differs from SEO is that there is no simple plan for citation and visibility. Each LLM, such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude scans and assimilates information differently. Similarly, each one weights sources in different ways, meaning that each needs its own visibility strategy.
AEO and Reddit: What Changed
ChatGPT was known to cite Reddit in its answers, and if you were tracking strategy in 2026, you likely saw advice that getting referenced on Reddit would bring you closer to ChatGPT citation. This changed in August, when Reddit blocked crawler access via robots.txt, resulting in an 86 percent drop in Reddit citations on ChatGPT. Similarly, AI Overviews declined by 11 percent, and AI Mode declined by 30 percent. The ban had little effect on Claude, which rarely cites Reddit. What is interesting is that the decline did not occur across every LLM. Grok continued to use Reddit as one of its most cited sources, thanks to crawlers that don’t identify themselves. Reddit citations in Perplexity almost doubled in the same time period.
How ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Grok access current information and use social sources.
What this means: building an LLM-by-LLM strategy
Appearing across LLMs will mean an individualized plan for each one, but there is a baseline that should be in place that works for all LLMs:
Use clear, well-structured content that mirrors a question-and-answer approach. The language should be informational but not rely on marketing prose.
Show up as a primary source. Use as much original data and cited claims as possible to establish authority.
Refresh content regularly and avoid vagueness, which can get you penalized.
Stay consistent. Make sure your content reflects the same style and messaging across your website, media mentions, analyst reports, lists, etc.
Use structured markup/schema and crawlability
Then, plan an individualized approach for each AI engine. What causes content to rank in an AI engine changes, so your research should be ongoing and continual. However, here are some current mapping points for each of the main LLMs.
What LLMs currently look for in the sources they cite:
ChatGPT:
Get cited in the media that ChatGPT weights heavily: NYTimes, Washington Post, The Guardian, BBC, Wired, MIT Technology Review, Forbes, TechCrunch, and Harvard Business Review.
Gain visibility in analytical citations or academic publications, such as University research pages, Google Scholar abstracts, and Government publication
Claude:
Appear in high-quality, long-form content. Think long essays, deep analyses, and technical breakdowns.
Consider writing for open-source documentation and technical writing, such as that found on GitHub documentation, open-source project docs, and engineering blogs.
Gemini:
Realize that its retrieval layer is Google Search, so look to appear on pages that rank in the top 20, if at all possible. This is one of few areas in which SEO and AEO overalp.
Develop a YouTube strategy. Gemini relies more heavily on YouTube than any other LLM.
Perplexity:
Appear on high-authority web domains like Wikipedia, Investopedia, major university sites.
Become a regular in the media, looking to be quoted as an expert in the broadcast, business, or technical press.
Grok:
Be active on X, including tweets, threads, and X Spaces. Grok boosts any content that is trending or that has high engagement.
Have a strong presence on Hacker News, and GitHub, and open-web blogs, which Grok uses to supplement its answers.
What Reddit’s actions in August underscored is that there is no one playbook for LLM visibility. There are many factors, which can change continually. Success will rely on companies continually monitoring LLMs and adapting their strategy to each one.