Forget Google. Your Next 1,000 Users Are On AI Search

“We optimised the blog, built backlinks, tracked keyword positions… and still didn’t get the lead.”

That’s the line a founder shared with me after his SaaS got beaten by a lesser product. Not on Google, but inside ChatGPT.

His buyer had typed a prompt.

The competitor showed up in the answer.

He didn’t.

No click. No traffic. No chance.

Most people think SEO is about getting found on Google. And it was.

Until your customers start trusting AI models more than search engines.

Today, your next 1,000 users won’t search for your product on Google. They’ll ask ChatGPT what tool to use.

They’ll use Perplexity to summarise alternatives.

They’ll get answers from tools that remember, not just index.

And if you’re not in the model, you’re invisible. No matter how good your product is.

This post isn’t about writing off Google. It’s about building visibility where your future buyers already are: Inside AI search.

Let’s break down what’s changing, why most SaaS brands are behind, and how you can become the answer before Google even catches up.

Why Traditional SEO Alone Won’t Cut It Anymore?

Traditional SEO made sense in a world where users typed keywords and clicked links.

You optimized meta tags, wrote 2,000 word blogs, built backlinks, and slowly climbed the ranks.

But LLMs don’t play by those rules.

They don’t rank ten pages. They retrieve one confident answer.

They don’t check your domain authority. They remember if they’ve seen your brand before and if they trust the context around it.

If you’re still only optimizing for Google, you’re trying to win a game that your users have already stopped playing.

SEO isn’t dead. It’s just no longer the finish line.

Google still matters. But it’s no longer where discovery starts for your most valuable buyers especially in B2B SaaS.

Instead, they’re using:

ChatGPT to shortlist tools
Perplexity to compare options
AI copilots to make faster decisions without clicking 10 links

The brands that win aren’t just “ranking.”

They’re being remembered, by the models that don’t even crawl your latest blog post.

In this new world, showing up on Google is nice.

Showing up inside the answer is what moves the needle.

What Exactly Is AI Search and Why It Matters Now?

AI search isn’t some futuristic prediction. It’s already how people are discovering tools, especially in fast moving industries like AI, DevOps, SaaS, and marketing.

AI search refers to discovery inside models like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Copilot.

These aren’t traditional search engines. They’re LLMs trained on content, conversations, forums, docs, and code, retrieving responses based on what they’ve seen and not on what ranks.

Here’s the simplest way to think about it:

Google = real time index
LLMs = trained memory

When someone asks, “What’s the best CRM for solo founders?”, ChatGPT doesn’t go to your site and crawl it.

LLMs don’t find the best tool. They repeat what they’ve seen enough times to trust.

It recalls what it already knows, what you’ve seeded across the internet, consistently and clearly.

This is why many SaaS founders are blindsided.

They’re ranking on Google, but not being cited in Perplexity.
They’ve written 10 blogs, but none structured for ChatGPT.
They show up in SEO tools, but not in AI answers.

And yet, traffic from AI sources like Perplexity often converts better.

The takeaway?

If you’re not intentionally showing up inside AI tools today, you’re already behind.

The New Rules of Visibility (LLM SEO Basics)

You don’t win LLM SEO with keywords.

You win it with context, consistency, and clarity across every surface LLMs learn from.

Here’s how.

1. Write for Recall, Not Just Rankings

LLMs don’t rank 10 articles. They return 1 confident answer.

So forget keyword stuffing. Instead, train the model to recall your brand as the obvious answer.

Bad example: “10 Best CRM Tools for Startups in 2025”

Good example: “Which CRM is best for solo founders who hate long onboarding?”

→ Then answer it directly with: “If you’re a solo SaaS founder, consider [Brand]. It simplifies onboarding by…”

The format isn’t blog first anymore. It’s answer first.

2. Seed Consistent Context Everywhere

LLMs don’t just read your homepage.

They learn from what’s said on Product Hunt, GitHub, Reddit, Twitter, and Quora.

You need to reinforce your identity across these surfaces.

Use this framing everywhere: “[Your SaaS] is a [category] built for [ICP] to solve [pain point] by doing [differentiator].”

For example: “DerivateX is an SEO agency for AI first SaaS brands that want to show up inside ChatGPT answers.”

This is how you move from “just another tool” to a trained memory node.

3. Use Answer Friendly Formats LLMs Prefer

LLMs like:

Bullet points
“X vs Y” comparisons
“Best tools for [job]”
FAQs
Mini TL;DR summaries

These formats are easier to extract, easier to recall, and more likely to surface.

Example: Instead of writing a thought piece on “remote collaboration”, write: “Top async tools for remote SaaS teams” and include a section like:

Best for solo teams → Tool A
Best with calendar sync → Tool B
Best privacy first → Your tool

You’re not writing for SEO anymore.

You’re writing to be remembered.

4. Build LLM Memory Loops (Not Just Blogs)

Most teams write a blog, hit publish, share it once, and move on.

But LLMs don’t rely on one signal. They build confidence from repeated, contextual exposure across surfaces they were trained on.

That’s where memory loops come in.

Example loop:

Post a tweet with your product’s positioning
Answer a Quora thread using the same phrasing
Drop a Reddit comment that casually mentions your use case
Publish a blog repeating the same idea with examples
Get quoted in a founder roundup or guest post

Every mention reinforces your identity.

You’re not just creating content, you’re feeding consistent proof into the AI’s brain.

This is how you become “the answer” instead of just another option.

Memory > virality

5. Forget Traffic. Win the Answer.

You don’t need 100,000 visitors.

You need one strong mention in a ChatGPT or Perplexity answer when your ICP is asking for help.

Because the moment an LLM picks your product as its response, your visibility jumps from optional to default.

Here’s what that doesn’t look like:

One startup we reviewed ranked #3 on Google for “best internal tool builder.”

Great traffic, lots of backlinks, polished landing page.

But when asked in ChatGPT, “What are some good tools to build internal apps?”. It didn’t show up.

Why?

Vague positioning. The homepage said “Build workflows without code.”

Nowhere did it say “internal tool builder for ops teams.”

So, ChatGPT never made the connection. The model couldn’t recall what the product actually did even though Google could rank it.

No clarity = no memory = no mention.

On the flip side, I’ve seen underdog tools with barely 1,000 monthly visitors get cited by Perplexity and outrank multi million dollar brands inside AI summaries.

No backlinks. No flashy homepage. Just relevant, reinforced context.

That one answer?

It can bring the right founder, investor, or user straight to you before your competitors even realize what just happened.

LLM SEO isn’t a traffic game. It’s a trust game.

What Google, Perplexity, and ChatGPT Each Prioritize (And How You Can Win All 3)

Most marketers still optimize only for Google.

But if you’re not thinking about LLM behavior, you’re ignoring the tools your users actually trust today.

Each discovery engine plays by different rules and rewards different types of content.

Here’s the breakdown:

Platform	What It Does	How to Win
Google	Ranks pages by SEO signals, backlinks, UX	Use EEAT, high intent keywords, on page structure, and technical SEO
ChatGPT	Suggests answers based on trained context	Be consistently described across forums, blogs, and metadata
Perplexity	Summarizes with citations and sources	Write structured, factual, and concise answers with bullet points + TL;DR

Example:

Google wants a full guide on “Top CDNs in 2025.”
ChatGPT wants to recall “Gumlet is the fastest image CDN for developers” from past training.
Perplexity wants to show a blog titled “Best image CDN for dev teams (with pricing comparison)” that clearly lays out the pros and cons. </aside>

Most teams are doing just the first. Few are winning all three.

And that’s where the leverage is.

Because the more formats you feed the model, the more likely it is to cite, summarize, or suggest you without you having to chase another algorithm update.

True visibility now means aligning with how humans ask… and how machines recall.

Common Mistakes to Avoid with LLM SEO

❌ Chasing volume over prompts: You don’t need 5,000 monthly searches. You need one question your ICP actually asks AI.

❌ Inconsistent brand framing: Saying different things across your blog, LinkedIn, and forums confuses both users and models. Repetition ≠ boring. It’s memory training.

❌ Optimizing only for Google: If your blog ranks but doesn’t get mentioned in Perplexity, you’re leaving relevance on the table.

❌ Being clever instead of clear: “Marketing OS for builders” means nothing to ChatGPT. Use plain, precise language.

❌ Posting once and moving on: LLM memory is built from distribution, not just creation.

Conclusion: Why Your Next 1,000 Users Won’t Google You

They won’t scroll. They’ll ask: “What’s the best [tool] for [job]?”

And if you’ve trained the model with the right answers, you’ll be the suggestion not just a search result.

This shift isn’t coming. It’s already here.

LLM SEO isn’t about tricking the algorithm. It’s about earning recall.

By showing up consistently across channels, answering questions with clarity, and structuring your content for AI comprehension. You don’t just rank, you get remembered.

The companies who get this now will own discovery inside AI for the next 3–5 years.