Entreprenuership

Why are so many businesses not marketing for LLMs?

April 11, 2026 · 2 min read

A while back I got curious and started asking ChatGPT questions about the best language-learning tools online while researching competition for the platform I am building. One of the first things that stood out to me was that some businesses kept showing up, including some very small ones with almost no users, while businesses I expected to appear were not there.

I went down a long rabbit hole and started researching how businesses can actually fix this problem, initially for my own startup but also because many teams are likely missing out on a meaningful share of revenue.

More and more people are not Googling first. They open ChatGPT or Gemini and ask for recommendations directly. The AI then returns a short, opinionated list, which means ranking in that answer set matters far more than being "somewhere" on page one.

For the sake of learning youself, these two keywords are something you will sutmble upon often: AEO and GEO. I am sharing them because if your goal is more qualified leads and better conversion, I truly do believe these are pretty integral concepts.

For most businesses out there, primarily those that are tech-focused, future customers are increasingly asking AI tools for direct recommendations, and those tools only surface a small set of options. If your business is not understandable and credible to those systems, you lose visibility before a customer even visits your site.

AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) is how you structure your pages so AI can clearly interpret what you do, who you help, and why someone should trust you. It improves the chance that your brand is selected when an AI is forming an answer. GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is your broader reputation layer across the web: reviews, directories, third-party mentions, and community conversations. The more consistent and credible your footprint is, I find the more confident AI systems become in recommending you.

If I were advising your business directly, I would treat AEO as your foundation and GEO as your amplification layer. Together, they increase discoverability, improve trust, and help you capture demand earlier in the buying decision.