In 2026, People and LLMs Will be Looking for the Same Thing
I’m starting the new year with this thought on my mind: the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Chances are, one of your concerns for 2026 is how to make your business more visible to Large Language Models (LLMs) such as Open AI’s Chat GPT and Google’s Gemini. If you’re not already thinking about it, I’d suggest you start.
Right now, about half of Americans use AI to initiate a search, and a lot of those searches end at the summary AI provides (upwards of 70-percent by some estimates). Companies are no longer just competing for a spot on a results page; they’re competing to be the definitive source that an AI trusts to answer a user's question directly.
This is relatively new territory for most businesses. And the algorithms and rules about what makes a business more visible are just being written.
LLMs don’t crawl the web for keywords the way traditional search engines do. Instead, they use a process called Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to scan the web in real-time for information that best matches a user’s intent.
Are you an expert in this? Can you even be an expert in such a new and emerging discipline? Probably not. We’re all learning on the fly. But don’t freak out. There’s good news. LLMs want most of the same things actual people want from you.
The two biggies: authenticity and authority.
If you’re real, genuine, and a demonstrated expert on something the people you care about care about — you’re going to appeal more to people and LLMs alike.
That’s why you’re seeing so many stories about companies looking to hire chief storytellers, and why I’ve built one of the core pillars of my consultancy around it.
So, how do you do you tell a better story that improves your authenticity and authority?
Have a strong digital footprint. How consistently your brand, leadership, and messaging appear across the web matters. Also, the more often you’re mentioned by other authoritative sources (media, reviews, social engagement, other authorities in your space, etc.), the stronger your story becomes, and the more visible your company is to AI.
Be an authority. LLMs analyze all of your communications to see if you’re a recognized expert in a specific niche. They reward you if multiple pages on your site (and sources that cite you) reinforce your expertise. If your content is factual. If it’s connected to professionals in your organization with meaningful credentials. You’re going to be rated as a more trustworthy source.
Be verifiable. AI models are programmed to avoid misinformation. They prioritize content that uses hard data, statistics, and citations from reputable third-party sources. Bloviating about how great you are won’t get you far. But showing proof that you’re a respected thought leader in your area — that’s a winning strategy.
Be clear. LLMs favor content with clear headings (H2/H3), bullet points, and concise Q&A blocks that are easy to lift and stitch into a conversational answer. If your website and other owned channels are full of corporate-speak, of long blocks of dense copy, or of overly salesy content, you’re not going to appeal to an LLM — or to a person.
Be original. If the stories you tell sound just like everything else being written and talked about, you won’t stand out. Original ideas. A strong and unexpected perspective. Those win out. Always have. Probably always will. But especially today.
Takeaway:
If you structure your stories to be clear, concise, answer questions people are asking, if they’re original, fresh, organized well, and connected to subject matter experts, you’ll pull more people into your orbit and be more visible to AI’s overarching eye.
