STAT Search Analytics

SEOs have been dissecting traditional search results for many years, and have formulated well-established strategies to appear in them. LLM prompt responses, however, don’t follow the same playbook.

While prompt responses bear some similarities to a standard SERP, there are also stark differences — which we examine here: https://bit.ly/4t47H93

The anatomy of an LLM prompt response LLM prompt responses are not like traditional search results. We break down their structure, what powers them, and the strategic shifts they require.

A crucial distinction to make is the difference between mentions and citations in prompt responses.

Mentions are when your brand or brand terms appear in the response, while citations are when your content is used to help generate the response, and your site appears as a clickable link.

For the time being, traffic potential from an LLM response is lower than from a standard SERP, making brand visibility even more important. As such, contrary to traditional search — where the goal is to bring traffic to your site — your primary objective in AI search is to have your brand mentioned. Earning that citation is currently a secondary goal.

Prompt responses are often text heavy, and may include multiple sections of text before an image or another visual element is shown.

In a recent study, we looked at the features that currently appear on AI Mode SERPs, and here are some examples of what we found👇