Myth-busting: “LLM SEO is just SEO” (what’s different, what’s not)

The Short Answer

LLM SEO Builds on SEO, But it Adds New Priorities

LLM SEO still uses many traditional fundamentals, including clear structures, useful content, technical crawlability, internal linking, trust signals, relevant external mentions, and strong product and collection pages.

However, AI optimisation adds a whole new layer to these foundations. Brands now need to consider whether AI systems can understand, summarise, cite, and recommend their content.

What Has Not Changed

Helpful Content Still Matters

Search engines and AI systems both look for useful, accurate content. For Shopify brands, this includes product descriptions, collection page copy, buying guides, comparison articles, FAQs, and care guides.

Thin, generic, and low-value content won’t perform well in AI responses or search results.

Technical SEO Still Matters

Pages need to be accessible, indexable, and easy to understand so all types of search platforms can summarise and cite the content. 

Some important aspects of technical SEO include:

• Clean site structure
• Fast page speed
• Mobile-friendly design
• Correct canonical tags
• Working redirects
• XML sitemaps
• Structured data

Authority and Trust Still Matter

Both traditional search and AI models prioritise credible brands. You can build trust by including reviews, an about page, clear contact information, shipping/returns information, and supplier mentions on your site. External references, such as relevant backlinks and brand mentions can also establish authority in the niche.

Internal Linking Still Matters

Internal links help search engines understand how pages are related to each other. The same is true for AI search platforms.

Therefore, Shopify brands should be linking blogs, collections, products, buying guides, and FAQs together whenever it makes sense.

What is Different With LLM SEO

Visibility is Not Only About Rankings

Tradition SEO focuses heavily on link clicks and ranking positions. Ranking in search engines looks a little different. Brands should consider whether they’re mentioned, cited, and recommended in AI responses. These mentions should be associated with the right topics, categories, and comparisons.

Content Needs to Be Easier to Summarise

When people search using AI, they’re looking for quick, summarised answers rather than websites to visit. Thus, it’s more important than ever to make information easy to understand (but avoid making it sound robotic).

These aspects can help AI engines summarise content:

• Clear headings
• Direct answers
• FAQs
• Comparison tables
• Product summaries
• Best-for sections
• Specific details rather than vague claims

Entity Signals Matter More

AI systems need to fully understand brands, products, categories, and concepts to use them accurately in responses. While it’s always a good idea to be clear with your product details and information, entity signals matter more than usual for LLM SEO.

Shopify brands must clearly display who the brand is, what it sells, who it serves, what categories it falls under, and what problems the products solve on the website.

Off-Site Mentions Matter

Your website isn’t the only place AI gets information about your brand. Off-site mentions can add important context. Work on building relevant mentions over time, such as reviews, PR mentions, directories, supplier pages, social profiles, industry articles, and comparison pages.

Measurement is Less Straightforward

Traditional SEO is measured through rankings, impressions, clicks, and conversions. LLM SEO goes beyond this by also measuring AI citations, brand mentions, referral traffic from AI tools, inclusion in AI-generated recommendations, and growth in branded search.

Common Myths to Bust

Myth 1: LLM SEO Replaces Traditional SEO

LLM SEO doesn’t replace traditional SEO tactics. Instead, new AI optimisation efforts should be made in addition to SEO fundamentals. This adds new considerations for AI visibility while maintaining a strong foundation for search engines.

Myth 2: You Only Need to Write for AI

Even though you want your brand to be mentioned in AI, writing for AI will cause content to feel robotic and impersonal. You should be writing for your customers first. Create clear, useful content that will be beneficial to both customers and AI engines.

Myth 3: Rankings No Longer Matter

AI is growing in popularity, but search engines shouldn’t be forgotten. Search engine rankings still drive traffic while also influencing which sources AI models discover and trust. Focus on ranking in both areas for best success.

Myth 4: Schema Alone Will Fix AI Visibility

Structured data (schema) can help AI understand your content, but it isn’t a replacement for useful written copy. Write helpful content for your customers, use a strong site structure, and build trust signals in addition to implementing schema.

Myth 5: AI-Generated Content is the Shortcut

Generic AI-generated content may give some brands a good starting point, but it’s usually not enough to build authority and grow interest. Write copy in your brand voice while including original insight, product expertise, and useful information to show customers and AI systems that you’re a credible source.

What Ecommerce Brands Should Do

Shopify brands should use strong SEO foundations and then add onto that to include LLM SEO tactics. Here’s a checklist of items to focus on:

• Make product and collection page copy clearer
• Answer customer questions directly
• Create useful buying guides and comparisons
• Use structured data properly
• Strengthen internal linking
• Build reviews and trust signals
• Keep brand information consistent across the web
• Earn relevant mentions, links, and references
• Track rankings, citations, brand mentions, and AI referral traffic whenever possible

Build Upon Traditional SEO with LLM SEO

The idea that “LLM SEO is just SEO” is somewhat true, but it doesn’t look at the entire picture. The two share the same foundations, including crawlability, content, structure, authority and trust. However,with LLM SEO, brands must add more approaches on top of that to optimise for how AI systems understand, summarise, cite, and recommend information.

To set your Shopify store up for success, start with the SEO basics and then add to it by incorporating LLM SEO tactics.