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Want your brand to get recommended by ChatGPT?
Create a genuinely useful, 1-2 page lead magnet.
Okay, that's a very reductive statement. It's obviously a lot more complex than that. But let me explain.
In Eli Schwartz's latest issue of The Future of SEO, he talks about brands realizing they’re invisible in ChatGPT, Google AI, Perplexity. Panic sets in and they run and yell at SEO: "Fix this NOW.”
But SEO work is not gonna solve the problem. LLMs don’t work the way Google used to. You can’t tidy up tags, improve internal links, publish another listicle, and suddenly be recommended by ChatGPT.
Because AI isn’t listening to what you say about yourself. It’s listening to what the world says about you.
LLMs infer reputation from other people mentioning you in forums like Reddit, reviews, news articles. Conversations that happen far from your website. Which means this isn’t really an SEO problem.
It’s a brand one.
SEO helps your site be readable. It can’t create trust. Or reputation. Or drive social chatter. That only comes from BRAND building that generates enough outside signals that the AI begins to recognize that you are the popular solution.
This is why I think brands should start viewing lead magnets not just as email capture gimmicks, but as part of their brand infrastructure.
Your 10% off welcome discount code is not building any brand equity. No one's going to chat about it on Reddit.
But a tight, genuinely useful info product - a 1-2 pager that helps your target audience solve a small but pressing problem? That has high potential to generate the third-party language that gives LLMs the right signals about your brand.
It increases the odds of people interacting with your brand positively, mentioning your brand in forums (“X's guide was amazing! Check it out."), social posts referencing the idea you introduced, comments, replies, summaries.
If an internet user chances upon your lead magnet and wants it, it leads to the following steps:
- They choose to give you their email address.
- They open your email.
- They open the lead magnet.
- They engage with it and hopefully put the easy-to-implement idea into action and solve their problem.
- And now they're more likely to open all your emails, because they associate "emails from Your Brand" with "made my life better".
A lead magnet is something people intentionally acquire from you to solve a specific problem. It feels like a gift from your brand.It positions your brand not just a seller of products, but as a problem solver, a brand with value. It makes people feel connected to you, and more likely to talk about you.
And in an AEO world, that is the ultimate leverage.
Become a conversation starter,
Chavy
P.S. - want to get such a lead magnet for your brand, with a minimal investment?
In my upcoming cohort, I'll guide you through the exact process I use to create high-value lead magnets, and give you live feedback until yours is perfect.
If you want to join us: chavyhelfgott.com/future-buyer-magnet