Get visible with the VISIBLE framework

Nikki says: “Ignore all the misinformation around how to optimize for LLMs and ChatGPT visibility. Focus on your core SEO strategy, and use my VISIBLE framework.”

Do you not need to do anything differently to optimize for LLMs?

“Broadly speaking, no. From what I've seen, and from what my colleagues and I have tested, to rank on any of these platforms, it's not a case of completely rewriting the rules of SEO. There is no golden bullet; there is no one key thing that's going to help you rank on those platforms.

As SEOs, it's just a case of building upon the knowledge and experience that we already have and doing things in an ever-so-slightly different way, rather than completely rewriting the rulebook.

Make sure that you have all the key areas of your SEO strategy covered, which you hopefully do anyway. By doing that, you should see yourself and your clients appearing in LLMs, AI overviews, AI Mode, and all of those types of platforms.”

What led to the creation of the VISIBLE framework?

“A lot of people, particularly on LinkedIn, were trying to sell things like GEO or whatever the new acronym is, and saying, ‘SEO is dead. It's now all about this new thing, and this is how you can do it.’ I don't believe that. It is still SEO. Everything that they were selling was rubbish, in my opinion, and they were charging a premium for it.

So, I created this framework to make it clear that you don't have to follow what those people are saying. Just make sure that you have the right principles, and a lot of it comes down to making sure that your content is correct, it's structured correctly, you're using PR, etc.

Ultimately, it's about doing good SEO with a well-rounded structure, and not following all the noise people are making on LinkedIn.”

What does each letter stand for in the VISIBLE framework that you have created?

“V stands for visible and crawlable content. This is all about making sure that your content can be seen and understood. The main thing is to try and avoid JavaScript-rendered content, specifically for your most valuable content on the page, that you want to be indexed.

I'm not saying avoid JavaScript altogether, just make sure that your most important content isn't rendered by JavaScript because LLMs currently can't parse that information. Try to use server-side rendering or static HTML for your key pages.

Another part of being visible and crawlable is making sure that you're not inadvertently blocking any important areas of your website through things like robots.txt, canonicals, and meta tags.

I stands for having intent-matched and helpful content. This is all about creating content that answers real-world questions. The key things are using natural language and making sure that you're addressing customer pain points. You can do this through things like FAQs, buying guides, and even comparison pages.

Make sure you're prioritising clarity over keyword stuffing, which is another thing that I've seen people trying to sell more of in order to be visible on these platforms. Stay away from keyword stuffing. That was basically outlawed in the world of SEO many years ago.”

Do you advocate against the use of AI in the creation of your content?

“You can use it, but make sure there's human oversight. Certainly, don't use it to create content from scratch and then upload it straight to the website.

We have managed to use it in a few different ways. You can upload human-created content briefs to ChatGPT, and then edit the content after it's been created, or you can train your own custom GPTs to make sure that it’s using the right tone of voice and is aware of everything that's important to your brand.

Basically, train it like you would a human. Give it all the information it needs, but always edit the content afterwards. For example, if you’re in the UK, even if you train it not to use American spellings, it might still use them.

Make sure you're fact-checking as well. Even if you train it accordingly, these things do tend to slip through the net. It will overuse the common things that people are aware of in ChatGPT language: words or phrases like ‘emphasise’ and ‘in the current landscape’, and things like em dashes that people can spot a mile off. Try and be aware of those, and edit them out.”

What do the other letters in the VISIBLE framework stand for?

“S stands for using structured data and semantic HTML. These are things that you can do to help AI and other LLMs understand your content.

We're talking about using schema markup and making sure that your product, FAQ, and review schema, etc., are well optimized. Also, make sure that you're using your merchant listings and your product feeds are fully optimized. It also includes more of the basic elements, like structuring your pages with proper headings and using lists, bullet points, and alt text.

Another element with the structure is things like using breadcrumbs and organisation schema. The more relevant information that you can add to your pages, and the more structured and helpful you can make them, the easier it is for these platforms to understand your content and start to return it in their answers.

The second I is all about creating informational hubs and expertise. This is how you can really build your topical authority. Look at ways to create deep content around the core topics and themes that are important to your business. You can include quotes, tips, etc., from in-house experts, but also try to develop pillar content and use internal links to related subtopics, cementing that you are that authority in your niche.

B stands for brand authority and mentions. This is important because we know that LLMs surface brands that they can trust, which is why I talk about having a well-rounded SEO strategy. Work with your PR teams and make sure that you're looking to reclaim broken links, but also make sure that you’re getting coverage from relevant press, blogs, or even partners.

You want to maintain consistent brand information across all of your platforms, but mentions are also hugely important. For years, it's been about getting backlinks from specific places. With LLMs now, though, we’re seeing that brand mentions (even unlinked brand mentions) are just as, if not more important. You can also look at other platforms, like Wikidata and other sources, where you can be cited to reinforce your authority.

L is leveraging first-party insight. With this one, you want to use only what you can say. It’s similar to the second I, but you're now taking this a step further and really going deep into staff insights, FAQs from your customer service teams, looking at your product reviews, and exploiting any ways to share unique perspectives that cannot be found on competitors' websites.”

How do you know which first-party insights to use?

“By speaking to your internal teams and looking at your CRMs. Often, there's so much information within a business that just seems to be contained within one team. SEOs don't speak to paid teams, paid teams don't speak to PR teams, etc.

There's so much knowledge there, and you don't even realise that it could be shared, and it may be the one thing that you were looking for to get past a current blocker.

Speak to customer service. What are the main questions that they're currently getting from customers? Share all of that. Then, everyone can use that in their own campaigns. Often, it might be something that's really specific to your business, and it's just not talked about. That can be the big thing that helps generate a lot more sales.”

What does E stand for in the VISIBLE framework?

“E is about bringing it all together. With this one, you're going to evaluate your AI exposure and your competitors’. This is how you can stay ahead of the change.

By this point, you've done all of the other letters, and now you're evaluating how all that has worked. You want to check if your brand is appearing in AI overviews, Perplexity, and all of those. Study the competitor content that's being surfaced and use that to identify gaps, then bring all that together, evaluate that performance, and start implementing those changes.

The E is really about evaluating what you've done well, and what you can do better.”

How do you decide what to prioritise, and how do you implement this framework on an ongoing basis?

“It’s a lot, which is why I broke it down into the framework rather than just throwing everything at you at once.

Just start with the first letter. Focus on V, make sure your content's visible, then move on to I. It’s a step-by-step process. I've also taken the VISIBLE framework and built it into a VISIBLE audit, which really does lay it out in each of these areas.

I explain how you can check that the content’s visible, how you can check your structured data, etc. It's a much more actionable way of doing it. That's something that I found to be really useful for myself and my team, and when I’m explaining it all to clients as well.”

How do you measure the success of this work?

“There are a lot of tools out there at the moment, and it's difficult to find one that does it well. We're using several different tools right now. BrandRadar is doing a lot of the work, and Waikay (Which stands for What AI Knows About You) is also a really good one.

SparkToro is doing a lot of work in terms of looking at the SEO landscape, and it's a really good tool for looking at audience affinity. It looks at what percentage of your audience is actively using ChatGPT and whether that is above or below the average. Then it does the same with Perplexity and all of the others, so you can really see whether or not your audience is using any of these platforms.

There are a lot of tools that are trying to do it, and it's not something that we can track in the usual way. We're used to tracking very specific keywords, but this is a new kettle of fish. It's a case of having a play around with AI tools and tracking tools and seeing which one seems to give you the insights that work for you.”

Nikki, what's the key takeaway from the tip you shared today?

“Step back, ignore the misinformation on LinkedIn and other social platforms, and really focus on your well-rounded SEO strategy.

Ensure that you're hitting all of these key points of the VISIBLE framework to help you become more visible in LLMs and other AI platforms.”

Nikki Halliwell is an SEO Consultant and Senior Technical SEO Manager at Journey Further. Find out more over at NikkiHalliwell.com.