How to Influence ChatGPT & LLMs in 2026 - The SEO Playbook Nobody Is Talking About

E923: Metehan Yeşilyurt, one of the most respected AI visibility and SEO researchers in the world, joins the show! Metehan has spent the past year reverse-engineering how ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google’s AI systems decide which brands get cited, recommended, and shown to users.

This conversation goes far beyond surface-level AI SEO. We break down how large language models select sources, how consensus is formed across the web, and why some brands dominate AI answers while others disappear - even when they rank well on Google.

If you care about visibility, traffic, and sales from AI systems, this shows what really matters.

What you’ll learn:
How ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI choose which brands to cite
Why ranking on Google is no longer enough to appear in AI answers
How “consensus” across the web determines AI trust
Why press releases and off-site mentions now matter more than ever
How comparison tables influence LLM parsing and citation behavior
Where to place tables and structured content for maximum AI impact
How LLMs treat the beginning, middle, and end of a page differently
Why JavaScript-heavy websites hurt AI visibility
How server-side rendering improves crawlability for AI systems
What content chunking actually does (and doesn’t) do for LLMs
How YouTube, Reddit, Medium, and social platforms influence AI search
Why TikTok and YouTube are becoming AI training and discovery engines
How query fan-out works inside LLMs
How citations change every time you ask the same AI question
How AI re-ranking differs from Google’s ranking system
What “rank fusion” means in AI search
How embedding models affect which pages get surfaced
Why some brands with top Google rankings get ignored by ChatGPT
How PR campaigns influence AI recommendation systems
How to use entity SEO to build brand trust inside LLMs
How to collect real user questions to drive AI-generated sales
Why content freshness inside the last 180 days is critical
Why updating publish dates changes AI ranking
How FAQ sections increase AI visibility when done correctly
How to audit a site for AI visibility
How Metehan uses Screaming Frog, embeddings, and crawlers to find gaps
How Google’s Discovery Engine reveals how chunking really works
How the Universal Commerce Protocol and AI agents may change ecommerce

Why this episode matters:

Search is no longer just Google.

ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and AI Overviews are now deciding which brands people see, trust, and buy from. These systems do not rank websites the same exact way Google does. They use embeddings, citations, re-ranking systems, and consensus across the web.

This episode explains what you need to know for visibility in 2026.

Who is Metehan Yeşilyurt?

Metehan is an AI visibility and SEO researcher with over 10 years of experience. He is followed by some of the most respected names in search and has worked directly on AI visibility experiments for ecommerce, SaaS, and global brands.

His work focuses on:
AI citation systems
LLM ranking behavior
Entity SEO
Off-site consensus building
Reverse-engineering ChatGPT and Perplexity

⭐️ Metehan Yeşilyurt on 𝕏 - https://x.com/metehan777
⭐️ Metehan Yeşilyurt on LinkedIn -   / metehanyesilyurt  
⭐️ Metehan Yeşilyurt blog - https://metehan.ai/
Mentioned by Metehan:
⭐️ arxiv.org for academic research
⭐️ Cursor for building
⭐️ Metehan's GitHub tools - github.com/metehan777
⭐️ Ahrefs, Semrush, SERanking, AEO Vision, Screaming Frog

💎 Compact Keywords - My SEO Course - Get paying customers through SEO - Clear step-by-step video breakdowns - SEO templates to be copied and adapted for your products and services: https://compactkeywords.com/

00:00 Introduction and Overview
00:21 Influencing LLMs: Key Strategies
01:02 Building Consensus and Content Strategies
04:51 Context Issues and Solutions
07:22 Comparison Tables and Formatting
12:37 Experiments and Case Studies
16:23 SEO and AI Visibility
21:38 Press Releases and Offsite SEO
26:49 Content Chunking Debate
30:53 Google's Discovery Engine and Chunking
34:48 Reverse Engineering and Surprising Findings
40:22 Impact of SEO Fundamentals on Rankings
41:05 Offsite SEO and AI Citation Building
41:43 Platform Investment Strategies for AI SEO
43:17 Leveraging Social Media for SEO
46:09 Effective Use of User Questions for Conversions
51:32 Conducting AI Visibility Audits
54:38 Rapid Changes in AI Visibility Strategies
57:35 The Future of E-commerce and AI Agents
01:03:01 SEO Research Tools and Techniques
01:05:31 Content Freshness and FAQs for AI Visibility
01:11:00 Global Opportunities and Language Considerations
01:11:59 Conclusion and Upcoming Episodes

The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/

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