Grant Simmons on AI Visibility: Topical Authority, Signal Alignment, and Data-Driven Content
Grant Simmons, a 30-year SEO veteran, explains why topical authority, aligned signals, and unique data-driven content are the foundation of AI visibility—and why these principles have always been critical to search success.
“We talk about writing for the machines, but we’re really writing for human need because it’s all driven by the prompt or the query.” – Grant Simmons
Great SEO Is Great GEO
At Google Search Live 2025, John Mueller said:
“Good SEO is good GEO.”
Simmons emphasizes the same idea. Optimizing for search engines or LLMs overlaps significantly because both require:
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Understanding intent: Machines must interpret the query or prompt.
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Providing the best answer: Content must satisfy the user’s need efficiently.
The divergence comes in how content is evaluated:
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Google: Ranks pages holistically, considering site-level authority even with passage ranking.
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LLMs: Focus on individual passages that are semantically aligned with the query and provide easily extractable value.
Holistic SEO Is Key
Simmons stresses that great SEO has always been holistic, encompassing:
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Social media
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PR and brand messaging
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Consistent, authoritative content across channels
“Having brand awareness, visibility, and consistency is a significant factor in LLM representation. The best SEOs have always been marketers who connect intent to solutions—not just in client campaigns, but in their own marketing as well.”
Key Takeaways
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Topical authority matters: LLMs and search engines alike prioritize content that clearly demonstrates expertise and relevance.
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Signal alignment is critical: Structured, consistent signals across content, links, and brand presence improve AI visibility.
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Unique, data-driven content wins: Original insights and actionable information help both humans and machines understand your value.
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SEO and GEO overlap: Optimizing for search engines naturally prepares content for AI-driven discovery, but LLMs may emphasize semantic depth at the passage level.
Watch the full interview with Grant Simmons on IMHO for a deeper dive into LLM optimization and the future of SEO.
Grant Simmons on LLM Visibility: Consensus, Unique Data, and Focused Topical Authority
Grant Simmons explains how AI systems determine what content is surfaced and cited, and why topical focus, signal alignment, and unique, data-driven content remain the foundation of visibility.
“[GEO] is the same [as SEO] if you’re doing it well. It’s not the same if you weren’t. And of course, there’s nuance.”
Seasoned SEOs may feel less disruption because they’ve navigated multiple algorithmic shifts over decades, while newcomers have fewer reference points.
How LLMs Decide What to Surface
Grant describes two key systems from Google’s continuation patents:
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Response Confidence Engine – Determines if a passage should be surfaced by checking whether multiple sources corroborate the information. Consensus matters more than absolute truth.
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Linkifying Engine – Once a passage passes the confidence check, this system decides whether a specific sentence or “chunklet” can be attributed to a source with a citation.
Key insight: Being mentioned by an LLM is different from getting a link back. Citation requires both verifiable consensus and unique contribution.
Golden Knowledge Content
Content that earns AI visibility is what Grant calls “golden knowledge”:
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Unique and data-driven – original insights, proprietary data, or evidence-backed opinions
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Consensus-aligned – other sources generally support or validate the perspective
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Human-centered – meets user needs first, machine-readability second
Sweet spot: Original insights that others can corroborate, rather than repeating common knowledge or making unverified claims.
Common SEO Mistakes With Topical Focus
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Trying to be everything to everyone dilutes page intent.
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SEOs often focus on surface-level optimization (titles, meta, headers) but ignore drift—topics a page covers unintentionally.
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Pages without a clear focus are harder for LLMs to cite, because AI systems need self-contained passages aligned with a specific query.
Takeaway: Tighten page focus to establish authority and improve AI discoverability.
Grant’s 2026 Strategy Recommendation
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Double down on what works: Optimize core SEO first while incorporating elements that help GEO and AI visibility.
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Focus on:
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Great content
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Topical authority
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Unique, data-driven insights
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Citations and digital PR
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Philosophy: “Be so good they can’t ignore you” – content that is authoritative for users and machines alike.
Watch the full interview with Grant Simmons here for more insights on topical authority, LLM citations, and building AI-visible content.
