AI versus Marshy - Pattern recognition and how it's working for me

As I mentioned earlier, the rise of Google and the evolution of search algorithms have been a constant theme in the world of SEO. But now, with the emergence of Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Perplexity, the game has changed. These models are revolutionising the way we search and interact with information online, and businesses are scrambling to adapt. In this article, I want to explore how pattern recognition is working for me, and what it means for the future of search optimisation. Also so far - there are companies noticing SUPERIOR conversion rates from online enquiries that come from: ​ ?utm_source=chatGPT ​ ^ that’s just nerd speak (and what you see in Google Analytics) for the traffic source From July 2025 We’ve also seen this with a startup we’re advising - Appacca - while small numbers for now, there is no question its “better” traffic. So why is that happening? Two reasons spring forward in mind: Your conversational search history in an LLM seems more “private” and bespoke to what you’re looking for. So when you’re asking a series of 5, 10, or 20 questions looking for a recommendation (and then receive one). I think there’s a natural trust element that you no longer award to Google. ​ I was working at a startup called UseVerb, and one of their (indirect) competitors was SEEK (Australia’s largest job board).We were investigating a small football club that had advertised a job on SEEK.A search for their company profile on SEEK got weird when I searched “seek mackay football club”.The company didn’t only serve up the company page.It served up every single spelling and misspelled variant of that company and led it back to SEEK.This sounds stupid. ​ ​ Dominating just because But if you’ve got the time, willingness, resources, tech, and budget to throw the kitchen sink at everything - why wouldn’t you do it? ( Sidebar : a rough guesstimate on SEEK’s SEO team (ie. containing search/seo in their job title - nets out at about 70+ different people). So back to LLM search - the appearance of being free of bias isn’t the same as being free of it. Enter LLM optimisation / AEO / etc. Companies are emerging that are solely focused on producing content that will be picked up and indexed by LLMs in order to appear more frequently and (in turn) be recommended to people searching for their particular service, skill, or talent. A detailed deep-dive on it can be found here . It’s going by different sorts of names now ​ One company that is doing it is my friend Jackie - who I met many moons ago at a BNI. She’s now in the US and has started a business called Probably Genius . ​ They’re helping businesses game this and appear to their advantage - if you’re curious and want me to introduce you just let me know and I’ll introduce you. I’ll get a commission for doing so, but will also help you get the most out of the service if you’re looking for extra hand holding and marketing advice. Originally appeared in newsletter : AI versus Marshy 68 - AI engine optimisation, recognising patterns, and community building question