Off-Page SEO for Brand Visibility in AI Search

I have been doing a lot of research on how AI search is changing the way brands should think about SEO. One thing is clear. Brand visibility is going to matter more than ever, and it will not always come with a link or a click.

AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity can answer questions without linking to your website. In these environments, we need to make sure our brands are represented accurately and positively in the answers themselves, even if there is no click to your site.

That is where off-page SEO becomes even more important. On-page content will always be the foundation, but this article focuses on off-page work. The goal is to build signals and associations that influence AI responses.

Why brand visibility matters in AI search

Large language models (LLMs) do not work the same way as traditional search engines. As Rand Fishkin explains in his How Can My Brand Appear in Answers from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Other AI/LLM Tools? post, the “currency” of these models is not links, it is mentions. The more frequently a brand or entity appears along with key topics in training data, the more likely it is to surface in AI-generated answers.

In other words, LLMs form probabilistic associations based on patterns in the data. If your brand is well-associated with a key topic across trusted sources, there is a better chance you will be included in relevant AI responses.

The evolving role of off-page SEO

Traditional link building has always been important and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. In AI search though, brand mentions and entity associations are potentially just as important.

To influence how your brand is presented, you need to:

• Build clear entity associations on your own site, through your content and in structured data
• Earn brand mentions on other sites, especially those likely to be in AI training data (trusted media, high-quality content hubs).
• Make sure these off-page mentions highlight the same clear entity associations you build on your website. Associate your brand with the topics you want to be connected to, not just with generic keywords.

Recent research from Ahrefs supports this shift. In a study of 75,000 brands, Ahrefs found that off-page factors were all the most impactful on their visibility in AI Overviews, with branded web mentions having the strongest correlation. This reinforces that having your brand mentioned across trusted, high-quality sources can meaningfully improve how often and how favorably you appear in AI-generated answers.

Why Google-owned properties matter too

At Google I/O 2025, Google rolled out AI Mode for all users, blending traditional search with personalized AI-driven results. In his article (How AI Mode Works and How SEO Can Prepare for the Future of Search), Mike King explained that this personalization is powered by user embeddings. These embeddings represent each user’s history across Google products.

This means that interactions across Google’s ecosystem, including YouTube activity, Google Business Profile engagement, and signals from Gmail or Maps, can influence what content is retrieved and prioritized in AI Mode results. If your brand is not visible or active in these properties, it may not be included in the AI’s candidate content for some users.

In other words, maintaining a presence across Google-owned properties is now an important factor in shaping how your brand appears in AI search.

To prepare for this shift:

• Optimize your YouTube presence
• Keep Google Business Profiles accurate and active
• Evaluate where else your brand shows up across Google’s ecosystem

Practical strategies for building off-page signals

Here are a few actionable strategies I’m starting to think about based on the research so far:

1. Outreach for brand mentions
   Good old-fashioned PR still matters. Getting your brand mentioned in articles, reviews, podcasts, and videos that are likely to feed LLMs helps build associations. Target reputable, high-authority sources that match your topics. Even if they don't link to you, it'll still help.
2. Publish across Google properties
   Build a strong presence across Google’s ecosystem. This includes optimizing your YouTube channel, keeping your Google Business Profile up to date, and contributing to other Google-owned platforms where relevant. A strong presence in these spaces can help influence how your brand appears in AI-generated results.
3. Optimize for entity catalogs
   AI models often reference structured knowledge bases during training or inference. These include sources like Wikipedia, Wikidata, DBpedia, and YAGO. Ensuring that your brand is accurately represented in these catalogs, where possible, can help reinforce correct associations and increase the likelihood of being surfaced in AI-generated responses.
4. Monitor and measure
   This is where it gets tricky, because measurement tools are still emerging. One process I’m experimenting with involves:
   • Defining personas
   • Generating prompt sets based on those personas
   • Querying AI models (via API) at scale
   • Measuring how often and how accurately the brand appears
   • Comparing this visibility to key competitors

Companies like Profound are also already working on tools for this. I recommend testing out some of these tools or building one yourself!

Final thoughts

As AI search continues to evolve, the way brands show up in these experiences will matter more than ever. SEOs have an opportunity to help shape that presence. By focusing on off-page signals and building the right associations across the web, we can guide how brands are represented in AI-generated answers.

If you want to strengthen your brand’s presence in AI search, I would be happy to help. Contact me to discuss how we can improve your visibility in LLM outputs and future-proof your SEO strategy.