How do LLMs decide which brands to recommend?

Through a mix of what appeared in training data and what live retrieval surfaces at query time. Brands mentioned consistently across many independent, credible sources are far more likely to be recommended than brands that only describe themselves on their own website.

Can I control what an LLM says about my business?

Not directly, but you can influence it. Publish clear, consistent factual information about who you are and what you do, use structured data to define the entity, and earn mentions from sources the models trust. Contradictory information across the web produces contradictory answers.

GEO & AI Search

LLM (Large Language Model)

A large language model is an AI model trained on vast amounts of text to understand and generate human language, the technology behind ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.

LLMs increasingly sit between users and websites, answering questions directly instead of sending people to a list of links. Understanding how they retrieve and cite information is the foundation of both GEO and AEO. They generate plausible language, which is why grounding their answers in real sources matters.

Training data and retrieval work on different clocks, which changes what you can influence. Anything in the training set is fixed until the next model version, so correcting an outdated fact there is not possible on any useful timescale. Retrieval is live, which means a current page can be pulled into an answer today. The practical implication is that consistency matters more than volume. When your own site, your directory listings, and third-party mentions describe your business differently, the model has conflicting evidence. It will hedge, or pick wrong, instead of choosing between them.

Example

Asked about a mid-size Thai agency, an LLM answers with the agency's founding year wrong and two services it discontinued in 2023. The training data contains the old about page, three stale directories, and a 2021 interview. After the agency updates its site, corrects the directories, and publishes a current company-facts page, retrieval-based assistants answer correctly within weeks. The model itself did not change; its sources did.

Frequently asked questions

How do LLMs decide which brands to recommend?: Through a mix of what appeared in training data and what live retrieval surfaces at query time. Brands mentioned consistently across many independent, credible sources are far more likely to be recommended than brands that only describe themselves on their own website.
Can I control what an LLM says about my business?: Not directly, but you can influence it. Publish clear, consistent factual information about who you are and what you do, use structured data to define the entity, and earn mentions from sources the models trust. Contradictory information across the web produces contradictory answers.

Related terms

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