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LinkedIn is becoming an
important source for AI answers.

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So in this week's episode, we're
gonna unpack the research together so

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that B2B marketers know exactly what
they should be paying attention to.

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G'Day everyone.

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It's Michelle J Raymond here, and this
week listeners, we're gonna be talking

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about all things AI and specifically
this week about how tools like ChatGPT

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Perplexity, and Co are all starting to
cite LinkedIn more often in their results.

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Now on the surface, this sounds
really exciting, but is all

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as it appears on the surface.

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Of course, by my tone, I guess
you know that I have some

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differing opinions about this.

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Mostly what I wanna focus on in today's
episode is what parts of LinkedIn

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should you be focusing on to make sure
that you maximise your chances of your

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content, of your page, of your profile,
all being cited by these AI tools.

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So I will do my best.

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It is an ongoing conversation, so I may
have to do a follow up episode because

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the research that's coming out is coming
out thick and fast and it's, you know,

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gonna be fun to try and keep up with.

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So let's dive into that right
after this quick word from our

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podcast sponsors, Metricool.

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If you haven't seen it already,
there are two key pieces of

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research that have come out.

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One by Profound and one by SEMRUSH.

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And both are really, really interesting
and I will make sure that the links

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are included in the podcast summary.

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So make sure that you go across
the LinkedIn, connect with me and

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subscribe to my LinkedIn newsletter.

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That's typically where I
put that information first.

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I will be making sure that I expand on my
thoughts that I'm covering here today and

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include things like screenshots, which
often make it easier to follow along.

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So if you're listening to this via
audio or shout out to those over

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on YouTube, there is going to be a
lot more detail in the newsletters.

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So please do come across in
subscribe, and thank you in advance.

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Let's talk about what's out there exactly.

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Now, fact number one, let's just
start with that yes, LinkedIn is

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increasingly being cited by AI systems.

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So that's a fact.

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Every second post I'm seeing at
the moment from a LinkedIn employee

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is basically highlighting the
fact that LinkedIn is being cited.

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They're shouting the fact that
LinkedIn has become the most cited

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domain for professional queries.

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Now, there are two pieces to
that statement that you really

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need to pay attention to.

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Cited domain, so that is linkedin.com.

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So that's not your post necessarily,
but as a whole, linkedin.com is

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the one that's being cited for and
part two, professional queries.

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I mean, that makes sense, right?

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LinkedIn has such a great database.

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That is people, companies,
job roles, expertise.

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So if you are AI and you wanna
put forward the best answer to

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these queries, of course LinkedIn
is going to pop up in that.

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The other thing that I wanna talk
about is this automatic assumption

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that if linkedin.com is being cited
more by the AI tools, then posting

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more will get you cited by AI tools.

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Now that's a pretty big oversimplification
at best, and what I want you to have

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a think about, and I will share the
stats, when you look at the Profound

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research, which I've done a lot of
digging into it, so you don't have

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to, but essentially on their charts,
yes, posts went up and increased

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their share of being shown in results.

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Articles and newsletters also
went up and on the surface.

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That's amazing.

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So it was around, I don't know, 25, 30%.

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So that also means that 70 odd percent
of the content that's out there

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isn't being picked up by these tools.

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And on the other side, in this
particular research, they're also showing

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that profiles dropped significantly

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Now.

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There's a so many different ways
that we can look at this, but what

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it shows is, yes, the data shows us
that LinkedIn content is appearing

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more and more often, but it doesn't
prove that posting more frequently

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is the answer to making sure that it
drives AI visibility for your brand.

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Let's go to fact two.

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Not all LinkedIn content
performs the same in AI answers.

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Now the SEMRUSH study is one that I
think is actually more aligned and

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something that we should pay more
attention to, and this is the second

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round of info that they've released.

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The last lot was out in around
October last year, which I

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was a big fan of as well.

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I'm not getting paid to talk about
this, just to put that out there,

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but the SEMRUSH study analysed
tens of thousands of LinkedIn URLs

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that were cited by AI, and that was
across ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and

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Perplexity, some of the main ones.

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And one of the actual interesting
things that showed up for me was that

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actually just because a post goes viral.

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It's very rare that the AI systems
actually cite those posts, so there's more

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to this than just content that's popular.

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There's more to this than just
getting lots and lots of engagement.

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And when you think about this, it marries
up with how the LinkedIn feed works.

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And the LinkedIn feed currently
is optimising for relevancy.

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So are you a credible authority,
showing up consistently, driving

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conversations, on an area or topic,
that is one key focus for you?

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And that applies to your
Company Page as well.

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And interesting fun fact Company Pages
were cited more often than actual

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individual profiles in this study.

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So from that perspective, there's so
much reason to have a look into this

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and not ignore Company Pages like
everybody would have you believe.

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The most important thing when
we're analysing all of this is,

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AI systems they optimise for
explanations, authority, and clarity.

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If you think about it, the LinkedIn feed
rewards content that spreads, but the

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AI system rewards content that explains.

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Fact three in today's
episode is definitely that

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fundamentals still matter most.

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And that is exactly what B2B
marketers should be most focused on.

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You also now can understand why I
have been banging on about marketing

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fundamentals and staying on track, I would
say for the most of this podcast, but

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definitely since the start of the year.

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So if you've missed some of those
episodes, please go back and check it out.

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There are probably three fundamentals
that I think if you want your brand

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to get cited by AI using LinkedIn.

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Number one is clear expertise.

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The AI systems need to understand
who you are, what you do

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and what you are known for.

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So that means if we go onto the
next step, you need really strong

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profiles and Company Pages.

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So if you haven't gone back and
updated those and made sure all of

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that information is whole and complete
and shows the AI and people, more

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importantly, who you are, what you
do, and what makes you different,

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and also what problem you solve.

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I would add in there for Company Pages.

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Then ultimately, if you
confuse them, you lose them.

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I've said that also a thousand
times on this podcast.

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So making sure that you're leaning
into your positioning and coming

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back to make sure that all of the
foundational bits, Profile, Company

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Page and your content are all aligned
with what you wanna be known for.

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If we do those things consistently,
that's when AI's little eyes light up

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and that's when they're looking for you
as a credible source that they can cite.

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Now interestingly, as part of my
research, there is a lot of research

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going on out there that is actually
disproving how AI tools cite information

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and that it's not always accurate.

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So there's my little star
and disclaimer on this one.

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Think about it like not everything's
perfect and sunshine and fairies

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like many would have you believe.

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And certainly, again, posting
more is not the solution.

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The other thing that I would like to say
here, just as part of this, is yes, posts

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that support the system, maybe not getting
cited by ChatGPT or Perplexity or any of

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the models that you like to use, but it
doesn't mean that they're not valuable.

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So can we not just run off and instead
of pleasing the algorithm gods now

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think, how do we please the AI gods?

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We are not doing that.

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Because the content that we're creating
ultimately is about building visibility

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and credibility with your target audience.

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You know, those real humans that
pay the bills at the end of the day.

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But doing these things will support
your expertise footprint, and when

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we look at it like that and know
that they're not gonna replace it,

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then that really is a game changer.

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So I know that if you have a look
at the posts that are coming from

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LinkedIn employees, they will absolutely
be encouraging you to post more.

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And if you stop and think,
why are they doing that?

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Duh.

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They have a vested interest
in you spending more time.

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Why?

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Because if you scroll more.

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You're gonna watch more ads,
and if you watch more ads,

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guess who makes more money?

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LinkedIn.

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So often follow the money trail.

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After this quick break, I'm gonna
go into some practical tips about

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how I think you can use linkedin.com
to increase the chances of your

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brand being cited in the AI tools.

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So let's do that next.

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What does it look like if we practically
apply the things that we've been

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talking about in today's episode?

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And again, I've tried to keep
it at a high level, a simple

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level that you can understand.

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Please do go and subscribe to my
LinkedIn newsletter and have a look

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at the most recent additions where I
dive into this, give you all the links

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to the research and make sure step
by step you can break this down and

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have conversations in your business.

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You need any more help or
looking for some more clarity.

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You know, I'm always
here to help you guys.

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I wanna talk first about some practical
tips and different ways that you can

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explore what content is, first of all,
being indexed by Google 'cause if it's

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indexed by Google, then it will be
discovered by the large language models.

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And keep in mind.

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Those models aren't learning
immediately the day that something

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goes and gets indexed by Google.

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They take time.

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It's not that instant gratification
that we think that the whole

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world lives in these days.

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So patience is a virtue.

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Doing things consistently
is what these tools love.

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They want you to be the authority in
your area and be consistent around that.

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One of the best ways that I know that
you can do this is LinkedIn articles,

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and even better, I think LinkedIn
newsletters are indexed by Google.

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They have stable pages.

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You can have the structure that the AI
tools love with headings and subheadings,

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and ultimately these are what are
popping up in a lot of the answers.

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So think about what is your audience
going to Google or going to the AI tools.

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Looking for answers and can you create
a newsletter that answers that question?

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Now, some of you might think,
yes, we've already done that.

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It's on our website.

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Well, here's what I do.

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I put it on my website and I put
it in my LinkedIn newsletter.

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Why do I do that?

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I double my chances.

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By being able to piggyback on what
happens with linkedin.com being such

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a trusted domain, which it always
has been, then I can piggyback on

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their success and hopefully increase
my chances and bonus points I always

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share this stuff in my email newsletter
with the audience that I own.

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Ultimately, I'm gonna share some links
in the show notes today where you can

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do a simple search on Google and have
a look at what information is showing

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on Google in relation to your posts.

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And you might be really interested
'cause you can do a bit of digging

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and realise when it comes to posts,
there is not that much that shows up.

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When you think about, broad topics and
see the results, you'll be mind blown.

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Even for me, I've been creating
content for 10 years and I did a

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simple search around all of the
information it could find as Michelle

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J Raymond as a creator on LinkedIn.

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What post it had, indexed and
all the other information.

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Honest to God, there was like a
very small percentage, like I'm

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talking teeny tiny, given how
much content that I put out there.

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So you know, if I'm doing it that
for that long, that consistently,

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and you're only just starting and
it's not working, you just gotta

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give it more time and more energy.

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I guess as we look at this, there is
going to be more and more studies pop up.

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There is gonna be more and more talk
around yeah, just post more on LinkedIn.

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That's the answer.

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LinkedIn gets cited.

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Just remember, it's not your posts that
are being cited in the answers most

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likely it's linkedin.com, so whether
that's profiles, pages, content.

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Articles and newsletters, or even the
linkedin.com help pages, that is what is

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being cited so just keep that in mind.

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Take everything with a grain of salt,
and if you need some help optimising

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your Page or your Profile, then reach
out to me and we can make sure that you

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are giving your brand the best chance
possible of being cited by these tools.

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I know today's episode has probably
been a little tech heavy, compared to

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like a lot of my other episodes, and
I appreciate you for lasting this long

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because I think this is an important
topic, one that cannot be oversimplified.

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Also one that will reward those that
stay on track, stay consistent and

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stick with the marketing fundamentals.

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And if you're a B2B marketer that's
been listening to this episode, that

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should be music to your ears because I
love the fact that I feel like the cheap

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vanity metrics of engagement and likes
and impressions, slowly but surely being

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replaced by authority, and that's the
kinda LinkedIn that I wanna be a part of.

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So until next week, cheers.