Focus on Top Three LLM Surfaces

When optimizing for LLM traffic, focus on the platforms that matter most rather than trying to cover every AI assistant. While ChatGPT currently dominates with nearly a billion weekly active users, the landscape is still evolving and multiple winners will likely emerge.

Ethan Smith, CEO of Graphite and SEO expert, recommends tracking your performance across the major LLM platforms but being selective about where you invest your optimization efforts. His research shows significant differences in how various LLMs cite sources - for example, ChatGPT citations and Google search results only have about 35% overlap, while Perplexity's citations are around 70% similar to Google's.

The key insight is that you don't need to optimize for all ten available LLM platforms. Instead, focus on the 2-3 platforms with the most traffic and potential for growth. This is similar to the early search engine days when companies had to decide whether to focus on AOL, Yahoo, or the emerging Google.

To implement this approach:

1. Set up tracking for your target questions across the major LLMs (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity)
2. Measure your "share of voice" - how often you appear in answers across these platforms
3. Analyze which platforms drive the most valuable traffic to your site (Webflow found LLM traffic converted 6x better than Google search traffic)
4. Concentrate your optimization efforts on the 2-3 platforms showing the best results
5. Continue monitoring the landscape as it evolves, being ready to shift resources if new platforms gain significant traction

This focused approach allows you to maximize impact without spreading your resources too thin across platforms that may not survive long-term. As Smith notes, "I don't think that you'll need to optimize for 10 but they'll probably be around three or so that you'll wanna, that will win, that you wanna optimize for."