In March, I was worried we were launching Chosenly.com (our show up on LLMs platform) a year early. But the race to “own LLM visibility” is proving me wrong, and we could've launched 2-3 months earlier. Here’s why:

In March, I was worried we were launching Chosenly.com (our show up on LLMs platform) a year early. But the race to “own LLM visibility” is proving me wrong, and we could've launched 2-3 months earlier. Here’s why:

When evaluating market timing for AI startups, there are 4 factors I look at.

Here's what they are, where the AI search optimization industry is, and how we're dealing with this:

1) Demand - This is a solid 4/5 right now.

Is there real interest in solving this problem? Are these conversations happening in boardrooms?

We're seeing a clear uptick here. Every company I speak with is discussing AI search optimisation. They're seeing higher conversion rates from this traffic. So the interest is sky-high, but adoption still lags behind.

And this gap between curiosity and implementation is exactly where you want to enter a market.

2) Category Development - Currently at 3/5.

We have competitors popping up daily (open LinkedIn and count the AISO posts), but we're all calling it different things: AISO, AEO, GEO, "SEO for LLMs"...

This signals we’re still early because a category exists when competitors align on terminology.

My bet? "AI Search Optimization" becomes the standard term. (I own that domain, so I'm biased 😉)

3) Impact - Only at 2/5 so far.

Most clients see 2-5% of traffic coming from LLMs. That traffic converts similarly to paid search (high intent, shorter funnel). But these are early days.

The companies investing now are capturing market share in a rapidly growing channel. Hard to justify short-term, but potentially massive long-term.

4) Talent - A clear 1/5.

Almost nobody knows how to do this well yet. That's why every Chosenly.com package includes consulting.

Eventually, companies will have dedicated AI specialists like they have SEO experts today.

So are we early or late?

I think we're a month or quarter late. I wish we'd launched 2-3 months earlier, but being slightly late to a massive opportunity is still being early enough.

Now, as a buyer should you prioritize AISO right now?

Not everyone. Don't rely on it to hit immediate targets.

But if you already have strong demand capture channels (SEO/paid) and can invest in something more long-term, I would highly recommend investing in this channel right now. It's great timing.

What's your take? Is AI Search Optimization something you're exploring yet?

– Ishaan “riding the wave” Shakunt

This post was originally shared by on Linkedin.