9. Under-the-Radar Tactics That Work (Rare but Effective Ideas)

Most AEO strategies are still in their infancy. That means there are still many edge-case wins and underused techniques that can give you a temporary but significant advantage.

This section highlights tactics that only the most forward-thinking teams are using – and which you can start testing today.

1. Add “2025” to your URL, Title, and Meta Description

Yes, adding the year actually works. For sake of clarity, let’s assume we live on year 2025 now.

Here’s why:

  • ChatGPT (browsing) and Bing often append the current year to search queries internally.
  • Pages that include “2025” in the URL slug, title tag, and meta description often rank higher in citations.

Example:

CORRECT /best-accounting-software-2025
WRONG /blog/best-accounting-tools

Caveats:

  • Only do this if your content is actually relevant to 2025
  • Plan ahead for 2026 (redirects or annual updates)

Use this tactic selectively for:

  • Roundup pages
  • Comparisons
  • Year-based tools lists

2. Use Author Schema Markup

Google and other engines increasingly care about who wrote the content.

Adding structured data like this can help:

{
  "@type": "Article",
  "author": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Jane Techwriter",
    "url": "https://example.com/jane-techwriter"
  }
}

This is especially useful if:

  • Your authors are experts with profiles elsewhere
  • You want to build trust in B2B or medical/financial content

Even if LLMs don’t use it directly, Google AI Overviews does.

3. Host a “lms.txt” or “llms.txt” file

This is experimental, but some dev tools report better pickup after creating an LLM-readable file listing all public pages.

Try this:

  • Create a file like /lms.txt or /llms.txt
  • List your top public URLs (one per line)
  • Ensure it’s accessible in robots.txt

It’s like a sitemap, but for LLMs. Easy to test. Low risk.

4. Create a “Source of Truth” Page with Full Markdown Dump

If you have documentation, developer APIs, or long guides, create a single page that includes everything in one place.

Use a markdown page like:

/docs/all-content.md

This is helpful for models that crawl full-text to build a single internal vector representation of your site.

It’s especially effective for:

  • Technical documentation
  • Setup/configuration guides
  • Feature matrices

5. Cross-post the same answer in multiple places

If the same phrasing shows up on your blog, Reddit, and LinkedIn – that’s a signal of consensus.

LLMs often weigh this more heavily than single-source opinions.

The web equivalent of “everyone’s saying it.”

Try this:

  1. Publish a detailed blog post
  2. Take 1 paragraph from it
  3. Repost it as:
    • A Reddit comment
    • A LinkedIn answer
    • A YouTube video description

Bonus: include a link back to the original.

6. Add dimensions competitors aren’t tracking

A powerful way to win in LLM comparisons is to introduce new comparison dimensions.

Everyone compares features like:

  • Price
  • Number of integrations
  • UI simplicity

But what about:

  • Data residency (EU vs US)?
  • Carbon footprint?
  • Accessibility?
  • Customer support responsiveness (chat delay time)?

New dimensions = new citations. Models love structured novelty.

7. Be the cleanest “marketplace” page

LLMs often build answers from aggregator-style pages:

  • Lists
  • Comparisons
  • Roundups

If you can create the cleanest, most structured version, the model may grab your page as the source of truth.

Use:

  • Long tables
  • Individual feature rows
  • Clear pros and cons
  • Unique framing (“Best for solo founders”, “Best in Finland”)

8. Help answer engines discover you

Check your robots.txt file. Make sure you are not accidentally blocking GPTBot, Perplexity, or Google’s AI user agents.

GPTBot (OpenAI)

User-agent: GPTBot
Allow: /

PerplexityBot

User-agent: PerplexityBot
Allow: /

You don’t have to allow these – but if you want to appear in their answers, you should.

9. Reply to 3 Reddit threads per week

If you do nothing else:

  • Set a recurring task
  • Search for relevant threads in your niche
  • Post real, helpful replies (with or without mentioning your product)

LLMs will notice. And those posts live forever.

10. Simplify your site structure

Too many folders, redirects, or JavaScript-wrapped content makes your site harder to parse.

Use tools like:

  • pagespeed.web.dev
  • site:yourdomain.com searches
  • Lighthouse audits

Simpler = better. Especially for crawlers.

These ideas won’t last forever. As more people learn them, they’ll become standard. But for now, they’re edge plays.

Use them to gain early momentum.

In the next section, we’ll shift focus to ethics and sustainability – how to stay on the right side of these new systems. Please move on to Playing Fair – Ethical Optimization in a Generative Web.

AEO & GEO Handbook 2026 by People, business, and AI systems clarity coach Mike Moisio