What Does LLM Mean in Search?

In search, LLM stands for large language model, the type of AI behind ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and the summaries inside Google's AI Overviews. These models generate a written answer instead of a list of links.

That shift changes what search means in practice. A model reads across many pages, picks out relevant facts, and writes a single response, sometimes with a source link, sometimes without one at all.

For anyone running a website, it means visibility is no longer only about ranking. It is also about whether the model chooses to mention the site by name when it answers a related question.

Getting chosen for that mention is the whole point of LLM SEO software, built specifically around this new mechanic.