Don’t Feed the LLMs: Why Chasing AI-Friendly Formats Is a Strategic Mistake in SEO

Google’s Danny Sullivan made a clear statement on the Search Off the Record podcast: “We don’t want you to turn your content into bite-sized chunks to rank well in LLMs.”

At first glance, this sounds like familiar SEO wisdom — “write for users, not search engines.” But beneath the surface, it signals something deeper: a call to reframe how we think about content in an AI-powered search landscape.

If you’re in SEO, content strategy, or digital marketing, you’ve likely seen the trend. Micro-answers. Paragraph-length pages. Content sliced and diced to fit what we think large language models (LLMs) might “like.”

And for some, it appears to work — for now.

But this mindset is risky. Worse, it’s a time sink. And as Danny implied, it’s not where search is going.

This post isn’t just a reaction. It’s a breakdown of what this means for our industry — and how smart teams should pivot today to stay ahead.

1. The Real Message Behind Google’s Statement

In Danny Sullivan’s own words:

“We don’t want people to have to be crafting anything for Search specifically… We really don’t want you to think you need to be doing that or produce two versions of your content, one for the LLM and one for the net.”

Translation?

Google’s ranking systems are evolving — and the goal is to reward content made for people, not reverse-engineered for algorithmic quirks.

Even if your “LLM bite-sized strategy” works today, it’s built on sand. The model will shift. The signal will change. And your effort? Gone.

2. Why “LLM-Optimized Chunks” Are a Mirage

Let’s get this straight:

LLMs perform well with clean, concise, structured content.

That doesn’t mean they rank only that kind of content.

It’s a misread of how LLMs process language versus how ranking systems evaluate quality.

Here’s what LLMs actually prefer:

• Context-rich answers
• Logical structure
• Disambiguation
• Consistency of tone and style

“Bite-sized” content can help readability — but when done at the cost of depth, nuance, or context, you’ve built a content strategy around false optimization.

3. Human-First Content: Not a Platitude, a Strategy

Saying “write for humans” is easy. But in practice, it means:

Human-Centered Content	LLM-Centered Content
Narrative-driven	Fact-snippet driven
Structured by intent	Structured by prompt style
Contextual	Over-summarized
Built for journeys	Built for SERP moments

Creating content for people means understanding how they think, what problems they’re solving, and what context they need — not just giving them a single paragraph answer to a query.

4. The Cost of Chasing Short-Term Format Tricks

Let’s say you’re the SEO lead at a mid-market SaaS brand. You read that bite-sized content is more likely to get picked up by AI Overviews (AEO). So you:

• Split long-form content into mini “answer” pages
• Rewrite intros and conclusions to be AI-ready
• Strip nuance in favor of scannable simplicity

Now multiply that by 200 blog posts.

The Result?

• Disjointed user experience
• Cannibalized authority
• Confused internal teams
• SEO gains that may vanish in 6 months

You’ve traded content resilience for a spike in AI-overview placement — a classic tactic over strategy move.

5. The Long-Term Play: Build Semantic Authority

Here’s where smart SEOs win:

Instead of focusing on format tricks, focus on semantic value and intent mapping.

What does that look like?

• Pillar Content: Comprehensive, structured guides aligned with specific user journeys.
• Topical Clusters: Interlinked content that builds depth, not just breadth.
• Entity Optimization: Clear association between your brand, topics, and context.
• User Signals: Dwell time, task completion, repeat visits — things that AI will learn to value more, not less.

💡 Pro Tip: LLMs are trained on content that explains concepts, not just defines them. Be the site that explains.

6. Actionable Steps for Future-Proof SEO

Here’s how to operationalize this mindset:

Audit Content for Purpose

• Does each page align with a clear user need?
• Or was it created to fill a perceived algorithm gap?

Build for Experience, Not Just Exposure

• Can a user complete their task without bouncing to another site?
• Are you offering layered information (beginner → expert)?

Stop Splitting Content Without Strategy

• Don’t create 10 micro-posts that dilute authority.
• Instead, build one masterful piece and link to detailed sub-resources.

Educate Your Teams

• SEOs, content strategists, and writers need shared principles.
• “Human-first” should be a documented internal guideline — not just a motto.

7. Closing Thoughts: Stop Feeding the LLM Machine

Here’s the hard truth:

Every hour spent tailoring your content to how an LLM might think is an hour not spent understanding how your audience thinks.

LLMs aren’t your customer. Algorithms aren’t your end user. People are.

So as search continues to evolve — from blue links to AI Overviews to predictive answers — the smartest thing we can do is stay grounded in something that doesn’t change:

Serve people better than your competitors.

Because that’s what the algorithms — and the users — are ultimately designed to reward.