Original Insight
“I don’t know how you did it, but I was asking ChatGPT who’s the best headhunter in Germany for C-level positions for IT experts, and you were in the top 3.” — Dirk’s client (AI CIO, Switzerland)
“He reached out on LinkedIn just because I was mentioned by ChatGPT. He said, ‘you’re an authority.’” — dirkohlmeier
“There are people who are talking about how to optimize content for ChatGPT these days — how to optimize content for LLMs.” — Lou
Expanded Synthesis
Something extraordinary happened in this session that most of the group nearly let pass without naming it: Dirk received an inbound call from a senior C-suite executive in Switzerland who found him not through Google, not through LinkedIn, not through any paid channel — but because ChatGPT named him as one of the top three executive headhunters in Germany when asked directly.
This is not a small thing. This is a preview of how authority will be established and recognized in the next era of business.
What just changed in search and discovery: For decades, visibility meant Google page one. The game was SEO: keywords, backlinks, domain authority, content volume. Those rules still apply, but a parallel game has emerged. When someone asks an AI assistant a direct question — “who is the best coach for executive transitions?” or “which consultant specializes in AI adoption for mid-market manufacturing?” — the AI synthesizes its training data and its live search capability to name specific people. The people it names are perceived immediately as authorities. Not because of a ranking algorithm. Because an intelligent system, with access to all publicly available knowledge, named them specifically.
How does this happen? The likely mechanism, which Lou identified immediately, is consistent use of ChatGPT in a specific domain combined with publicly available content that establishes expertise. When ChatGPT processes queries through Microsoft’s Bing integration, it draws on indexed content. If your name, your firm, and your expertise appear consistently and credibly across that content, the model develops what amounts to an internal association: this person is relevant to this domain.
The strategic implication for coaches and consultants: You are no longer just writing for human readers. You are writing for model training and for model retrieval. Every article, LinkedIn post, podcast episode, interview, and published case study you produce is also training data. The question is no longer just “will a human find this valuable?” but “will a model retrieve this as authoritative when someone asks about my domain?”
What this does NOT mean: It does not mean gaming the system with keyword stuffing or manufactured citations. Models are increasingly good at detecting signal versus noise. What it means is that genuine, consistent expertise expressed publicly — especially in formats that models index well — is now doubly valuable. It serves your human audience and builds your model authority simultaneously.
The authority compression effect: What used to take years of SEO compounding can, in some cases, be achieved faster through consistent engagement with the AI ecosystem itself. This is still early, and the mechanisms are not fully understood. But Dirk’s experience is a real signal that something has shifted.
For coaches in particular: Think about what you want to be known for. What is the sentence you want an AI to complete when someone asks: “Who is the best [your specialty] coach for [your ideal client]?” Work backwards from that sentence. What content, what credentials, what case studies, what public outputs would make that sentence true — not just to a human searcher, but to a model synthesizing all available information?
Practical Application for PowerUp Clients
The AI Visibility Audit:
- Go to ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Grok
- Ask each one: “Who are the leading coaches/consultants/experts in [your specialty] in [your geography/niche]?”
- Note whether you appear. Note who does appear and why (what content makes them visible)
- Ask a follow-up: “What do you know about [your name]?” — note what the model says and what gaps exist
- Design a 90-day content plan specifically to fill those gaps with high-signal, specific expertise content
Content types that build model authority:
- Articles that directly answer specific questions your ideal clients ask
- Case studies with specific outcomes and methodologies named
- Published interviews where you explain your unique approach
- LinkedIn content that uses precise, domain-specific language (not vague inspiration)
- Guest contributions to indexed publications in your field
Journal prompts:
- What do I want to be the definitive answer to?
- Am I producing content that a model would confidently cite, or content that a human might find interesting but a model wouldn’t distinguish from noise?
- What associations do I want an AI to make when my name appears in its training data?
Additional Resources
- Insight - Teach One Era Ahead of Your Audience, Not Eight
- GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) resources — emerging field, worth tracking
- Perplexity and SearchGPT as test environments for your current AI visibility
Evolution Across Sessions
This is a nascent observation — Dirk’s discovery is treated as an exciting anomaly in July. Over time, as GEO becomes a recognized discipline, this insight will likely develop into a full framework for AI-era authority building. Baseline established here.
Next Actions
- For me (Lou): Run the AI Visibility Audit on myself across 3–4 AI platforms; document current state; identify top 3 content gaps to address in Q3
- For clients: Include the AI Visibility Audit as part of any positioning or marketing strategy conversation — this is the new SEO check