How LLMs Rank & Recommend Brands in 2026 ft. Steve Toth

Want to know how to rank in LLMs (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, etc) and turn AI visibility into qualified buyers? Steve Toth, founder of AI Notebook, SEO Notebook and Notebook Agency, breaks down why brand consensus, third-party mentions, sentiment and traditional SEO all influence how LLMs rank and recommend brands. We also cover fixing negative Reddit sentiment, structuring content for AI extraction, comparison pages, agentic optimization, the decline of self-promotional listicles, and some of the black-hat tactics already appearing in AI search. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Steve Toth on the rise of high-quality AI traffic 01:10 Steve’s top three LLM ranking factors 02:46 Branding vs consensus 04:20 Does consensus matter across every LLM? 05:47 Using sentiment analysis for LLM visibility 07:41 Why ranking alone is not enough 10:00 How to fix negative Reddit sentiment 11:33 Can PR help change negative brand perception? 12:48 Steve’s LLM visibility audit process 15:01 Choosing which categories a brand should target 16:38 Comparison pages and off-page consensus 17:52 Auditing competitor reviews and sentiment 19:15 On-page must-haves for LLM rankings 20:44 Why the introduction and conclusion matter most 22:13 Agentic optimization, MCP and AI Mode 25:13 Are listicles losing their influence? 26:44 Off-page content that still works 28:40 Black-hat LLM manipulation tactics 31:09 AI Notebook, SEO Notebook and SEO IRL 31:48 Final thoughts LINKS & RESOURCES Steve Toth LinkedIn:   / stevetothjr   X: https://x.com/seo_notebook AI Notebook: https://ainotebook.com/ SEO Notebook: https://seonotebook.com/ Notebook Agency: https://notebook.agency/ SEO IRL: https://www.seoirl.com/ Jabez Reuben, Founder of LLM Mastery, The Blueprints & Link Validator Learn the latest LLM ranking tactics through interviews, research and real-world case studies: LLM Mastery: https://www.llmmastery.co/ Follow Jabez for LLM ranking experiments, strategies and new discoveries: LinkedIn:   / jabezreuben   X: https://x.com/jabezreuben Build clean backlinks and brand mentions designed for the AI search era: The Blueprints: https://www.theblueprints.co/ Audit, validate and monitor your backlinks: Link Validator: https://linkvalidator.io/