Empire Flippers Podcast How To Win Visibility in AI Search With Sergey Lucktinov [Ep.199]
AI tools are already answering your customers' questions. The real question is, how do you ensure your business is part of those answers?In this episode, we sit down with Sergey Lucktinov, an AI search visibility expert who has spent more than a decade navigating algorithm shifts and rethinking how businesses get discovered online. Sergey breaks down how visibility works in the age of AI and what business owners need to do to make sure their brand is actually being mentioned, not silently skipped.
We explore how AI has fundamentally changed SEO. The focus is no longer on keywords and backlinks alone, but on meaning, trust, and whether your content is eligible to be retrieved by AI systems in the first place. Sergey shares how years of surviving major search changes led him to develop Semantic Retrieval Optimization (SRO), a framework built specifically for how AI systems retrieve, evaluate, and surface content today. He explains how to format content so large language models (LLMs) can easily understand and reuse it, and why AI has quietly leveled the playing field, giving smaller companies new opportunities to compete with much larger brands in search.
We also break down Semantic Entity Networks (SENs) and how they fit into modern on-page optimization, as well as the biggest mistakes and misconceptions businesses have about LLM optimization.If you want to understand how to increase your visibility in AI search, this episode is a must-listen.
Topics Discussed in this episode:- How Sergey developed his Semantic Retrieval Optimization (SRO) strategy (02:35)
- How AI has transformed SEO and how this affects visibility (06:18)
- Understanding how to format your content to suit LLMs (08:29)
- AI has leveled the playing field for smaller companies in search (13:57)
- Explaining SENs and how they fit into on-page optimization (17:09)
- The biggest mistakes and misconceptions about LLM optimization (22:11)
- Cost optimizations you can use to increase your retrieval rate (24:38)
- Calculating leads and audience size that come from LLMs (30:38)
- The future of SEO and AI (32:26)
Sit back, grab a coffee, and learn how to dominate AI search visibility!