I stumbled onto something 99% of marketers are blocking and it's costing them HUGE traffic...
One of my niches is Catholicism.
It's a space I care a lot about, and I'm trying to do some BIG moves in this space with SEO.
So I asked myself a question...
If I had all the time in the world and all the money in the world and all the tools in the world, how would I change the whole trajectory of this market?
We are often limited only by our questions.
Ask bigger questions...
Get bigger results!
Well, boy oh boy did this question pay off because I found something I haven't heard any marketer talk about in all 20yrs of my career.
And it's BIG!
It's like stumbling upon a hidden Google level big. In fact, I'm pretty sure Google themselves use this after learning how it works...
Why is No One Talking About This Invisible "CC" Mega Traffic Source That Feeds ChatGPT?
You may want to grab a coffee...
This one goes deep and it's going to get a little techy...
You know how everyone's using ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and all these AI tools now? Your customers are too.
Fancy pants consulting firm,
McKinsey, says that
up to half of all Internet users are now typing questions into these things instead of Google.
Questions like...
"What's the best email marketing software for small businesses?"
"How do I run Facebook ads for my local gym?"
"What CRM should I use if I hate Salesforce?"
These AI tools spit out answers. Sometimes they recommend products. Sometimes they link to resources.
The question is: Are they recommending YOU?
If not, you're missing out on a whole new traffic source that most marketers don't even know exists yet.
Let me break this down simple.
Where AI Gets Its Answers
These AI tools (called LLMs, which stands for Large Language Models - fancy name for the tech behind ChatGPT and friends) had to learn from somewhere.
They didn't just wake up smart.
They were trained on massive amounts of internet content. Billions of web pages, articles, forum posts, and discussions.
And one of the biggest sources they pull from is something called Common Crawl <-- That's the invisible giant!
Common Crawl is basically a giant copy/paste of the internet.
They are a nonprofit that's been archiving web pages since 2011. We're talking PETABYTES of data. Every month they crawl billions of pages and make that data available to anyone - including every major AI company.
Here's why you should care...
Common Crawl LOVES Reddit.
Reddit is one of the most heavily crawled and indexed sites in their entire archive. And because Reddit discussions are full of real people asking real questions and giving real recommendations...
AI models treat Reddit content like gold.
This is why Google has been pushing Reddit posts to the top of search results. And it's why AI tools are pulling Reddit discussions into their answers constantly.
The New SEO: Getting AI to Recommend You
Traditional SEO was about ranking on Google's 10 blue links.
Then came featured snippets and "position zero."
Now? We've got AI Overviews (Google's AI-generated summaries at the top of search results) and AI chatbots that people use INSTEAD of Google.
This has spawned two new terms you need to know:
AIO = AI Overview Optimization (getting into Google's AI summaries)
AEO = Answer Engine Optimization (getting recommended by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, etc.)
Same game, new playing field.
The goal isn't just ranking anymore. The goal is getting CITED and RECOMMENDED by AI.
And here's where Reddit comes back into play...
The Reddit → Common Crawl → AI Pipeline
When you post helpful content on Reddit today, here's what happens:
- Google indexes it fast (often within hours)
- Common Crawl archives it in their next monthly crawl
- AI companies use that data to update their models
- Your recommendation shows up when people ask AI tools questions in your niche
This isn't theory. I'm watching it happen in real time.
A well-written Reddit post about your area of expertise can start showing up in AI answers within 30-60 days.
That's FREE traffic from a source most of your competitors don't even know exists.
But Here's Where Most People Screw This Up
You could do everything right on Reddit and STILL block AI traffic to your actual website.
Here are the most common mistakes:
Mistake #1: Your robots.txt file blocks AI crawlers
There's a little file on your website that tells search engines and crawlers what they can and can't access. It's called robots.txt.
A lot of website owners (or their developers) have blocked AI crawlers without even realizing it. They'll block things like "GPTBot" or "CCBot" (Common Crawl's bot) thinking they're protecting their content.
Big mistake.
You WANT these bots crawling your site. That's how you get into the AI training data.
Go check yours right now: yourwebsite.com/robots.txt
If you see any AI bots being blocked, talk to your developer about removing those restrictions.
Mistake #2: Cloudflare's bot protection is too aggressive
Cloudflare is great for security. But their default settings can accidentally block legitimate AI crawlers with captchas and challenges.
If Common Crawl's bot hits a captcha, it just moves on. Your page doesn't get archived. You don't exist in the AI training data.
Check your Cloudflare settings and make sure you're allowing known bot traffic from sources like Common Crawl.
Mistake #3: Your content isn't "quotable"
AI tools look for clear, direct answers they can cite.
If your content is vague, buried in fluff, or requires reading 3,000 words to find the actual answer... AI skips you.
Write content with clear, definitive statements. Use headers that match questions people actually ask. Make it easy for AI to pull a clean quote.
Mistake #4: No presence where AI is looking
If you're not on Reddit, Quora, or other discussion platforms... you're invisible to a huge chunk of AI training data.
Your company blog isn't enough anymore. You need to be in the conversations where your customers are asking questions.
The Bottom Line
A year from now, a significant chunk of "search" traffic won't come from traditional search at all.
It's going to come from AI recommendations.
The marketers who figure this out now - who start building their Reddit presence, who make sure their sites are crawlable, who optimize for AI answers - they're going to have a massive head start.
Everyone else will be wondering why their traffic dried up.
This is one of those rare moments where being early actually matters.
Don't sleep on it.