What is happening with SEO in the age of AI?

SEO has always been important but is it changing? AI is starting to disrupt many aspects of the digital world including the way we consume information and search for content. More people are actively using ChatGPT to find answers to questions while Google is introducing more AI elements into its search experience.

This has the potential to impact search and SEO as people no longer need to trawl through pages of Google hits to find the information or answer they are looking for. Subsequently, more digital marketing teams are turning to new practices such as GEO (Generative Engine Optimization).

In this article we’re going to a high-level view of what is currently happening to SEO in the age of AI, with a couple of caveats. Firstly, this is a very fluid area, so SEO trends will evolve over the coming months. Secondly, we’re not going to get too deep into the detail – partly because there isn’t space, and partly because we don’t claim to be SEO specialists. There are lots of great sources such as the Search Engine Journal and Google itself to lead you into the weeds. However, we are planning a future article which will provide practical tips for getting started.

Mastering the art of SEO vs understanding the basics

For many of us, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) has always felt a little like a specialist ‘dark art’ where you need to truly put the work in to be able to truly master it. This is partly because Google’s algorithm is not transparent, partly because SEO can get quite technical, and partly because the world of SEO continues to always evolve. As you work through the minutiae of improving SEO to improve your page ranking, it really does feel like you could truly go down the rabbit hole.

Although you can get drawn in, the basics of SEO are actually relatively straightforward and that is sufficient for many of us. You can hire a specialist agency to do the expert optimisation work, there are a wide range of paid-for and even free tools and platforms such as Semrush and Google Search Console that do the heavy lifting; these help you that can carry out keyboard research, provide guidance on the specifics to change and so on.

Google’s algorithms also tend to support good content management based around concepts such as EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness), so if you are focusing on high value content with the right keywords then you’re also supporting SEO.

The performance of your page and the relative configuration of your CMS also make a difference, and although we are not a SEO optimisation agency we will set up your CMS or DXP so it ticks the right boxes. Here Core Web Vitals is an important concept which considers the load speed of your page and also measures such as the Cumulative Layout Shift (unexpected shifts of a page layout as it loads).

However, understanding the basics of SEO – including current trends with search and AI – will help you prepare and improve content, and also get the best out of platforms like Semrush.

Let’s explore the impact of AI on SEO.

How is AI impacting search behaviour changing?

The way we search for information is changing and that is happening rapidly and profoundly. In a nutshell, there are two main trends.

AI-generated summaries and answers are reducing traditional searching via search engines

Because people can now get the information they need directly through generative AI such as an answer to a question or a summary of a page, they are less likely to be feel the need to go directly to the source material on your website. They might be using ChatGPT or AI-driven summaries or answers in Google, for example. (Answers have previously been available in Google but the sprinkling of AI has meant they have improved and are more accurate.)

This is leading to a rise in “zero-click searches” where fewer people are actually clicking on the links that come from a traditional search because their search “intent” has been met by the AI-generated summary or answer. This means a reduction in the direct click throughs to your site. It also means that the value your site drives (lead generation, brand awareness etc.) is becoming less reliant on traditional SEO and page rankings, and more on AI-generated summaries and answers. The occurrence of zero-click searches should not be underestimated. Research by Bain in late 2024 suggested that “80% of consumers rely on these ‘zero-click’ results at least 40% of the time.”

People are now searching in different places beyond the search engine

Another impact of AI is that people are also starting to search for information in other places beyond the traditional search engines. Of course, that includes AI platforms and apps that interface with Large Language Models like ChatGPT and Perplexity AI. AI firms like OpenAI are also developing services specifically aimed at search, such as ChatGPT Search which can even be integrated into your browser. As AI continues to evolve at an incredible pace, more search services and options will appear.

It's also reported that more people are also searching on popular content platforms such as TikTok, Reddit and YouTube where content might be considered more reliable, valuable or authentic. Here AI is improving the search facility available on these platforms. Generative AI is also arguably partly influencing this trend through the creation of high volumes of AI-generated web pages that are generic and have little value. Some people are turning to content on these sites knowing that it has been created by humans, which they are more likely to trust and engage with.

How does this impact SEO? The rise of AEO, GEO and more

SEO is still important. People still use search engines in the traditional way, but more organisations are optimising content so that it appears in Google’s AI-powered summaries and answers, or ChatGPT search.

Welcome to the rise of Answers Engine Optimisation (AEO), Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) and quite possible some other XEOs that will emerge in the future, for example relating to AI agents. Some are even talking about Generative Search Optimisation (GSO) too, just to make matters even more confusing.

AEO and GEO are related and overlapping but are different. AEO tends to be more about ensuring content is optimised so answer “snippets” appear in answers to questions, for example in Google. AEO covers answers delivered via voice search results too, for example via Alexa or Siri.

GEO is more around ensuring content is insightful and valuable so that it stands out to appear in an AI-generated summaries and responses.

What does AEO and GEO entail?

At a high level, there are three main (and overlapping) tactics for AEO and GEO. This first is structuring your content in ways that make it more digestible and likely that an “answer” from your content will be picked up. This means using formats like headings, lists and tables but also adding the correct “schema markup” (code) around any structured data that might answer questions.

The second is around ensuring that your content can satisfy common user questions but also more complex queries as well as satisfy more of the complex questions that tend to be fed into ChatGPT rather than a more traditional search engine. This means having a really good understanding of the type of questions that people want answered.

The third tactic is also ensuring that your content is genuinely valuable, contains expert insight and is credible. Adding citations, for example, will also support this. Of course, all this is good for SEO, and important anyway for sectors such as professional services where content frequently validates expertise and provides insight.

In a future post, we’ll explore these areas in more details and how to get started.

Do we need to act?

The way people are searching for information is changing. If SEO is important to you (and that can vary across sectors and organisations) then you will need to eventually consider the new world of AEO and GEO as more and more people use generative AI as a search tool. If you’d like to discuss how to optimise your content for searchability then get in touch!