Reasons SEO is Evolving With AI

I run an SEO company. And we just changed how we measure success for our clients. We stopped celebrating ranking improvements. Started tracking something else entirely. Traditional SEO is becoming table stakes. The real game is happening somewhere else. Last week, We audited where our clients' target customers are actually getting their answers. The results were eye-opening. → 67% of technical queries never make it to a Google search → They're being answered directly by ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity But here's what I noticed: The companies winning in this new landscape aren't the ones with the highest domain authority. They're the ones whose expertise gets synthesized into AI responses. Example: One of our B2B clients created a unique "Revenue Attribution Model" for their industry. Now when prospects ask AI about attribution, they get referenced as the source. Not because they rank #1, but because they created something worth citing. The shift I'm seeing: ▸ Instead of optimizing for crawlers → we're optimizing for comprehension ▸ Instead of chasing keywords → we're building knowledge assets ▸ Instead of link building → we're building authority that AI systems naturally want to reference This doesn't mean SEO is dead. It means it's evolving. The clients who get this are: →Creating frameworks → Coining terminology →Building thought leadership that transcends traditional search The ones still stuck in 2019 SEO tactics? They're wondering why their traffic is declining even with perfect technical optimization. As an SEO company founder, I had to make a choice: ❌ Keep selling the old playbook ✅ Help clients prepare for what's coming I chose the future. Because in 12 months, the companies dominating their categories won't just be the ones ranking well. They'll be the ones that AI systems consider the definitive authorities in their space. Are you positioning your company to be that authority? Tools mentioned: AI Answers Check: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini Question Discovery: AlsoAsked, WriterZen Citation Tracking: Twin, Glasp, app.slatehq.ai ( By TripleDart) Content Optimization: Clearscope, Surfer, app.slatehq.ai ( By TripleDart) Content Orchestration: app.slatehq.ai ( By TripleDart) #aiso #geo #seo

My last couple of posts have been heavy on this theme: The website isn’t the marketing hub anymore. AI is rewriting the rules. Now, I've gotten some pushback, and I get it. This idea is still cutting-edge in many industries and will be for a while—think the local remodeling contractor, who will remain dependent on Google map packs for some time, but . . . Shout out to John Andrews and Sam Harding for this idea to help make this point. Remember the Browser Wars of the ’90s? That battle wasn’t about browsers; it was about who controls distribution. The winner decided how users experienced the web. Sound familiar? We’re back in a similar fight. But this time, it’s not about browsers or websites. It’s about AI. And the harsh truth? Your website is no longer the center of your marketing universe. It’s just another client in an AI-driven ecosystem. If you're still building everything around your website, you’re missing where the customer journey actually starts today. AI is the new gatekeeper. Large language models are the new homepage. What to do: ~ Structure your content for clarity: headers, bullets, short paragraphs. ~ Feed your own materials into tools like ChatGPT custom GPTs. ~ Submit links to AI-friendly aggregators like Perplexity or Bing. Prompt-ready content is the new SEO. Search engines indexed keywords. AI indexes answers. You’re not writing for spiders anymore, you’re writing for synthetic assistants. What to do: ~ Write in question/answer format. ~ Use schema markup and structured data to help AI extract the right info. ~ Test your content through ChatGPT—does it summarize your message well? AI-native collateral is the new lead magnet. PDFs and landing pages are fine, but imagine giving your audience a branded GPT or app that solves their exact problem. What to do: ~ Create AI-guided chat tools (ManyChat, Intercom, GPT bots). ~ Turn key insights into prompt libraries for your audience. ~ Train a micro-assistant that delivers value in your voice and framework. The ecosystem is greater than the standalone domain. Your website is part of the story, not the whole book. You need to meet your audience inside other platforms, other feeds, other tools. What to do: ~ Cross-publish with intent: blogs become emails, videos, Shorts, GPT inputs. ~ Format content for syndication: highlights, quote blocks, stat cards. ~ Embed value inside tools—calculators, diagnostics, AI-guided quizzes. ~ Ask better questions: Can this be summarized by AI in under 60 words? Would AI recommend this if asked? Are we surfacing this in multiple ecosystems? Is this referenceable—not just linkable? We’re not in a web-first world anymore. We’re in an AI-first marketing environment. The tools have changed, but the principle hasn’t: Be where your customers are, and make it ridiculously easy for them to know, like, and trust you. Don’t just optimize your website. Optimize your ecosystem.

Google’s AI Mode isn’t just a new feature. It’s a new framework — one that quietly rewrites how search works. Michael King’s 12,000+ word breakdown of AI Mode isn’t just comprehensive. It’s required reading if you care about the future of SEO. Because the future isn’t about keyword optimization or clean markup. It’s about how Google uses specialized LLMs, multi-document reasoning, vector similarity, and personal user embeddings to deliver a single AI-generated answer. Let’s break it down: Query Fan-Out One search from a user = multiple subqueries behind the scenes. Google’s system expands the original query into a network of related questions — each one helping to clarify the user’s intent before generating an answer. Specialized LLMs Different tasks, different models. Summarization, comparison, reasoning — all handled by distinct systems depending on the needs of the query. That’s not one AI answer; it’s a pipeline of coordinated decisions. Passage-Level Retrieval + Vector Similarity Google doesn’t just look at documents anymore. It pulls from specific passages that align semantically with the query — not just literally. Content gets vectorized and scored for closeness using cosine similarity. User Embeddings Google builds a vector profile based on each user’s past interactions — searches, clicks, behaviors. Then it matches future results to that profile. Your content might be “relevant,” but not relevant to them. And here’s what makes this so disruptive for SEOs: Many of the signals powering AI Mode aren’t visible — or even accessible — through traditional SEO methods. There’s no report that shows you how Google’s models reasoned their way to an answer. No tool that reveals which subqueries were generated behind the scenes. No schema you can add to improve how your content aligns with a user’s personal vector profile. The systems driving rankings now live behind a wall of abstraction — built on machine learning, personalization, and vector semantics. This isn’t just an update to search. It’s a shift in the architecture of how answers are created. #SEO #AI #Search #Google #DigitalMarketing #AIMode Read the article: https://lnkd.in/gMDF55Ns

There's a quiet revolution happening in the world of content and discovery, and we're barely talking about it. 🚨 SEO as we've known it is quickly becoming obsolete. AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Grok, and Claude are reshaping how buyers research, especially in high-involvement e-commerce sectors like consumer tech. Andrej Karpathy recently highlighted this perfectly: "It’s 2025 and most content is still written for humans instead of LLMs. 99.9% of attention is about to be LLM attention, not human attention." Imagine a buyer exploring a high-value product—say a premium smartwatch or a flagship smartphone. Rather than sifting through dozens of links, they're now simply asking: "Which smartwatch is better for health tracking: Fitbit Sense or Apple Watch Ultra?" This isn't hypothetical; it's happening right now. AI assistants are increasingly trusted as expert advisors that simplify complex product comparisons. For brands, this changes everything: ✅ Traditional SEO and "ranking #1 on Google" is no longer enough. ✅ AI agents handle the discovery process, dramatically shortening the consumer journey. ✅ Businesses must now optimize their content not only for human eyes but also for AI interpretation. (As Erik Wikander put it beautifully) A few eye-opening shifts already happening: 📉 Review platforms like G2 and StackOverflow have lost significant traffic post-ChatGPT. (Elena Verna) 📉 Big players like HubSpot, Figma, and Canva are seeing declining organic traffic as AI directly answers user queries. (Oliver Molander) 📉StackAI now receives more inbound from ChatGPT & Perplexity than from Google (Antoni Rosinol) The implications for Ecommerce and consumer tech brands are massive: Your product content must become "AI-native," meaning it's structured clearly enough for AI tools to pull and recommend. Content needs precise differentiation and expert-level detail because the AI gatekeepers are getting smarter at recognizing genuine value vs. fluff. As Tomasz Tunguz has highlighted, expect the emergence of AIO (AI Optimization)—the next evolution of content strategy where you're optimizing not just for search engines but for a multitude of personalized AI assistants serving diverse ICPs. In short, the future belongs to those who understand how to capture the attention of AI agents first, and users second. Traditional SEO is fading. We're entering a world where personal AI agents will act as gatekeepers, curating hyper-relevant content tailored exactly to individual needs and preferences. This demands a radical reimagining of CX tech stacks, particularly around product discovery, comparison, and commerce journeys. At Swirl®, we're addressing precisely this challenge by building specialized AI Agents—transforming customer experience into dynamic, personalized, and AI-optimized experiences. If your brand is navigating this shift and looking for ways to stay ahead, let's talk. #artificialintelligence #Ecommerce #AIO #SEO

Google just wrapped up its latest core update. It ran for 16 days and, like usual, shuffled the deck. Some sites that got hit back in 2023 saw a bit of a bounce back. But the real story isn’t rankings. It’s what’s replacing them. AI Overviews are showing up more often, especially on news and informational queries. In some verticals, they appear nearly 70 percent of the time. And most of those searches end without a single click. If your content isn’t being cited or quoted in those overviews, it doesn’t matter where you rank. You're not getting seen. This is the shift that’s catching a lot of marketers off guard. SEO isn’t dead, but it’s not the only visibility channel anymore. AI is rewriting the rules. I’ve been teaching founders and other marketers how to adjust for this in my AI Visibility (GEO) System course at the CMO Growth Guide. It’s not about chasing keywords, it’s about being the source AI tools pull from. Time to start thinking that way.

I've spent the last week doing (probably way too much) research for a client article on how AI is currently impacting SEO — and this is one of my biggest takeaways: LLMs and Google AI Overviews are leading to lower clickthrough rates and overall traffic, but especially for LLMs, the visitors who do end up on B2B sites tend to be much more likely to convert. Or, as a new study from Ross Hudgens at Siege Media (that inconveniently dropped right after I submitted my article) puts it: "LLMs are taking top funnel traffic from us, but seem to be sending us more bottom funnel (to the right places). This is a positive and should be weighed accordingly." I know there are plenty of legitimate qualms about how AI is scraping and using our painstakingly created content. But right now, if you're responsible for driving high-value leads to your website, optimizing your content for LLMs has to be part of your job. That's my other big takeaway from this research: the actual number of people using LLMs instead of traditional search isn't huge right now for most industries, but it's growing. Fast. Getting your brand to show up in LLMs certainly isn't going to matter LESS anytime soon. So, you might as well figure it out before all of your competitors do.

At Duda, we’ve analyzed traffic across more than 1 million websites published on our platform, and the trend is clear: AI-driven traffic is growing extremely fast, especially from ChatGPT.  That doesn’t mean SEO is dead. Far from it, Google is still generating significantly more traffic to websites than all AI platforms combined. But it does mean that web professionals need to adapt their strategies to make sure their clients’ websites are discoverable in both traditional *and* AI search. The good news is a lot of the best practices to rank for traditional search are still relevant in the age of AI discoverability - with some new considerations… ✅ What still works: Authoritative, well-structured content, following E-E-A-T principles   Strong technical SEO (Core Web Vitals, mobile responsiveness, fast load times) Focus on genuinely helpful content, not just ranking tricks 🆕 Where to renew focus in the age of AI: LLMS.txt files (think robots.txt, but for AI) to help LLMs understand your site Structured data like Local Business, FAQ, and Product schema to surface in AI answers IndexNow & Google Search Console integrations to get new content discovered quickly Server-side rendering (SSR) so content isn’t hidden behind JavaScript 🚫 What to avoid: Keyword stuffing Generic backlink strategies Prioritizing visibility over value At Duda, we’re building tools to help agencies and SaaS platforms stay ahead of the curve, including being the first website builder to automatically generate LLMS.txt for all sites built on our platform. If you’re a web pro building websites at scale, it’s time to optimize for both search engines and AI assistants. Learn more about how to future-proof your sites for AI discoverability here: https://lnkd.in/dA_3YrG6

I just spent 3 hours analyzing Google's new AI search guidelines released yesterday. There's a hidden message that 95% of marketers will miss. While everyone focuses on the technical advice, the real game-changer is in paragraph 7: "We've seen that when people click to a website from search results pages with AI Overviews, these clicks are higher quality... users are more likely to spend more time on the site." For 20+ years, the search playbook was clear: - Rank higher - Get more clicks - Drive more traffic Google is now explicitly telling us that model is outdated. Why? Because AI-powered search experiences give users more context BEFORE they click. This means visitors who do click through are: - More qualified - More engaged - More likely to convert Having analyzed search behavior for 100s of brands over the past few weeks, I can confirm this matches what we're seeing in the data. Visitors from AI search experiences behave differently. This shift explains why we built Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) capabilities at Writesonic – to help companies understand and improve how they appear in AI-generated responses, not just traditional search results. The brands that adapt first will win big. Those still fixated on raw traffic numbers will increasingly wonder why their "successful" SEO isn't driving business outcomes. 👉 Comment "VISIBILITY CHECK" below if you want to discuss how your brand currently appears in AI search results and what specific improvements could drive better outcomes. I'll share some of our key findings and tactical suggestions based on what we're seeing work across industries. What has your experience been with visitors from AI search experiences? Are you seeing different engagement patterns?

Forbes estimates 60%+ of organic traffic is being effected due to the introduction of AI summaries, the adoption of LLMs, and ultimately the changes in SEO. I recently spoke at Affiliate Summit East on the emergence of AI and the impact to eCommerce. I touched on SEO and the move to SGE (search generative experience), the issues facing identity capture and noise created by bots as well as AI-generated content, and how content goes viral with changes to TikTok & Meta's algorithms. Sharing some of the learnings (and slides) on AI summaries and rankings: Impact - Google's AI summaries can take up to 3 full mobile scrolls or 2 desktop scrolls (1500 pixels) - LLM search went from 0.25% of traffic to 2.25% in <12mo - 60% of organic site traffic is impacted meaning the CTR drops aka people do not end up landing on your site. How to adapt - SEO & SGE are underpinned by the same recipe: content. - How to show up as the featured AI summary or authority? 1. Create unique content and lots of it 2. Build contextual content At Checkmate we get 1.5M+ unique visitors/week to our public-facing product pages. We also are featured on 1700 ChatGPT pages. How we were able to do that is by pulling in long-form structured content for the products we help sell as well as using LLMs to generate some unique content. For those in eCommerce I featured Stanley 1913 with what I think as a really strong product pages that rank well for SGE. If you look at any of their products they have extremely rich, unique content. They leverage product descriptions, product specs, related other products, reviews (not hidden or collapsed) & FAQs. For SGE shorter isn't better, the more unique content the generally better the indexing. Stanley 1913 also has a really strong formatting structure with clear H1, H2 tags, and containers. You have to remember if a bot can't make sense of the text then it won't surface in AI summaries. This will also be extremely important in the future of agentic commerce. 2. Building contextual content The way people are searching is moving from "black shoes" to "best shoes for running a marathon". Context is key. To be able to show up in LLMs or AI summaries, you need to associate your products within that context. 3 easy ways to do that: 1. Create and leverage a PR strategy 2. Build your own written contextual information in a blog on your website 3. Contribute/invest to review sites If you are able to both create unique content with a strong structure and build contextual content AI summaries and LLMs can be a great source of traffic. It is early days so investing in content and structure is a must. Drop me a note if you have other tips you see working or other brands doing it well!

We are undergoing a minor crisis in marketing. Hubspot and G2 have seen their SEO traffic drop 80%. The problem? Marketers are focusing on how to CREATE content using LLMs - when they need to MARKET content to LLMs. Unless you start creating content for LLMs as one of your PRIMARY audience, your reach will collapse and your visibility will vanish. Your buyers are now using LLMs and AI answers to find you. Search engines are coping with this change and changing algorithms. There is a new playbook. Adapt or disappear. 2000-2025: RISE OF SEO AND CONTENT MARKETING If the search engines couldn’t find you - you did not exist. Here’s the traditional playbook to get noticed by Search engines: - Thought leadership content: Unique insights developed for target audience to position the brand as a trusted expert - Content optimized for organic keyword discovery: carefully crafted high intent keywords to rank high on search engines and drive inbound traffic - Authority and backlinking: build high quality backlinks via guest posts or strategic partnerships - Long form articles that sparked discussions: Optimized for social discovery, engagement and conversations - SEO excellence: ensure fast loading, mobile friendly pages with strong internal linking for better indexing 2025 AND BEYOND : RISE OF LLMs AND AI In future - If the LLMs cannot find you, you do not exist. Here’s an emerging playbook to get a favorable presence in LLMs. - SEO is evolving to include LLM content discovery - Content optimized for LLMs to better position you against competitors - Make your support docs, use case docs and knowledge base public for LLMs to crawl. More content and case studies leads to better positioning.  - Thought leadership content and social engagement still works - Optimize for AI overviews while still pursuing organic authority - Your brand is more than just your website or search engines. Every podcast, YouTube video, blog post, and Reddit comment will be parsed by LLMs to shape your company knowledge graph.  - GEO Excellence: Master Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to stay ahead. - LLMs are evolving. Use them to your advantage. Monitor brand perception, track competitors, and feed the right content to shape your narrative. GEO programmatic tools and agencies are coming - but don’t wait. Your buyers are already searching for you on ChatGPT. Run the same searches and manage your presence on LLMs. Ensure you stand out against your competitors and if you don’t, find a way to feed the right content to LLMs.  TAKEAWAY: SEO evolution is already happening whether you like it or not. Your buyers will increasingly use LLMs to find you. Your organic reach is now getting decentralized. Control your narrative or let AI control it for you.