SEO has now split in two

For over 20 years, we’ve all been familiar with searching online using traditional search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN Search, even Ask Jeeves, however as of 2025, AI has well and truly muscled its way into the way we search online, whether we like it or not.

Now, it’s not just Google and Bing Search that agencies must consider to achieve visibility and growth for their clients; AI has now emerged as an entirely new ecosystem.

Yes, SEO is still alive, but now AI sits in co-existence with traditional search, so agencies must adapt to this new landscape.

Whether it be ChatGPT, YouTube AI voiceovers, Amazon AI review summaries, AI chatbots, or Google’s AI Overview results, AI has crept its way into our lives in more ways than we’d like to imagine, and it’s only going to continue.

People don’t just search for keywords anymore. Now, they interact with AI like a personal assistant, asking, comparing, and deciding what the best product or solution is.

So, the next time someone asks AI about a product or service, will you appear in the answer?

Google’s Gemini AI Overviews

Whilst standalone AI tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, Perplexity, and DeepSeek are very popular, arguably, it’s Google Gemini AI overviews that appear at the top of Google’s search results that are the most important (for now).

These AI overviews sit above the traditional organic results, and sometimes even above the ads.

Often, the AI overview will display a short paragraph, followed by a bullet list, suggesting what the best options and solutions are.

For example, below you can see a typical Gemini AI result.

The top three site results also appear on the right.

What impact on SEO does this have?

The consequence of these AI results is click through rate (CTR). The traditional blue links are now being pushed further down the page like never before.

We know from looking at countless heatmap data reports across all of our sites, that people generally don’t like to scroll down a page, in fact typically over 50% of visitors drop off just after a couple of mouse wheel rolls, or finger swipes on a screen.

The top of the search results, therefore, is prime real estate for capturing the attention and clicks of the searcher.

However, whilst this may seem like a threat to traditional SEO, we have also seen that many of the keywords that used to rank nowhere near the first page of Google, have suddenly appeared in the AI overview, effectively leapfrogging over 30 ranking positions and more in a heartbeat.

We’ll cover how you can increase your visibility in AI overviews and AI tools further down.

The screenshot below shows all of the keywords that have appeared in Google’s AI results for a garage door company.

Generally, we saw AI results showing up across our sites from Autumn 2024 to Spring 2025.

The rise of “Generative Search”

We now have a new acronym in the digital marketing industry: GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation).

Much like SEO, a new way for users to seek information online has emerged.

How do these users interact with generative engines like ChatGPT and Google Gemini?

Rather than just searching for keywords or shorter queries as with traditional Google searches, users are now ‘prompting’ AI tools with longer tail queries in a more conversational style.

These prompts can often be at least a paragraph long, especially if the user utilises the voice-to-text narration feature found on ChatGPT and other AI tools.

This often results in much more complex requests that can cover a whole multitude of different elements and angles.

What does GEO involve for agencies?

Much of what works for conventional SEO still applies to AI visibility.

We typically have seen many prominent AI results in Google without directly optimising for generative engines, and these tend to feature more with sites that already perform very well with their SEO.

However, as AI grows in popularity and users, we must stay one step ahead as an agency to ensure the greatest visibility in AI tools is achieved.

For example, the screenshot below shows the keywords ranking highly, which also generates an AI result.

In these cases, we can rank highly in the traditional search results, as well as being shown prominently in AI, allowing that site to completely dominate the overall Google search results for that service and location keyword.

Understanding how users engage with AI

Whilst it can be challenging, try to understand how users approach AI and how they would potentially find your site.

What type of persona are they?

Tech-savvy?
Well-informed?
Need a problem fixed in a rush?

That alone will offer a glimpse into the sort of prompts they’ll be using.

With this understanding, you can then start to consider how to orient your site’s content to match what is being asked for in their prompts.

There are some tools out there that provide this data, but they can be quite expensive.

Despite this, conventional keyword/phrasal research is still useful to look at monthly search volumes and related keywords.

By extension, this will give you an impression of who’s searching for what.

Is traditional keyword research still sufficient?

In short, yes, however keywords no longer exist in isolation.

AI now takes tone, context, intent, and previous prompt history into consideration.

So, when structuring and optimising content, it’s vital to get into the head of the searcher’s persona.

Are they looking to improve their home, but don’t know where to start?
Has something broken, and now they quickly need a repair?
Do they already know roughly what they need, but don’t know who to go with?

Developing that understanding will allow you to take a keyword and expand and build upon it to craft and optimise content that is the most likely to be picked up by AI.

Is AI-generated content recommended for GEO?

Using AI to create content is a fast solution, but it will often produce a stiff-sounding, mediocre result.

Already, many people are experiencing AI fatigue and yearn for content that offers authenticity and expertise.

So, whilst you can get away with using AI for little snippets of text, it’s not recommended to use AI to produce entire pages and blogs.

Google doesn’t explicitly prohibit this, but ultimately, the purpose of any search engine is to deliver a relevant and trustworthy answer to the searcher’s query, and handcrafted content will serve this purpose much more effectively.

That’s not to say AI can’t be used to research and organise an outline for content, but it must only be used as an accelerant, not a replacement for a human writer.

AI looks at the wider web, not just your site

Traditionally, digital marketers have focused on honing and optimising their content on the site directly.

Off-site work would involve building links in online directories, posting on social media and outreach for press releases.

With AI, everything matters. In many cases, AI tools have reportedly pulled a lot of their knowledge from forum sites like Reddit and Quora.

This opens up many new opportunities for optimising for AI visibility, but also opens up brands to negative sentiments.

If people are constantly complaining about a brand being expensive, slow, poor quality, etc., AI will pick up on this and potentially avoid recommending that brand or actively criticise it.

It’s vital, therefore, to perform a sentiment analysis across the brand’s online footprint.

What are people saying about the brand online?
Are many people talking about the same things?
Where are they saying it?

The trick is to ensure the brand is mentioned in a positive tone across plenty of online platforms.

This includes:

Forum contributions,
Video transcriptions on YouTube and other video and podcast sites,
Review sites,
Social media posts and comments,
Plus anywhere else online.

Of course, some of these platforms are easier to contribute to than others, especially Reddit, but it’s certainly worth doing, especially if you need to drown out any negative comments.

It’s also important not to spam any of these sites and ensure you’re providing quality, high-value, authentic comments.

How to track AI visibility

Traditionally, SEO performance could be tracked using keyword ranking position software that gave you a clear history of where a keyword ranked over a longer period of time.

AI visibility tracking isn’t so straightforward.

Al prompts are long, conversational and multidimensional, so it’s very hard to accurately measure how much visibility a particular prompt would get.

What we can see, however is what keywords have an AI overview associated with them, but also what longer tail phrases have produced an AI overview.

Tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush allow for this via their organic research tools.

It’s also worth noting that AI visibility isn’t consistent.

A keyword that appears in the AI overview for a week may drop out the week after.

Another tip is to keep a list of typical prompts that would likely be searched for.

Over time, these can be used to measure what AI results come back, both to see how well your brand appears and to see which competitors are gaining the most visibility.

The screenshot below shows the sort of keywords our garage door company site has appeared for in AI.

Many of these keywords don’t rank well in the traditional rankings, but appear in AI, thus generating visibility and traffic that would’ve been unattainable before.

These keywords can also have very high search volume, so there certainly is a big opportunity to seize upon here.

What agencies should now do for GEO

1. Understand the new online search environment

Gemini’s AI overviews are the most relevant for GEO and SEO.
Data from our sites suggests that only upwards of 5% of traffic comes from referral sources that explicitly name an AI tool like ChatGPT.
Most of the AI visibility online right now will be coming from Google’s AI overviews.

2. Secure the foundations of SEO

Poor SEO will result in poor GEO.
Ensure the site’s metadata and on-page is fully optimised.
Implement full schema where applicable.
Ensure the domain is HTTPS and is fully crawlable and indexed.
Create and update online directory listings so it’s easier for AI to understand who you are and what you do.

3. Position your content for AI visibility, both on-site and off-site

Structure service and product pages to answer the main AI prompts that users search for.
Try to answer the typical questions that are related to the service or product provided.
Blog posts work well for long tail prompts.
Identify the main sites elsewhere online that mention your brand and assess what the general sentiment is.
Contribute to the discussion if it’s a forum or a comment section, and try to portray the brand in a positive light.

4. Content must be authentic and relevant

AI tools can be used to research and structure content, but it must be written originally.
Provide value and relevance to the searcher’s prompt.

5. Understand how to report on AI performance

Keyword rankings may show appearance in AI overviews.
Tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush can show which organic phrases generate an AI overview.
List the most important AI prompts and search them on a regular basis to see how your brand and competitors appear.

6. Stay consistent

AI and GEO are still not fully understood in the digital marketing world, so don’t expect any guarantees.
Many marketers and agencies are currently not embracing AI, so they’ll fall behind others who do prioritise it.
Clients will find AI confusing and overwhelming, so be sure to communicate with them clearly and show off any wins.
Stick to the plan, just as it is with SEO.

Conclusion: Adapt to AI early to be the agency that wins at GEO

SEO is often said to be dying.

That isn’t true yet, however we’ve all seen how quickly AI has revolutionised how we interact with so many platforms online.

Traditional organic results are being pushed down the page, and people are trusting what AI is presenting to them.

A cynic may argue that Google’s grand plan is to monetise AI so you get favourable results, or perhaps the traditional results may be made obsolete entirely.

That’s still a few years away, but we all know that SEO (and GEO) is long term game.

So, those who start now to understand and optimise for AI will hold a massive advantage over those who don’t.

The Real Impact of AI on SEO (and How Agencies Should Adapt)