• AI tools like ChatGPT. Plus AI Overviews in Google results, are increasing the prevalence of no-click search results, reducing search traffic to websites.
• The fundamentals of SEO also apply to AI optimisation, particularly the EEAT framework to determine the quality and authority of content and creators.
• Quick-win AI optimisation “hacks”, such as publishing to Reddit, are no replacement for a strategy that delivers search and LLM visibility, plus more engaging content for readers who do still visit your website.

The rules of search are evolving. For decades, Google has dominated the search landscape, controlling 90% of the market. AI is reshaping search strategy in 2025 with tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Claude gaining market share fast and transforming how users find information online.

This shift is already visible in user behaviour – by the end of 2024, nearly 60% of Google searches ended without a click, meaning people are either finding answers directly on the search results page, or leaving Google to find answers elsewhere without clicking a search results link. Much of the content at the world's largest search marketing conference Brighton SEO - which I attended last week - focused on this challenge.

Tools like AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and AI MODE are increasingly capturing user attention before they reach websites, especially for informational queries. While this shift can reduce overall click-through traffic, it often results in more engaged visitors and higher-quality conversions when users do arrive.

With this change in behaviour clear to see in the web analytics of UNRVLD’s B2B and B2C client base, we are now regularly asked whether separate strategies are required for SEO and AI (sometimes called generative engine optimisation or GEO). We believe it is possible to consider both with an evolved SEO strategy that also includes optimising for LLM visibility. Building an effective SEO strategy reshaped for AI in 2025 means understanding how these models learn, reference and prioritise trustworthy sources.

The changing nature of search behaviour

Let’s dig deeper into some of the changes we’ve seeing so far:

• Changing search behaviour: LLMS are enabling conversational search experiences, where users can have natural language interactions with AI to get answers.
• Google has responded with AI overviews (AIOs): a new mode that now takes up to 42% of the desktop screen. AIOs and featured snippets can now dominate as much as 76% of what a consumer sees on search results. By mid-2025, they are triggered for nearly half of all queries (47%), especially in lower-volume searches.
• Compromised real estate in search engine results pages (SERPs): Google and other search engines are incorporating AI-driven summaries and overviews into search results, which can impact the visibility of individual websites.  Brands can optimise for inclusion in AIOs by structuring answers clearly (like in FAQs, unique perspectives and clear, compact summaries).
• Increased competition: The SEO rise of LLMs has led to a massive increase in competition for search results, resulting in more complex user journeys.

Consumers increasingly rely on AI tools to discover, evaluate and buy from brands directly – sometimes bypassing search engines altogether. Consumers use ChatGPT to plan holidays, browse for product comparisons, compare software tools, draft emails and so much more. Discovery of your brand is happening before a click ever reaches your website, so you need to shift your focus and adapt to a new way of measuring success.

Traditional SEO signals like backlinks and keyword density remain relevant, but they’re no longer sufficient on their own. The priority now is creating content that AI trusts enough to surface, while still persuading human readers once they arrive.

Instead, results may respond more responsively to an increase in brand awareness and visibility, optimising content for different intent for SERPs, higher emphasis on brand mentions, better CVR, and a focus on semantics.

How you can future-proof your content strategy

The key is to build content that AI trusts, ranks and surfaces – while still serving content that human readers trust.

Google uses a framework called E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) to assess the suitability of content to satisfy users’ queries, and this framework remains critical. But now, it’s not just a ranking factor for Google; it’s also how AI models are determining that what is being said has credibility.

As part of your content strategy, every single content piece needs to align to a purpose, anticipate and consider the user journey and create dependable content that meets people where they are.

Google’s keyword data provides useful information to build out that valuable content. Instead of chasing keyword volume, it is worthwhile to think beyond keywords and focus on intent of your readers. Content should map to three layers:

• Interest – Identify your audiences’ interests and create content that matters to them.
• Intent – Content creators need to prioritise understanding and addressing user intent, rather than solely focusing on keywords.
• Demand – Satisfy existing demand and spot new market trends.

SEO can no longer sit in a vacuum, it must be a part of a fully integrated strategy. AI search doesn’t live, or look for information, in just one place – but instead investigates all digital channels on the internet for the most relevant information to a query. Your brand needs to show up across blogs, news sites, social media, newsletters, podcasts, video and more. The more signals your brand sends across platforms, the more likely AI is to trust and surface it.

Content reach is now multi-platform, and user journeys are more complex, but visibility remains key. Users don’t search in straight lines. Conversational prompts mean the same intent can be expressed in a dozen ways, and your content must anticipate that variety.

Beware reverse-engineering AI algorithms

However, at the same time, quick wins for appearing in AI results – such as posting to Reddit – are already proving to only deliver short-term results. After a surge in Reddit citations by ChatGPT (to more than 10% of all citations according to AI Lab Notes author Kalyani Knona) brands began to flood the social network with posts to maximise their LLM visibility.

A small change to a Google URL parameter meant ChatGPT was now likely only analysing top 10 results for a search term to validate its training data, not the top 100. As a result, Reddit immediately lost much of its visibility to the LLM. This is just one example of where reverse engineering AI algorithms for quick wins only pays off in the short term.

And that’s why the core tenets of a strong search optimisation strategy still come into play and beat quick-win “hacks”. Developing content that genuinely answers questions and follows the EEAT framework delivers results through search, AI and for those users who still directly engage with your content, whether on or off your website.

Think beyond Google

Content has always been king, but in 2025 it’s also the currency AI uses to decide what’s visible.

It’s time to think beyond Google. The time to optimise content for visibility in AI-driven search platforms is paramount to awareness and discovery. What a brand has to say is valuable, it is critical to think about your authority and unique insights that carry weight more than keyword stuffing specific terms.

As highlighted at Brighton SEO, brand authority and authenticity are more important than ever, with negative mentions online harming visibility in generative AI results. The brands that thrive will be the ones who treat SEO as a strategic asset, not just a technical checklist. If you focus on authority, intent, visibility, and building trust, your business will be ready for how AI is changing content strategies.

UNRVLD’s award-winning SEO team has experience in navigating the moving targets of discovery in search for leading enterprises. Get in touch via our contact page to discuss your content visibility challenges and how a combined AI and SEO strategy can overcome that to deliver the business outcomes you need.