SEO in the Age of AI: What's Changing and What Still Works

What has changed in search

The biggest change is Google itself. On May 20, 2025, Google announced that AI Overviews – AI summaries above the search results, with links to sources – were available in more than 200 countries and territories and more than 40 languages [1]. On October 7, 2025, AI Mode – a separate tab where you can ask more complex questions and follow up – expanded to over 200 countries and territories as well [2]. So people get an AI answer even if they never open an AI assistant.

On top of that, people ask ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Perplexity. Here it helps to keep things in proportion. SparkToro estimates that Google received roughly 373 times more searches than ChatGPT in 2024, and that searches on Google grew by more than 20% year over year [3]. In October 2025, BrightEdge reported that AI search engines, including ChatGPT and Perplexity, still account for less than 1% of referrals from search [4]. Both figures come from US or global data.

So classic search hasn't gone away, but AI answers are now part of it. The question shifts from “how many people use ChatGPT” to “are you among the sources the answer is built from.”

How an AI answer in search comes together

For current questions, an AI assistant doesn't rely only on what it learned in training. It looks up pages on the web and builds the answer from them. For AI Overviews and AI Mode, Google describes a technique called query fan-out: it breaks the question into several related searches and looks for pages that support the answer [5]. It relies on the same ranking and quality systems as regular Search [6].

ChatGPT has its own crawler for web search, OAI-SearchBot. OpenAI recommends allowing it in your robots.txt file – otherwise your site won't show up in ChatGPT search answers [7].

For you, this means something simple: if the search engine can't find you or doesn't trust you, neither will the AI built on top of it.

Is generative engine optimization (GEO) different from SEO?

According to Google, no. In its guide from July 2026, Google writes that SEO best practices still apply, because AI features in Search are built on the same foundations [6]. And it explicitly lists what you don't need: an llms.txt file, splitting your text into small chunks, writing separately for AI, or special structured data [6].

What Google says helps most in the long run is content people find unique and useful [6]. AI can summarize what others have already written without your help.

Microsoft is more specific about Bing and Copilot. It recommends direct answers in 1–2 sentences, sentences that still make sense out of context, lists, tables, and structured data [8]. That doesn't clash with Google, as long as you do it for the reader and don't chop up your text artificially.

So if someone offers you a “GEO package” with llms.txt and a rewrite of your whole website for AI, ask what it's based on. Google itself says you don't need it.

What works in your content for both Google and AI

The same things that help your readers. None of it is a trick – it's craft that worked before AI, too.

The answer right below the question

When a section has a question in its heading, answer it in the first sentence. You can expand on it afterward. A reader who jumps to the section from the table of contents or from the search results knows right away where they stand.

Instead of “Our company offers comprehensive online marketing solutions,” answer the question “What services do you offer?” and list them: SEO, PPC campaigns, content, social media. The first sentence tells you nothing. The second one does.

Experience they won't find anywhere else

Google has long emphasized E-E-A-T – experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. Trust carries the most weight of all.

In practice, that means writing about what you actually do: your own process, a real case, numbers from your own data, a mistake you learned from. AI can write a generic how-to without any input from you. If you're not sure which topics you have something to say about, it helps to figure out what to write about – a content strategy starts with the customer, not with keywords.

Facts that hold up

Every number with a source and a date. If you can't verify something, don't present it as fact. And make sure the facts about your business – services, prices, contact details, opening hours – match on your website, your Google Business Profile, and in online directories. When they contradict each other, you raise the risk that AI will say something inaccurate about you.

Technical: let the crawlers in

Check that your robots.txt doesn't block the crawlers that read content for AI search – for ChatGPT, that's OAI-SearchBot [7]. Structured data (schema.org) is still useful, especially for product listings and for Bing [8]. But according to Google, you don't need it for Google's AI features [5].

How to check whether AI cites you

Partly, yes. For Google, you have the data right in Search Console. For other assistants, only indirectly.

1. Search Console, the Generative AI performance report. It shows how many times links to your site appeared in AI Overviews and AI Mode. These are impressions only – no clicks or queries. The report has been available to all websites since August 31, 2026 [9]. Visits from Google's AI features count toward your site's regular search performance [5].
2. Analytics, visits from assistants. ChatGPT adds the utm_source=chatgpt.com parameter to its links [10], so you'll see these visits in GA4 under the source chatgpt.com. Look for perplexity.ai, gemini.google.com, or copilot the same way.
3. A manual check once a month. Ask the assistants about 10 questions your clients actually ask you, and write down whether they mention you and what they say about you. It isn't statistics, but you'll see the direction – and the mistakes AI keeps repeating about you.

The return here isn't measured the way it is with classic SEO, and I won't pretend otherwise. Tools that offer an “AI visibility score” are based on a selected sample of questions. Treat them as a rough guide, not a precise number.

What this means for businesses

Don't rely on a single channel. When AI answers right in the search results, some people never reach your website – which makes your own newsletter or community, where you don't depend on algorithms, all the more valuable. If you want to look at this in a wider context, it helps to prepare strategically for changing search.

What I'd do first:

1. Go through your robots.txt and make sure you're not blocking Googlebot, Bingbot, or OAI-SearchBot.
2. Open the Generative AI performance report in Search Console and see which pages appear in AI features.
3. Set up tracking for visits from AI assistants in GA4.
4. On your main pages, check whether they answer in the first sentence and whether the numbers have a source.
5. Make the facts about your business consistent across your website, Google Business Profile, and directories.
6. Once a month, ask AI assistants the questions your customers ask.

But AI in a business isn't only about search. If you're interested in how to bring AI into marketing, I offer that as a separate service. And if you'd like hands-on help with content and visibility, take a look at how I approach SEO and content strategy.

FAQ

Do I need an llms.txt file for AI?

Not for Google. Google explicitly says that no new files or special markup are needed to appear in its AI features [6].

How do I find out whether ChatGPT cites me?

You'll see visits from ChatGPT links in your analytics under the source chatgpt.com, because ChatGPT adds utm_source=chatgpt.com to its links [10]. The only way to find mentions nobody clicks on is to ask ChatGPT yourself.

How can I increase my brand's visibility in AI answers?

The same way as in search: first-hand content, clear answers, business details that match everywhere, and mentions on other people's trusted websites. There's no guarantee – none of us controls what AI picks for its answer.

Do I need structured data for AI to cite me?

Not for Google's AI features [5]. It's still useful for regular search listings, and Microsoft recommends it for Bing and Copilot as well [8].