To stay visible and competitive, businesses must now be AI-ready. This means understanding generative AI in search, shifting user behaviours (think chatbots and voice queries), and integrating AI into your content strategy. In this updated 2025 guide, we’ll explore the latest trends from the past six months, learn how to adapt your SEO strategy for the AI era and ensure your content is primed for both human and AI audiences.

AI is Changing Search – Is Your SEO Ready?

Search engine optimisation (SEO) isn’t dead – but it’s certainly evolving. Google’s introduction of generative AI into search results is a prime example. Instead of simply listing websites, Google now often displays an AI-generated summary (formally known as Search Generative Experience, now just “AI Overviews”) at the top of the results page. These AI summaries pull information from various sources to answer the query directly.

For businesses, this means your content could be surfaced as part of an AI-generated answer, if the AI trusts your content. This shift has big implications for visibility. Users might get their answer from the overview without ever clicking your link. In fact, early data in 2025 confirms that these AI overviews can significantly reduce click-through rates (CTR) for traditional organic results.

Two separate studies (by Ahrefs and Amsive) found that when Google shows an AI overview, the top organic result’s CTR drops by 15–35% on average (searchengineland.com). Ahrefs observed a 34.5% drop in clicks to the #1 result for queries with an AI overview, while Amsive saw an average 15.5% decline (with losses up to 37% when a featured snippet was also present).

In short, if your site isn’t part of that AI-generated answer, you’re likely to miss out on a chunk of traffic. On the flip side, appearing within an AI overview can be a big win, essentially claiming a coveted “position 0” in search. Sites featured in Google’s AI summary not only remain visible but may become the go-to authority that the AI itself “recommends”.

“If your content is included in Google’s AI summary, you’re not just visible, you’re the answer. In 2025, winning at SEO means optimising to be the answer, not just one of ten blue links.”
– Rob Sharif, Technical Lead

From Typing Queries to Talking With AI (User Behaviour Shifts)

It’s not just Google’s technology that’s changing – user behaviour is undergoing a seismic shift as well. More and more people are bypassing traditional search engines and turning to AI-powered assistants and chatbots to answer their questions. A recent survey from December 2024 found that 27% of consumers now use AI tools like ChatGPT instead of search engines for at least some queries (techradar.com).

This is a significant change in how people find information. The reasons cited include efficiency, ease of use, and the personalised, conversational experience that AI chat provides. Think about it: asking a chatbot a question can feel more natural than formulating the perfect Google query. You can say, “What’s the best way to improve my website’s ranking?” and the AI will synthesise an answer from its trained knowledge or live data. People are getting comfortable with this more conversational search process.

Voice search plays a role here too, with voice-enabled AI assistants becoming more powerful, spoken queries are on the rise. OpenAI’s ChatGPT, for example, enabled voice conversations in late 2023, moving it closer to the likes of Siri or Alexa. And speaking of Siri, Apple has been integrating OpenAI’s ChatGPT into its own voice assistant as part of a new “Apple Intelligence” initiative, so users can get ChatGPT-powered answers through Siri on iPhones and Macs.

What do these behaviour shifts mean for you? It means customers might not find you through a traditional Google query at all. They might ask ChatGPT (which uses Bing to search) for a product recommendation, or use a voice query on their phone, or rely on their car’s AI assistant for a local business suggestion.

In fact, here at Distl we’ve seen this first-hand, we recently noticed an uptick in new business leads that were attributed to ChatGPT (distl.com.au). In those cases, the user didn’t come via Google search or ads at all; they went straight to an AI assistant, asked for a recommended service provider, and our name came up. This kind of direct AI referral was rare a year ago, now it’s becoming a real source of traffic and leads for us and it could be for your business too.

What is Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)?

To adapt to this new landscape, SEO is expanding into something we like to call Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO). GEO is an emerging concept (coined in late 2024) that describes optimising your content for AI-driven search engines and answer engines, not just traditional search engines (distl.com.au). In other words, it’s SEO for the likes of ChatGPT, Bing’s AI chat, Google’s AI Overviews, Perplexity, and other generative AI platforms.

GEO vs. SEO: How is it different? There’s plenty of overlap with classic SEO – you still need high-quality, relevant content and sound website technicals. But GEO places extra emphasis on things like natural language processing, context, and real-time relevance. Traditional SEO is about getting your static web pages to rank for specific keywords. GEO, on the other hand, is about ensuring your information can be dynamically pulled into AI-generated answers for custom user queries. It’s about being the source that an AI chooses when composing an answer on the fly.

Consider an example: A user asks a chatbot, “How do I choose the right mortgage?” If you’re a finance company, traditional SEO would have you write a blog post targeting “how to choose a mortgage” and try to rank on Google. GEO takes it further, you’d structure that content in a way that an AI agent can easily digest and trust. That might include providing a succinct step-by-step answer (so the AI can quote it), using schema markup to highlight key facts, keeping the content up-to-date (AI tools often cite the latest information), and establishing your authority (so the AI’s algorithms deem you a trustworthy source). Essentially, you’re optimising to be the answer in an AI-driven Q&A.

How to Optimise Your Content for GEO

We’ve already been implementing GEO principles with our clients and truthfully a lot of traditional SEO principles apply. One quick GEO win is to optimise for featured snippets and direct answers, since AI systems often train on or pull from snippet-friendly content. Structuring your pages with clear questions and answers, bulleted lists, and concise summaries increases the chance that both Google’s AI and other tools will grab your content when responding to users(cbicc.org). Think FAQs, how-tos, and clearly labeled sections that address specific user intents.

Another GEO strategy is to leverage schema markup (structured data). By adding structured data (like FAQ schema, HowTo schema, etc.) to your pages, you make the content more machine-readable. This not only helps Google understand and potentially feature your content in overviews, but other AI services that crawl the web can parse that information more easily. It’s telling the AI, “here’s a bite-sized answer that is ready to go.” (Scroll down to the ‘How to Future-Proof Your SEO’ section below for an example of how we do this in our content).

Topical authority is also crucial. AI models, when deciding which sources to trust, often weigh the authority of the content (just as Google’s algorithms do). Building out content hubs around your expertise (for example, multiple in-depth articles on related subtopics) can signal that your site has deep knowledge in a domain. A generative AI scanning the web for an answer about, say, “solar panel installation,” is more likely to quote or reference a site that has a cluster of authoritative articles on solar energy (as opposed to a lone blog post on the topic). In practice, this means don’t rely on one-off content, develop a content strategy that covers your key topics comprehensively.

Lastly, keep content fresh and factual. Generative AI tools have a tendency to favour up-to-date information (some even have cut-off dates or explicitly check for recent sources). Regularly updating your cornerstone content with the latest stats or insights can help ensure you’re not left out due to outdated info. We anticipate Google’s own algorithms will increasingly favour content that is not just relevant and authoritative, but also refreshingly current, especially for queries where information can change (think finance, tech, health, etc.).

How to Future-Proof Your SEO for the AI Era

By now it’s clear that being “AI-ready” is the next frontier of SEO and digital marketing. But what practical steps can you take today? Here’s a quick AI-ready SEO checklist to guide your strategy:

Answer Questions Directly: Make your content more answer-friendly. Identify the top questions your audience is asking (use tools or even AI to brainstorm likely questions). Then ensure your site has clear, concise answers for those – whether in blog posts, an FAQ page, or knowledge base. Use headings that are questions (e.g. “How much does X cost in 2025?”) and follow with a succinct answer. This increases your chances of getting featured in snippets and AI summaries.
Implement Structured Data: Add schema markup for FAQs, how-tos, reviews, products, and organisation info where appropriate. Structured data helps search engines and AI understand the context of your content. For instance, FAQ schema might get your Q&A directly shown in Google’s results or even used by voice assistants to answer a voice query. It’s an easy technical win to speak the AI’s “language.”
Focus on E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trust): In the era of AI, content credibility matters more than ever. Generative AI will pull from sources it deems authoritative. So, demonstrate your expertise and experience. This could mean adding author bios to articles (with credentials), citing sources and data in your content, and getting quality backlinks and mentions in your industry. If you are the trusted expert in your niche, AI will have a hard time ignoring your content.
Optimise for Featured Snippets and AI Overviews: Structure your pages to capture that coveted snippet spot. Use bullet points, numbered lists, definition style answers, and include the query keyword in the answer if possible. For example, if targeting “benefits of solar panels,” a bullet list of key benefits right under a heading with that phrase can do wonders. Featured snippet optimisation doubles as AI optimisation, since many AI answers are essentially drawn from snippet-like content.
Keep Content Fresh and Updated: Make a habit of updating your high-performing content regularly. Add recent statistics (from 2024–2025) and note the dates, so algorithms see it’s current. If an AI is choosing between two sources to quote and one has “As of February 2025…” with a fresh stat, and another has info from 2019, it’ll likely choose the fresher source. Signal that your information is up-to-date.
Monitor AI Channels: Just as you monitor your Google rankings, start monitoring how your brand or content appears in AI contexts. Search for your company or ask common questions on ChatGPT (with browsing enabled), Bing Chat, Google’s Bard, etc. This will give you insight into what content of yours they might be using, or if they’re citing a competitor instead.

By following the above steps, you’ll cover the bases of traditional SEO and position yourself for the new AI-driven world. The overarching principle is to provide real value. AI algorithms like Google’s, ultimately aim to satisfy the end-user. If your content is genuinely useful, clear, and authoritative, it has a fighting chance to be elevated by both the search engine and the AI assistant.

Change can be intimidating, but remember that with every major shift in digital behaviour (be it the rise of mobile, social media, or now AI), those who focus on delivering genuine value always come out on top. SEO isn’t about gaming the system; it’s about partnering with it to reach your audience. Now the system includes AI co-pilots in search, so let’s welcome them and work with them.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed or unsure where to start, that’s where we come in. As a full-service SEO agency in Perth, Distl has been at the forefront of these changes – testing, learning, and evolving our methods. We’ve helped clients navigate algorithm updates for decades, and now we’re helping them navigate AI in search.

Ready to future-proof your search strategy? Get in touch with our team to discuss how we can boost your SEO and AI readiness. The sooner you adapt, the bigger the advantage you’ll have over competitors still stuck in the 2020 way of doing SEO. Let’s make sure that in this new era of search, your business is not just easy to find, it’s impossible to ignore.

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