How AI Is Changing SEO – AEO, GEO & The Future of Search Marketing

Overview:

• AI (Artificial Intelligence) hasn’t killed SEO. Search is simply evolving to accommodate it.
• SEO is still alive and well. Strong SEO rankings remain a key factor in AI appearances. So, there is a considerable overlap between great SEO and great AI Optimisation.
• Organic search volume and Click-Throughs continue to grow, despite sceptics pointing out that up to 60% of organic search results now yield zero clicks.
• AEO stands for “Answer Engine Optimisation”, which focuses on gaining appearances for short, clear answers in Featured Snippets, People Also Ask and other features.
• GEO stands for “Generative Engine Optimisation”, which focuses on building authority and trust to appear in more detailed AI Overviews and summary sections
• SEO, AEO & GEO work hand in hand. Websites that do it right can achieve powerful search visibility across all platforms.

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The doomsayers are out in force and working overtime. With every major evolutionary leap in the search marketing world, the Digital Grim Reapers have gleefully sharpened their scythes, eager to swing them ravenously in a devastating arc of death at the neck of everyone’s favourite whipping boy – SEO.

We have to admit, this time it does feel a bit different. Artificial Intelligence is growing, morphing, expanding at a terrifying speed. Its tentacles are infiltrating virtually every segment of society and the economy faster than a colossal squid locked in a mortal battle with a sperm whale.

Copywriting, stock trading, actuarial, financial planning and countless other industries are all seeing artificial intelligence sprint past human intelligence, sending many of their jobs the way of the chimney sweep and leech farmer. 

So, what about Search Engine Optimisation?

Will AI Replace SEO?

You only need to be conscious to have at least some idea of the profound and sometimes disturbing impact that AI is having on the world. On one hand, it’s putting an almost limitless creative and efficient power within reach of anyone. On the other hand, struggling couples are relying on ChatGPT for relationship advice. It all just seems like so much, so fast.

When it comes to how we use the internet, there’s no question that the advent of AI represents a defining moment in our sometimes patchy relationship with the web. Tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and more are redefining how we obtain and process information.

But does that mean that Organic Search is now essentially redundant? Is this the Blockbuster moment for SEO, in which it suffers a rapid and humiliating fade into irrelevance in the face of a slicker, more convenient, more relevant competitor? 

The answer, for now, is no.

Let’s see why. 

The first, and arguably most important, question you need to ask yourself is (drumroll, please…)                                                                                                                                                               

Where Does AI Get Its Information?

Many people have a mental image of AI as some all-seeing, all-powerful force that magically taps into a mythical wellspring of information, presumably via string theory, or by accessing a parallel plane of consciousness via a supergiant black hole, direct line to Yoda, or some other ungraspable method.

However, the truth is far less sci-fi and far more mundane.

For now – or at least until AI makes like SkyNet, becomes self-aware and tries to eliminate humankind (Pro Tip: When that happens, switch it off at the wall. Congrats, you just saved the world by reverse engineering online tech support), AI tools get their information from the same place you do: The Internet. AI agents don’t create content. They simply curate it. They just happen to do it incredibly well at lightning speed and on a massive scale.

With that in mind, it should be pretty evident that if your website has solid SEO fundamentals and is ranking prominently for relevant keywords or phrases, you have an exponentially higher chance of appearing in AI summaries. Put simply, organic rankings are the key to determining whether the content on your site is eligible to be retrieved by AI in the first place. SEO doesn’t level the playing field; it puts you ON the playing field. Without it, you’re not even in the game, making it an indispensable part of any successful AI strategy. Ignore it at your peril! Don’t just take our word for it, the Director of Communications at Perplexity thinks so too!

Sure, there are plenty of tactics you or your SEO agency can employ to give you an additional edge. However, the fact remains that there is a significant overlap between Organic and AI search. Get your SEO humming like a Maserati, and you are well on your way to dominating AI search.

The Rise of Zero-Click Search

One little nugget that AI prophets adore pointing out in support of their premature SEO obituaries is the rapid rise in Zero Click search: organic search activity that does NOT result in the user clicking through to another online asset. 

“You see! Even if you DO rank well, nobody’s coming to your website anymore!” prophesy the AI Heralds of Calamity to anyone who will listen

Instead, or so they proselytise, users are reading the information they require off the search results page and moving on. The quality of the information served in Google’s AI Overviews and Bing’s Generative Search has a great deal to do with this phenomenon.

Depending on which estimate you look at, sources put the zero-click search ratio at around 60%, with some outliers claiming as high as 80%. That’s an almost inconceivably large number of people who are searching without navigating to a website.

Surely this means we should all be running madly towards the lifeboats and abandoning HMAS SEO post-haste before it disappears below the turbulent digital waves!?!

Not so fast, Gilligan!

I don’t know whether you guys are maths buffs or not, but get your slide rules and abacuses out and let’s run some numbers to see whether they stack up.

• Firstly, Zero-Click did not spontaneously spring into existence with the advent of AI. It’s always been a thing. There’s no question that it has increased over time. However, in 2015, the estimates are that 25% of searches did not generate any onward momentum.
• The estimated total number of Google searches in 2015 was 1200 billion. That translates to 900 billion searches that resulted in a click, and 300 billion that didn’t.

Now, let’s fast forward to 2025:

• 5900 Billion estimated Google searches
• Taking the 60% figure as a reasonable estimate, this means that last year, a whopping 3540 billion searches did not result in a click. Before you panic, let’s note that this leaves 2360 billion that DID!
• Compare column (A)’s 900 billion with column (B)’s 2360 billion, and we see that searches that resulted in clicks actually GREW by 262% over that 10-year period!

Show me another marketing channel that grew by 262% in 10 years, and I’ll show you a bridge I can sell you for a bargain price.

Search is not a zero-sum game. When we look at the whole picture, rather than focusing on one side of the equation, we can clearly see that the phenomenal growth in Zero-Click search is complementary to, rather than in opposition to, productive search trends. Both are increasing rapidly; it’s simply a matter of one growing faster than the other.

Look at it from the opposite direction. Let’s say you’re in the market for a product or service. Where do you go? Online, of course.

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap…*click*

Now, look at the search results page.

Are you going to make a final decision based solely on what you see on your screen right now?

Didn’t think so. Neither would we.

Those who aren’t clicking are way higher in the funnel and not ready to commit yet. They’re still kicking some tyres to get a feel for what’s out there. Just like you and me, none of your clients are going to part with their hard-earned without checking out the company’s website first. 

Why Are People Searching So Much More?

So, what’s behind this dizzying growth in all Zero-Click search? The likelihood is that it’s generational. Roughly 55% of all Google searches are conducted by people aged between 18 and 34. That’s a mind-blowing stat. 

Millennials and GenZers have grown up in a world where technology seems surgically attached to their hands. For them, pulling out a phone (who am I kidding, the phone’s already in their hand!) and searching something up is a reflexive response to pretty much any thought that comes to mind. 

Given what I think is the fairly reasonable assumption that you, dear reader, are human, you only need to ponder your own thought processes to understand where this is going.

• How many questions do you ask yourself on a given day?
• How many of those relate to a potential commercial transaction?

Now, imagine you whipped out your device and typed most, if not all, of those questions into a search bar. 

See what I mean? 

I’ll bet the contents of my bank account that only a small fraction of those internal dilemmas were related to something you were thinking of buying.

There is a reason why “what should I eat for breakfast today” (210 searches/month), “should I break up with my boyfriend/girlfriend” (320 & 140/month, respectively), “public toilet near me (301,000/month)”, “how long would it take to get to mars” (2400/month), “what happens if you eat your own poop” (2900/month… we 💩 you not!) and countless other stream of consciousness questions are genuine keywords, often with monumental search volume. Younger generations are infinitely more likely to consult their nearest screen than to ask an actual living human, or – horror of all horrors – open an actual, physical book in pursuit of answers to their existential ponderings.

What does this mean?

At face value, the Zero-Click hysteria appears to sound the death knell of SEO. However, as we can clearly see, scratch the surface and a radically different picture emerges. SEO saunters on with the grace of a feline with 8 of its nine lives well and truly intact.

Your potential clients aren’t all fleeing Google for other sources of information. They’re still there, searching in droves. It’s simply that people, especially younger generations, are using online search for virtually everything that comes into their screen-addled heads to such an extent that if we don’t consider all the data, we can reach erroneous conclusions.

Which brings us back to AI Optimisation:

Should You Be Nervous About AI’s Impact On Your Business? 

It’s completely understandable if you’re confused and a little jittery about what AI is and how it may impact your business in the future. Nobody, including AI itself, can predict exactly how it will transform our civilisation. 

The more immediate dilemma for business owners and marketing managers is how it will change consumer behaviour and how to position themselves to ride the wave rather than miss the boat.

However, a stern word of warning: any marketing agency that tells you they have all the answers is either delusional or a category-5 charlatan. 

Does that mean we’re all just stabbing in the dark? Of course not. For digital marketing agencies like Hello Mellow, staying at the forefront of AI optimisation best practices is an indispensable part of what we do. Through constant learning and continually testing and retesting iterative strategies, we’ve developed a formula that delivers superb results.

It may not have even been a thing a year or two ago, but Artificial Intelligence Optimisation is now front and centre, both as a stand-alone strategy and as an integral part of our SEO activities. 

AIO, AEO & GEO – What is the Difference? 

AI Optimisation (AIO) is the umbrella term for all forms of AI optimisation. Currently, this dovetails neatly into 2 main categories, differentiated by the many different forms that AI Search takes:

AEO – Answer Engine Optimisation

This is the form of optimisation that aims to get your content – and your brand – cited in short, question-based AI elements such as Featured Snippets, People Also Ask and others. The priority is concise, clear information that quickly, simply and directly answers questions people may type into their search bar.

GEO – Generative Engine Optimisation

Considered by many to be the holy grail of AI, GEO is the digital alchemy that seeks to generate a deeper level of trust and authority so that it will be picked up in more detailed AI summaries, such as AI Overviews, Generative Search and output from dedicated AI Engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, CoPilot, Perplexity and others.

Both have their uses. Both are vitally important. Crucially, both can be enhanced by traditional, high-quality SEO techniques as part of a comprehensive AIO strategy.

What Does The Future Hold For SEO in an AI-Driven World?

The seismic influence of AI on the digital world has shown that none of us can predict with any certainty what the online future holds.

However, if there is one thing that SEO has taught us over the past 3 decades, it’s that we should never, ever write it off. SEO has defied every prediction of its downfall to date, leading to countless LinkedIn Memes such as this:

None of this is to say that AI is a fad. It, too, is, without question, here to stay. 

A savvy, successful digital marketing strategy recognises the undeniable importance of each of these facets, understands how they work together and feed off one another, and utilises state-of-the-art techniques to win on each playing field.

If you want to find out more about how you can harness the astonishing power of AIO+SEO strategies to grow your business online, give us a call today. We’d love to hear from you, grab a coffee and see how we can help you succeed.

We’re looking forward to meeting you.

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