For years, the rules of search engine optimization were relatively stable – get your keywords right, build quality backlinks, optimize your content, and climb the rankings. But the arrival of AI-powered search (particularly Google’s AI Overviews) has thrown a wrench into that model.
For starters, organic traffic is in decline. According to an Ahrefs study, AI overviews have reduced clicks for the #1 organic result by more than 34%. Even if you’re ranking well, fewer users are clicking through.
Why? Because search has changed. People can get instant answers before they even see the links, so it’s not about being on page one anymore, it’s about showing up in the AI summary itself.
Here’s a breakdown of what’s happening and where your attention should be now.
The Search Is Over
Today’s search behavior looks more like research than browsing. Users used to ask one-off keyword-based questions, but now they engage in multi-turn conversations. And AI tools make it easy by answering the question asked – and anticipating the next one. This “fan query” model leads to layered responses that pull from multiple sources, stitched together into a single synthesized answer.
That means your content is no longer being evaluated at the page level; it’s being pulled apart and assessed in “chunks” – specific passages that match a user’s deeper intent. To be featured in AI-generated summaries, your content needs to demonstrate value in segments, not just across the full page.
Traditional Metrics Aren’t Telling the Whole Story
Here’s where it gets tricky – impressions are going up but clicks aren’t. This broken connection means you could be showing up in more searches without seeing a traffic lift, because users are getting what they need directly from AI Overviews.
Google doesn’t currently break out AI Overview data separately in Search Console, so visibility is murky, but marketers are finding ways to adapt. New metrics like “chunk retrieval frequency,” “AI citation count,” and even “sentiment of AI mentions” are emerging as better indicators of performance in this new landscape.
The takeaway? If you’re only tracking traffic, you’re missing the bigger picture.
How to Maximize Visibility
So how do you get cited in AI answers? The foundational principles haven’t disappeared, but they have evolved. Here’s what matters most now:
1. Chunkable Content
Break your content into focused, self-contained sections. Each chunk should deliver a clear, single idea that can stand on its own. Avoid burying insights in long, meandering paragraphs.
2. Clear, Structured Formatting
Use semantic HTML, subheadings, bullet points, and short summaries up top. These are good for humans, but they’re essential for large language models (LLMs) parsing your site for relevance.
3. Authoritativeness Signals
Google’s E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) framework still applies. Link to primary sources, include expert bylines, and refresh content regularly. Use structured data (schema markup) to help AI recognize your brand, your authors, and your topical focus.
4. Topical Breadth and Depth
Build comprehensive coverage through topic clusters. Pillar pages should offer broad overviews with links to more specific subtopics. This structure improves your chances of being cited across multiple fan-out queries.
5. Multi-Modal Support
If paired with the right structure (using alt text, schema, or clear formatting), visual elements such as charts, tables, images, and video can boost your chances of being pulled into an AI response. But avoid image-only tables or JavaScript-heavy visual content – LLMs can’t always render them.
6. Personalized Relevance
AI engines consider user context like location, prior searches, and intent. Cover multiple intents (informational, transactional, comparative) and localize when appropriate. Build familiarity by earning mentions and links across the web.
7. Crawlability for AI Bots
Don’t block bots like GPTBot or PerplexityBot via robots.txt. And make sure your site doesn’t rely on JavaScript rendering alone – AI crawlers prefer server-side content and clean internal linking.
8. Control What AI Sees
Consider implementing an llms.txt file, an emerging standard that helps guide AI crawlers to your most valuable content in plain-text format. It’s not widely adopted yet, but early movers (like Stripe and Cloudflare) are already seeing benefits
The Future of SEO Is Built on Value
Yes, the SEO rulebook is being rewritten, but that doesn’t mean you’re starting from scratch. The brands that win in AI-powered search are the ones that treat SEO not as a checklist but as a strategic function of marketing. That means focusing less on vanity metrics like rankings and more on reputation, structure, and usefulness.
While AI may be taking over the SERP, it still needs sources. Make sure yours is one it can trust.
