How SEO Helps Rank for AI Search Results
The Current State of AI Search
AI is evolving at considerable speed, with generative tools and intelligent search transforming how consumers discover products. From smarter recommendations to AI-driven content and search optimization, it’s reshaping e-commerce. Staying ahead means aligning SEO with how AI interprets and surfaces content. Per Morningscore AI search is expected to grow at an annual rate of 35% until 2028. During this time, the total organic search volume of AI chats is expected to grow to 14% with traditional search, such as Google, taking the remaining 86%.
When looking at which AI search tools are most adopted, ChatGPT leads the way. Per StatCounter, as of September 2025, ChatGPT made up roughly 80% of the AI chatbot market share worldwide. Behind ChatGPT was Perplexity at around 8%, Microsoft Copilot at 5%, and smaller tools taking the remaining 7%.
The tool that wins this race has the opportunity to be the next Google, and the sites that meet the new requirements of these tools are presented with the opportunity to reshape the future of search.
How AI Search Has Changed Consumer Search Intent
The way customers are searching is not the only thing changing. AI search has also changed how users search for products and services. Much like with the rise of voice search, customers are using more conversational language to search for products and services. For example, when a new runner is searching for an item like running shoes for a marathon, a user traditionally would have searched for something similar to “marathon running shoes.” Now with the queries becoming more conversational, that search would change to “which running shoes are best for running my first marathon in? If possible, I’d like them to be red.” People want more personalized results answering their questions and less piecing together separate sources of information and reviews. This is reflected in the intent with AI-powered search.
Per Forbes, when looking at the intent of searches, we find that 60% of searches done through AI search tools are “informational searches.” This means that the user is looking for information on a specific topic. 20% are navigational searches, meaning the user is looking for a specific web page, perhaps a contact us page. Another 20% are transactional searches. Users in these searches intend to complete an action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a service. AI tools are beginning to play a larger role in guiding these journeys with personalized recommendations with product listings.
How AI Overviews Changed SEO
AI overviews have created quite the panic for brand managers and SEO managers alike. Since their introduction, many sites have seen a significant drop off in organic clicks, with the most impacted sector being journalism. In fact, Forbes has reported that around 60% of searches are no-click searches. This means that in 60% of queries, the user leaves the results page without clicking a single link.
So, you may be wondering, should I also be panicking about this as well? Well, the answer is maybe. If your business is dependent on providing information to users - think newspapers, blogs, and educational platforms - then yes. However, if your business sells goods and services, then you should be less concerned with this trend but not entirely complacent. The main thing to consider is why the users are not clicking on search results. AI Overviews are built to satisfy informational searches, such as “What is the address of ABC Salon?” or “When is George Washington’s birthday?” These are not generally searches that result in a purchase. This is why informational sites are most affected, while commercial sites are less affected. The users are not disappearing, and if their query was satisfied by an AI Overview, they were likely not interested in purchasing in the first place.
The Silver Lining of No-Click Searches
While AI Overviews and searches through AI tools do make up a small percentage of site traffic, there is a silver lining to them - they convert at a much higher rate than traditional search. In fact, when Forbes looks at a collection of e-commerce sites, the 1% of traffic that came from AI accounted for up to 10% of the overall conversions. This is because while a smaller percentage of people click on the links in AI Overviews and AI Search Results, the ones that do have done their research and are ready to take action.
How Poor SEO Impacts AI Rankings
As AI-powered search continues to grow and evolve, sites that do not meet its standards for sourcing will be left behind. The key value benefit of AI is offering a search experience that reduces the number of clicks to solve a user’s query. When sourcing information, AI looks for websites and content that are not just pushing content but solving problems and providing unique answers to questions. Sites that do not fulfill these requirements will be dropped in favor of richer results.
The three key things that AI will penalize a site for are outdated content, poor technical SEO, and thin content depth. Outdated content tends to be ignored by AI summaries as it will favor the most up-to-date and latest data points and information. Poor technical SEO hurts a site as it makes it harder to read and navigate the site. Thin content hurts a site as it lacks context, which is key for sites in highlighting service differentiators. This gives AI context for understanding sites and recommending them to high-intent traffic.
How a Well-Optimized Site Outperforms Competitors in AI Search
Great SEO is all about quality over quantity. A copied & pasted blog that is the same as hundreds of others will not stand out amongst the crowd. Original and well-structured content that solves user problems and provides answers will be prioritized in AI results. When building a site and creating content, it is smart to ensure that the site demonstrates clear topical authority, uses long-tail and semantically related keywords, uses structured data such as schema, and that the content is semi-regularly updated to stay relevant.
What Elements Are Foundational for Site SEO with AI
Clear Topical Authority & Social Signals
Demonstrating expertise in a specific field/interest is key to winning more features in AI-powered search. The most effective ways to do this are by building inter-connected content, author pages, and collecting reviews. Linking of resources through interconnected content, such as blogs that provide unique insights on a specific topic, shows informational depth. Author pages provide background on the author of blogs and link out to their work, which is key to creating a web of interconnecting content and meeting the EEAT (Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, & Trustworthiness) markers that are valued by Google and AI-powered search. Reviews provide an excellent social signal that not only says that a product or service is valuable but also provides hard evidence with reviews that support their claims. It is key that these reviews be verified, as they are often ignored otherwise.
Use of Long-Tail Keywords and Natural Language
As previously mentioned, with the simultaneous rise in voice search, people using AI are searching more in conversational language. To target these searches, it is key to use long-tail keywords, semantically related terms that align with user search intent. This aligns the content with natural language queries and improves contextual relevance, making content more likely to rank well and be favored by AI-driven results.
Structured Data
AI tools prefer content that is organized into identifiable data types and sections, as this allows it to be easily categorized and served to searchers. To organize content, it is important to use schema markup, proper header structure, and easy-to-understand navigation & menu structure. Schema markup is a data structure/language that allows Google and AI to easily parse through content and understand it contextually, minimizing tax on crawl budget and encouraging use for featured snippets and overviews. Adding a header structure allows for easier reading by users but also provides an additional layer of organization for crawlers. Building a logical structure for categories improves user experience and makes it easier for crawlers to parse through.
Technical Optimization
Technical SEO ensures that crawl budget is not wasted on the wrong pages, ensuring that content gets indexed quickly & correctly. This is vital in a fast-moving space like AI. Technically optimized sites have clean HTML and XML sitemaps, proper use of canonical tags, fast load times, and are mobile optimized.
Sitemaps are key to outlining the structure of a website so that crawlers know what to index and not to, maximizing crawl budget. Canonical tags are a key tool to avoid ranking cannibalization when multiple crawlable pages focus on the same content. Fast load times are key to reducing bounce rates and increasing the likelihood of keeping customers on site. Mobile users continue to drive more traffic, which makes mobile optimization key to meeting the customer where they are.
Up-to-Date Content
AI will tend to choose pages that have new and up-to-date content over otherwise equal, but older, pages. Creating content on current topics will ensure that you are one step ahead of the competition.
A blog that is routinely updated will outperform blogs that are one-and-done. The act of updating content is a great signal to crawlers, but also provides an opportunity to add in new queries and up-to-date statistics.
Is Your Brand Ready?
Whether your brand is new to SEO or has had its site optimized in the past, reconsidering your approach is key to remaining competitive in the current search landscape. Front Row can partner with you to help you get there. Reach out today, and our team will perform an SEO audit to uncover and unlock opportunities for organic growth and revenue.
Resources
“Morningscore: Will AI Grow Bigger Than Google? Search 2020–2028 Statistics and My Predictions.” Morningscore, 10 Oct. 2023, https://morningscore.io/will-ai-grow-bigger-than-google-search-2020-2028-statistics-and-my-predictions/
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“AI Chatbot Market Share Worldwide.” StatCounter, May 2025, https://gs.statcounter.com/ai-chatbot-market-share#monthly-202505-202505-bar
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Constantino, Tor. “The 60% Problem — How AI Search Is Draining Your Traffic.” Forbes, 14 Apr. 2025, https://www.forbes.com/sites/torconstantino/2025/04/14/the-60-problem---how-ai-search-is-draining-your-traffic/
