AI’s Impact on SEO: 13 Things That Changed, 4 Things That Stayed The Same

AI assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity have become the new places people turn to for answers—handling millions of prompts every day. Even Google now uses AI to generate summaries right at the top of search results.

This shift happened fast. In 2024, AI Overviews rolled out to millions of searches, ChatGPT climbed into the top ranks of global websites, and the once-reliable #1 Google spot began losing a third of its clicks. Suddenly, SEO wasn’t just about rankings anymore.

Some marketers panicked, others brushed it off. But AI has changed how people discover brands and where visibility happens.

This isn’t the end of SEO, it’s the next chapter. The fundamentals still matter, but the strategy needs to evolve.

So, here’s what’s changed, what hasn’t, and how to stay visible in the age of AI search.

the #1 organic result has lost around 34% of its clicks when an AI Overview appears.

Bar chart showing the Position #1 CTR for Informational Keywords dropping from 0.056 in March 2024 to 0.031 in March 2025, indicating a click-through rate loss when an AI Overview is present.

At first glance, being cited within an AI Overview might seem like a win, but the data tells a different story. A Pew Research Center study found that 99% of users who see an AI Overview don’t click any of the cited sources, and 26% close their browser entirely after reading the summary.

In contrast, about 8% of users click results in the traditional organic listings directly below the overview, meaning you may actually drive more traffic from those standard rankings than from being featured in the AI box itself.

Data table from Pew Research Center showing that Google users are less likely to click on a link when they encounter search pages with AI summaries. Highlights that 26% end their browsing session with an AI summary versus 16% without.

All of this compounds the growing zero-click search trend. Over half of all Google searches already ended without a single site visit in 2024, and AI Overviews are only accelerating that shift. Users who do click through tend to be more motivated, but overall discovery is increasingly happening on the results page itself—not on websites.

Pie chart comparison of Zero-Click Searches in the European Union vs. United States showing zero-click searches at 59.7% for the EU and 58.5% for the US.

Further reading

98% of AI Overviews are informational, content focused on “how-to” or educational topics has been hit hardest.

Bar chart comparing AIO distribution vs. Normal search distribution by Search intent, showing that almost all AI Overviews (97.70%) are for Informational intent.

Searches that show clear buying intent or mention specific brands are less influenced by AI. Whether in Google’s AI Overviews, AI Mode, or within large language models (LLMs), when users already know what they want to buy or which brand they prefer, AI tools usually display traditional search results instead of summarizing or replacing them.

A recent study by Kevin Indig, which analyzed 250 search tasks, found that Google’s AI Mode has an almost 100% zero-click rate. Users are now discovering products, comparing options, and forming opinions entirely within the AI interface—only clicking through when they’re ready to make a purchase.

Bar chart showing External visits by "SERP" Feature, with Shopping Pack having the highest click rate at 22%, followed by Merchant Card at 19%.

In other words, AI Mode consumes all top-of-funnel and middle-of-funnel activity, reserving clicks exclusively for transactions.

analysis found that traffic from LLMs was responsible for 12% of signups, while accounting for only 0.5% of total clicks.

But another analysis by Amsive found that this can’t be extrapolated to all industry verticals.

Bar chart comparing Conversion Rates by Industry Vertical for Organic versus LLM traffic, showing that Financial and Consumer Services have high LLM conversion rates.

Generative Engine Optimization, is the next stage in SEO’s evolution, driven by the rise of AI. It takes traditional SEO further by introducing a new channel, a new type of user experience, and an entirely new way to measure success.

While related terms like AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) or LLMO (Large Language Model Optimization) are sometimes used, the idea is the same: ensuring your brand is visible, cited, and accurately represented within AI-generated answers.

For marketers, this represents a new “battleground” for visibility—one where AI assistants, not just search engines, influence consumer decisions. Some brands are surfaced and recommended as trusted authorities, while others are simply left out of the conversation.

That doesn’t mean GEO replaces SEO. In fact, it builds on the same foundation. The difference lies in where and how visibility happens. Search and AI results draw from similar content pools, but how they surface and summarize that content can vary dramatically.

To earn mentions and citations in AI-generated answers, marketers will need to adapt familiar tactics—not invent entirely new ones. Strategies like influencer marketing, reputation management, and structured, semantically clear content are seeing a resurgence.

[note]

A citation is when an AI attributes information to your content and includes a link to your site—usually for data, stats, or how-to content.

Screenshot showing an Ahrefs keyword tool listing on ChatGPT with a citation link highlighted with an arrow.

A mention is when your brand or product name appears in an AI-generated answer without a link, often in product recommendations.

Further reading

Ahrefs’ Brand Radar can monitor your AI visibility across various major AI indexes.

And show the topics you miss out on so you can create new content for them and/or contact cited sites to feature you, so you can boost your AI visibility.

Further reading

a bit of hysteria. When you look at the data, traffic from all LLMs combined barely reaches 1%, while Google traffic has continued to grow during the same period that ChatGPT exploded in popularity. Yet many were already declaring the end of SEO.

Agencies and consultants rushed to offer GEO services, sometimes before fully understanding what it actually meant. It feels a lot like the early SEO days: plenty of hype, scattered experimentation, and very little consensus on what really works.

For example, for months, the main conversation on LinkedIn about LLMs and AI Overviews was that they were taking away website traffic. But more recently, I’ve started seeing the opposite perspective emerge, showing that AI referral traffic and organic search can actually grow together.

Two line graphs side-by-side comparing AI traffic to G&C Articles (bottom, green line) and Organic (Google/SEO) Sessions to G&C Articles (top, blue line) over time, showing both growing simultaneously. — Source: Devesh Khanal via LinkedIn.

This shift reminds us that GEO is still taking shape — and those who stay curious, test often, and adapt early will be the ones to benefit most as it evolves.

Further reading

Search Everywhere Optimization (SEvO)—ensuring discoverability across all platforms where audiences search, including YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, Amazon, Pinterest, and AI assistants like ChatGPT.

Just look at TikTok’s numbers—Gen Z is using it like a search engine, and many even prefer it over Google.

SEO has evolved from a “magic money tap” to a strong channel with new limitations. Sustainable growth now requires multi-channel resilience rather than Google dependency.

74% of new web pages already include some form of AI-generated content.

It’s a toothpaste-out-of-the-tube moment. The shift has happened, and there’s no putting it back. I think that in a few years, no one will care that AI was used to create content—it’ll be as normal as cars being built by robots.

Sure, maybe one day AI will replace some jobs. But right now, the real risk is not using it and falling behind those who do.

The key is to lean into your human strengths—insight, strategy, creativity, unique human experience—and let AI handle the repetitive parts. That’s how you make yourself harder to replace by AI.

One of the most valuable uses of AI in SEO today is content optimization. Tools like Ahrefs’ AI Content Helper can dramatically reduce the time it takes to identify search intent, find topical gaps, and compare your coverage against competitors.

Check out how my colleague Louise used that AI tool to boost traffic by 72%.

EEAT has already pushed content quality to the forefront. But this time, it’s different. People are actively seeking a break from the flood of AI-generated content and turning to spaces where genuine, human-created content is more easily found.

At Ahrefs, we see this in action every day. My colleague Louise regularly breaks news about AI Search—almost every week—and her work is talked about, cited, linked and shared throughout the industry. That’s what real, authentic expertise looks like.