A Practical Deep-Dive: Doing SEO in the Age of Generative AI

Written By Ryan Edwards

Generative AI is flipping the script on search. If you're not keeping up, there's a good chance you're already seeing a dip in traffic. Tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity are changing how people discover and consume content. So the big question now is how do you keep your content visible in this new search landscape?

The Impact of Generative AI on Search

Generative AI, exemplified by tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity, is fundamentally reshaping how users discover and consume content. Search engines are increasingly integrating AI-generated summaries, such as "AI Overviews," which position answers directly on the search results page, often pushing traditional organic results further down.

Shift in Content Consumption: AI-generated answers provide immediate information, reducing the need for users to click through to external websites. This is leading to "less clicks, but a similar or even higher amount of impressions."

Risk of Traffic Siphoning: Informational content, including "how-to’s, definitions, or FAQs", is at higher risk of traffic loss as AI provides direct answers. Industries most impacted include:

  • Informational content (blog-driven traffic, knowledge-based)

  • News publishers

  • Review sites

  • Educational platforms

Changing KPIs: The author suggests a "fundamental shift in your top-of-funnel KPIs, where impressions and brand exposure in AI answers is now as important as those low-converting blog clicks used to be."

Key Observations:

  • Decreased Click-Through Rates (CTR): AI Overviews often provide sufficient information, negating the need for a site visit.

  • Increased Competition for Top Rankings: "AI won’t cite you if you’re not in Google’s top 10."

  • Industry-Dependent Shifts: Finance, education, and health sites are experiencing greater impact compared to transactional or entertainment-based content.

Opportunity Amidst Challenges: Despite early "mixed results" and instances of "misinformation" or lack of "reliability" from AI-generated answers, there remains "an opportunity for brands to stand out, if they play the SEO game right."

Strategies for Adapting to AI Search

SEO isn’t dead, it’s shifting. The focus now is on getting your content recognized by AI systems and cited as a trusted source.

A. Optimize for AI Citations and Visibility

  • Rank in Google’s Top 10: If you're not already ranking, AI isn’t going to surface your content.

  • Focus on E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust. Show proof.

  • Target Long-Tail Keywords: These often match how people ask questions conversationally.

  • Use Clickable Meta Descriptions: Give people a reason to click, even with AI summaries showing up.

  • Build Backlinks: Still helps with authority and visibility.

B. Optimize for Conversational AI:

  • Use natural, everyday language.

  • Format for quick understanding, bullets, sections, short paragraphs.

  • Add FAQs at the end of pages.

  • Use schema markup, especially FAQ and How-To.

C. Brand Mentions Matter, A Lot:

  • Be visible in trusted publications and industry blogs.

  • Encourage online conversations, Reddit, Quora, X.

  • Use earned PR to show up in the right places.

  • Track brand sentiment and stay positive.

D. Create “Hidden Gem” Content:

  • Share real-world insights, internal data, and case studies.

  • Pull in content from users and community discussions.

  • Stay away from boilerplate stuff, go deep on what you know.

  • Add interactive elements, tools, quizzes, calculators AI can’t easily sum up.

E. Use AI, Just Don’t Let It Run the Show:

  • Use it for ideas, not final drafts.

  • Always have a human polish and verify.

  • Don’t mass-produce thin AI content.

  • Use AI for research, summaries, competitive analysis.

Utilizing AI for SEO Efficiencies

AI tools aren’t just shaping the search results, they’re useful on your end too.

  • Keyword Research: AI surfaces long-tails and predicts trends.

  • Content Development: Helps with outlines, content refreshes, and internal link ideas.

  • Technical SEO: Automates audits, schema generation, and tracking.

  • Competitor Analysis: Quickly spot gaps and track backlink strategies.

Should You Block AI Bots?

Some sites block bots like GPTBot using robots.txt. That move isn’t for everyone.

Block AI if:

  • Your content is gated, paywalled, or exclusive.

  • You’re losing traffic directly to AI summaries.

Don’t block AI if:

  • You want exposure in AI-generated answers.

  • You rely on organic search to grow.

If you choose to block GPTBot, here’s the syntax:

makefile

CopyEdit

User-agent: GPTBot  

Disallow: /

One more thing.

If you’re still using a 2022 playbook, you’re already behind. AI isn’t some side trend, it’s changing the foundation of search. You can either wait and react, or start testing now and find your place in the results that actually matter.

Because if your content’s not in the answers… someone else’s will be.

FAQs

  • Look for a drop in organic clicks but steady impressions. Also watch for referral spikes from AI platforms.

  • Yes, but only if your content ranks well and is clearly structured with authority and clarity.

  • Absolutely. AI doesn’t invent facts, it pulls from trusted sources. SEO is how you become one of them.

  • Yes, but it needs to go beyond the basics. Add your perspective, use data, and speak from experience.

  • Any site that lives off answering basic questions—news, education, how-tos, reviews. E-comm and service-based businesses? Less so.

Glossary of Key Terms

  • AI-generated blurbs at the top of search results that answer queries right away, no click required.

  • Mentions of your name across the web, in blogs, articles, forums, etc. These are becoming as important as backlinks.

  • The % of people who click a link after seeing it. AI is driving this number down for organic results.

  •  A Moz score that predicts how likely your site is to rank. The higher, the better.

  • Google’s trust signals: Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. If you want to be referenced by AI, you need this.

  • AI that writes or creates content based on prompts—like ChatGPT or Perplexity.

  • Original, hard-to-find stuff. Google says it wants more of this, and AI can’t replicate it easily.

  • Explanatory content like blog posts, FAQs, definitions—this is what AI tools replace first.

  • More specific search terms. They don’t bring massive volume, but they usually convert better and are easier to rank for.

  • Traffic from unpaid search results. This is the traffic AI tools are now eating into.

  • A file that tells bots what they can and can’t crawl. Use it to block tools like GPTBot.

  • Extra code that helps search engines read your content. Useful for FAQs, how-tos, and AI visibility.

  • Optimizing your content for search. Still matters—just now includes optimizing for AI visibility too.

  • Search Engine Results Page. Where your link shows up—or doesn’t.

  • Content made by your users—reviews, comments, discussions. AI tools like seeing this because it’s grounded in real experience.

About the Author
Ryan Edwards is a strategic advisor at Camino5. He helps brands align systems, story, and strategy to create meaningful traction with the right audience. Learn more at camino5.com.

Ryan Edwards
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