I’ve written extensively about AI and SEO. The topic is a central part of my SEO courses and is covered in both of my books on the subject, as well as in numerous videos and podcasts.
Below, I’ve summarised what I consider to be the most important insights from all these materials, so you don’t have to read through everything.
The big idea AI & SEO, or GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation), is still all about visibility – about how people, search engines, AI assistants and social platforms find you, trust you and remember you. The tools have changed. The fundamentals haven’t. Use AI to work faster – but build everything around people, meaning and structure.
The Big Shift – How People Find You Has Changed
Demand starts with a conversation, not a search Demand doesn’t begin with a Google search. It begins with a conversation – someone complaining to a colleague, a founder venting in a community, a small business owner asking a friend. That’s where intent is born, long before anyone opens a browser. Content strategy that ignores this is already working backwards.
SEO has shifted from keywords to meaning Keywords are a starting point, not a strategy. What matters now is semantic relevance, entity relationships, search intent, and topical depth. Real questions, real pain points, and real language should drive everything – keywords are just how you translate that demand into search architecture.
Move from commodity to entity There is a world of difference between a generic, high-competition term and a precise, contextual, memorable one. Entities add meaning. They move content from commodity to authoritative knowledge. This is the distinction between being found and being cited.
SEO + GEO – Two Layers of Visibility
SEO gets you found. GEO gets you remembered. GEO – Generative Engine Optimization – is about ensuring your content is what AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini reach for when building their answers. It is not a replacement for SEO. Think of it as the next room in the same house. You need both, and good SEO remains the foundation of good GEO.
Good SEO is still your best GEO strategy If Google trusts you, there is a very good chance AI does too. Research shows Perplexity cites top-3 Google results 80% of the time. Earn your Google rankings, and AI visibility tends to follow. Destroying your SEO in pursuit of GEO hacks destroys both.
AI cites, it doesn’t rank Generative AI doesn’t rank you – it cites you. AI systems learn more like humans absorbing ideas than libraries cataloguing books. They remember ideas and associate credibility with sources they encounter repeatedly across trusted contexts. Being citable requires clarity, consistency, and genuine authority.
Trust is the missing variable Users don’t click AI-generated results the way they click Google results, because AI often obscures its sources. Transparency and citability are becoming competitive advantages – not just ethical choices. For organisations that run on trust, this matters more than any ranking.
Consistency builds entity strength AI systems identify entities – your brand as a recognisable thing in the world. If you spell your business name three different ways across your website, LinkedIn, and local directories, you are confusing the machine. Pick one version and use it everywhere.
Structure – Content That Works for People and Machines
Structure content for people and machines – same design problem To get cited, your content needs real quality and depth, a structure machines can parse, a reputation built across the open web, and no technical barriers blocking AI crawlers. Good headings, schema markup, semantic HTML, and chunked answers aren’t optional extras – they serve people and algorithms simultaneously.
Write quotable content AI loves a clean, self-contained one-to-three sentence answer it can lift and use. Lead with the answer. Build depth behind it. Skip the preamble and the promotional fluff. A meal is only as good as the recipe and the chef – and the same is true of prompting and content.
Social and off-page presence are part of visibility LinkedIn Articles, Medium, Reddit, and Quora are places AI systems are trained to trust. Repurposing a blog post as a LinkedIn article or answering a question in your field is simple, free, and surprisingly effective. Social is not separate from SEO – it is part of the same visibility system.
Accessibility and UX are SEO, not extras Accessibility for humans and readability for machines are the same design problem. Clear structure, plain language, fast pages, and mobile usability serve all audiences – and are increasingly legally required across Europe from 2025.
The Emerging Frontier – Voice and Agentic Search
Voice search has changed the rules With over 8 billion voice assistants in use globally, SEO has moved from typed keywords to conversational queries. In voice search, there is one result – not ten links. The winner is Position Zero. Writing for ears, not just screens, is now a core skill.
Agentic search is next We are moving into an era where AI doesn’t just find information – it executes actions: booking a table, making a reservation, completing a transaction. This requires sites to integrate live tools and agentic protocols so AI agents can interact with them directly. This is not distant future – it is arriving now.
The Human Principles – What Doesn’t Change
AI is a tool. Expectations are the problem. AI is not an all-powerful being that will replace everyone. It is a practical set of tools that handle repetitive tasks. Used well, it removes low-value work and frees people up for strategy, creativity, and trust-building. The problem was never the technology – it was the hype around it.
AI amplifies strategy – it doesn’t create one AI can produce content faster. It cannot fix a strategy that was never there to begin with. Publishing faster is not publishing better. Generic content written for nobody reaches nobody – regardless of how quickly it was produced.
SEO is a long game Results come in phases: research and strategy, then implementation, then 6–12 months before significant impact appears. Local SEO moves faster; broader organic strategies take longer. Patience and consistency are not optional.
Before your SEO hat, wear your human hat Before optimising for algorithms, be human. Know your audience, tell your story clearly, offer something genuinely useful. Instead of outsourcing your thinking, outsource the tasks – so you have more time to think about what your business should be known for. Everything else is technique.
Wrap Up
Most SEO books and courses teach you how to rank. Instead, learn how to be found, cited, heard, and remembered – across search engines, AI assistants, voice interfaces, and social platforms — by the people who actually need what you offer.
Use AI to work faster, but build SEO around people, meaning, and structure.