12th Dec 2025
AI and search engine traffic – what’s the impact?
I’m not sure about you, but it feels like AI is present in almost every conversation I have at the moment. We’ve recently been to a couple of seminars by the lovely folks over at 18a Productions who are experts in this (and everything web). They’ve been inspirational in helping us learn more about the impact that AI-powered platforms such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini are having on organic search.
It’s fascinating to see how AI platforms are increasingly being used as search engines in their own right (ChatGPT Shopping Research anyone?). In fact, Gartner predicts that during 2026, traditional search engine traffic will decline by 25 per cent.
So, with users spending more time using AI, and less in organic search results, does it mean that they will stop visiting your website, and if so, what does that mean for your organisation? Similarly, how does this affect all of your carefully-crafted SEO efforts? Well, let’s take a closer look.
The AI landscape
It’s true that this explosive rise in AI use signals a significant shift in how to discover information. Users are increasingly using these platforms to get quick answers to informational queries, such as understanding services, comparing options or planning purchases.
As AI answers these ‘top funnel’ questions, we see a negative impact on click-throughs to websites. Why would a user trawl your site for information, even if it is brilliantly curated, when it can get a bot to do it in double-quick time? Similarly, even if your website were to rank #1 in organic search results, you may find your AI-summarised content is not resulting in ‘bums on seats’, as it were.
Is this a problem?
It may be easy to feel a bit panicked about this potential drop in traffic. However, all is not lost. Try to think of AI as a useful filter that’s streamlining your users’ experiences. As AI answers a large quantity of enquiries upfront, you’ll find that the users who do visit your site are the quality ones. They will be the ones who are much more likely to convert, place an order or complete a form, because they’ve already done their research, albeit elsewhere.
What is generative enging optimisation?
The key element in all of this is, of course, your content. To appear in an AI summary, you need it to be trawled, seen as an authoritative source and then cited as a source by the platform (this differs from traditional SEO which is more focused on getting clicks). There are a number of things you can do to enable this to happen, and the good thing is that if you’ve already been paying attention to your SEO, then you’re already on the right track.
In fact, the impact of AI isn’t really a brand new start – it’s much more an evolution of the good things you’ve already been doing. Except now we’re not only looking at ranking in organic search, but also being picked up by platforms like ChatGPT.
Whereas traditional SEO focuses on keywords, backlinks and rankings in search, generative search optimisation (GEO) is also concerned with:
- Content summarisation – ensuring that your content is structured to enable AI models to accurately extract and summarise it
- Answer readiness – optimising your content to directly answer queries in a concise, authoritative way, increasing the chances of it being included in AI-generated responses
- Semantic and intent alignment – matching content to the searcher’s intent, not just exact keywords
How can I improve my GEO?
There are lots of different ways to improve your GEO, and here are some of the things you can do yourself.
Chunking up your content into discrete blocks
AI often needs to answer a question, so give it short, self-contained content that it can easily extract. Use bullet points and headings to signal the structure easily.
Write in a conversational tone
As many AI queries are conversational, consider writing in a tone that matches this. Try to include question phrases such as “how to…”, “what is…” AI loves this.
Include FAQs
So, after years of telling people that FAQs were just an excuse for badly structured content, they are now back in. The reason for this is, of course, because they provide AI bots with clear, structured answers to questions.
Provide clear definitions, examples or comparisons
Clear and unambiguous content is perfect for AI to easily understand.
Use structured data or schema markup
This means using code to tell robots exactly what your content is about, for example, “this is how to order a replacement wheelie bin”.
Localise your content
Target local AI searches by including local geographic terms, for example “how to order a replacement wheelie bin in Birmingham”.
Link backs
As much as possible, try to encourage link back to your site from other authoritative websites. This will show the AI bots that you know what you are talking about and are worthy of citation.
Social media
As tiring as it may seem, keep plugging away at your socials. If you’re creating a splash and getting a bit of traction, then you could be seen as an authoritative source on a particular topic.
How to get an AI profile
One useful tool is AI Profiles. This has been developed by 18a Productions, and is a great way to get your content found by AI. It works by creating a set of structured answers to questions people might ask about you or what you do. It’s structured in a way that sites like ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity can easily find and cite.
The takeaway
In summary, AI shouldn’t really be seen as a threat. Yes, traffic to your site might take a hit because more of your users are sourcing information elsewhere. However, those that do arrive are much more likely to be focused on doing what you need them to do. Quality over quantity is the watchword here.
If you continue to pay attention to the nuts and bolts of GEO (and let’s be honest, traditional SEO is not over just yet), then you will see your site perform well in AI-powered search. So optimise your content not only for ranking your pages, but to be correctly interpreted, summarised and cited by AI systems.
Failing to pay attention to this could see citations from competitors, or factually incorrect citations, being selected over yours.
AI and content creation
Read more about our thoughts on how AI is impacting content creation.