queries in traditional vs AI search platforms TRADITIONAL SEARCH AI SEARCH “Best leggings for women” “What are some popular brands offering blue yoga leggings?” “Design unique color-block leggings inspired by spring florals.”
launched as a default experience https:/ /hub.seofomo.co/surveys/organic-search-trends/ A gradual, segmented rollout where AI Mode becomes the default for some query types, users, or regions first, while classic/hybrid SERPs remain for high-commercial or high-risk queries.
& SEOFOMO at #WTSFest But if search is expanding with AI, and websites are getting less search traffic & are expected to get even less, doesn’t it means SEO is dead?
& SEOFOMO at #WTSFest SEO is not dead. LLMs answers rely on grounding when current, factual info is needed, meaning SEO is vital for it. LLMs Answers Retrieval / Grounding Data For dynamic, factual queries In “search mode” (like ChatGPT’s browsing) the model goes beyond static memory, retrieving real-time external information using it as grounding to produce more accurate, up-to-date answers. Pre-training Data For General knowledge Publicly available text (websites, books, papers, code, forums, etc.) and licensed/curated data, until the model’s knowledge cutoff date.
& SEOFOMO at #WTSFest 1. Search Behavior 2. Query Handling 3. Optimization Target 4. Authority & Popularity Signals 5. Results Presentation Let’s go through key AI search shifts, how they impact the way we optimize and how we win
& SEOFOMO at #WTSFest 1. Search Behavior: From Keywords to Conversations & Actions SHORT, KEYWORD BASED, ONE OFF QUERIES WITH HIGH NAVIGATIONAL INTENT TRADITIONAL SEARCH LONG, CONVERSATIONAL BASED, MULTI-TURN QUERIES WITH HIGH TASK ORIENTED INTENT AI SEARCH
& SEOFOMO at #WTSFest 2. Query Handling: From Single Query to Query Fan-out Match SINGLE QUERY MATCH TRADITIONAL SEARCH AI SEARCH QUERY FAN-OUT (MULTIPLE SUB-QUERIES MATCHES)
& SEOFOMO at #WTSFest 3. Optimization Target: From Page to Passage level content PAGE LEVEL RELEVANCE TRADITIONAL SEARCH PASSAGE / CHUNK LEVEL RELEVANCE AI SEARCH
& SEOFOMO at #WTSFest 4. Authority & Popularity Signals: From Links to Mentions LINKS AND ENGAGEMENT BASED POPULARITY AT DOMAIN AND PAGE LEVEL TRADITIONAL SEARCH MENTIONS/CITATIONS & ENTITY BASED AUTHORITY AT PASSAGE & CONCEPT LEVEL AI SEARCH
& SEOFOMO at #WTSFest 5. Results: From ranked pages to highly personalized synthesized answers RANKED LIST OF MULTIPLE LINKED PAGES TRADITIONAL SEARCH SINGLE SYNTHESIZED ANSWER WITH MENTIONS AND SECONDARY LINKS TO SOURCES AI SEARCH
& SEOFOMO at #WTSFest Here are the immediate SEO implications from these key AI search shifts 1. AI search functions as both a performance and a branding channel. As user journeys increasingly complete inside AI answers, traffic alone is no longer a reliable indicator of success , making expanded KPIs and goals necessary. 2. You’re optimizing for comprehensive, well-structured content that AI can flexibly extract from any accessible page , rather than rigid query-to-page matching. 3. Building positive third-party citations is becoming as strategically important as earning relevant backlinks. Aligning SEO with digital PR and community management is now fundamental to shaping a consistent and credible brand presence
& SEOFOMO at #WTSFest We need then to stop using traffic as a reliable indicator of success, and start treating AI as both a branding & performance channel
& SEOFOMO at #WTSFest Personalization resilience comes from covering multiple intents across the customer journey for different personas Cover multiple intents for the same topic, so your content aligns with many personalized subqueries, increasing surface area. Add contextual signals that aligns content with profile-based personalization, segmenting content for specific personas or use cases. Retain attention and engagement with fast, useful content that gives a satisfying user experience since AI search systems refine results based on user behavior, thumbs up/down, etc. This feedback loops into ranking and synthesis decisions for future answers.
& SEOFOMO at #WTSFest Growing your brand authoritativeness is a must via link building, community & digital PR Digital PR Positive coverage, citations, backlinks from Media Sites Community Management Positive mentions from relevant social platforms and communities Link Building Backlinks from related, authoritative sites reviewing relevant businesses Branding Mentions, promotion, visibility alignment with brand positioning and voice
& SEOFOMO at #WTSFest You’ll need to expand your efforts based on these AI search shifts & your own SEO context Differences in User Search Behavior / Intents to further expand your site topical authority targeting the full journey Bigger Role of third-party Citations / Mentions Different bots/user agents for which you might have specific crawlability rules Lack of CSR JS support by AI bots From Performance (traffic, conversions) only to Brand (visibility, sentiment, share of voice) and Performance metrics and goals Crawlability Indexability Relevance Popularity Metrics/Goals
& SEOFOMO at #WTSFest 1. How much are AI platforms already bringing to your revenue and impacting marketing goals? 2. How do your AI search behavior differ from traditional search? 3. What’s your traffic, visibility, sentiment and traffic from relevant topics vs competitors in AI platforms? What’s the gap and growth opportunity? 4. How’s your content already optimized for relevant AI search topics? What’s the gap vs competitors? 5. How do the needed optimization actions overlap with existing or planned SEO, Digital PR & Community management efforts? What additional actions / investments are needed? 6. What’s the ROI from the additional efforts? Are they worthy? Prioritize accordingly! Ask these questions to prioritize your AI search optimization actions based on impact & effort
& SEOFOMO at #WTSFest Finally, remember to leave space for experimentation, since these are new platforms, we are still adapting and don’t have first party data
& Founder at Orainti ❏ Creator of the SEOFOMO & AI Marketers Newsletters ❏ Maker of LearningAIsearch.com & LearningSEO.io Speaker & Author ❏ Author of SEO, Las Claves Esenciales ❏ Spoke at +200 events in +30 countries By Aleyda Solis - SEO Consultant & Founder at Orainti & SEOFOMO at #WTSFest
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