SEO Isn't Dead - It's Just Rebranding

In an age where SEO is evolving rapidly and the rise of AI is playing on the minds of every C-Suite in the world, it. can be difficult to know where the industry is heading next. This talk dispels some of the rumors and concerns, showing data-backed studies to highlight where the SEO industry is really going.

State of Search 2025 - Grapevine, Texas

Transcript

1. SEO Isn’t Dead - It’s Just Rebranding State of Search 2025
2. Who Am I? I’m Sophie, co-founder & director of StudioHawk US • I’ve been in SEO for almost a decade across agency, in-house & consultancy. • Judge at UK Search, European Search & Global Search Awards. • Speaker at events across the globe. • We’ve worked across a wide variety of brands including:
4. Other times SEO has been declared “dead” Hummingbird (2013) 1 2 3 4 5 Rank Brain (2015) BERT (2019) Voice Search TikTok 6 Again, and again, and again (p.s. it’s still alive)
5. 100+ Ecommerce Data Study 12‑month analysis (July 2024 – June 2025) Industries: Fashion, homewares, specialty products, lifestyle goods Metrics: Traffic, engagement, conversions, brand search volume Sources compared: - Google Organic & Paid - ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini - Even chucked in Bing too.
6. Where the Money Comes From? Channel Results % of Total Direct $160M~ 30.07% Google Paid $240M~ 44.80% Google Organic $120M~ 22.21% ? $11M~ 2.04% ? $3M~ 0.61% ? $160K~ 0.29% ? $6K~ 0.001% 🤔 $400~ 0.00007%
7. Where the Money Comes From? Channel Results % of Total Direct $160M~ 30.07% Google Paid $240M~ 44.80% Google Organic $120M~ 22.21% ? $11M~ 2.04% ? $3M~ 0.61% ? $160K~ 0.29% 🤔 $6K~ 0.001% Gemini $400~ 0.00007%
8. Where the Money Comes From? Channel Results % of Total Direct $160M~ 30.07% Google Paid $240M~ 44.80% Google Organic $120M~ 22.21% ? $11M~ 2.04% 🤔 $3M~ 0.61% ? $160K~ 0.29% Perplexity $6K~ 0.001% Gemini $400~ 0.00007%
9. Where the Money Comes From? Channel Results % of Total Direct $160M~ 30.07% Google Paid $240M~ 44.80% Google Organic $120M~ 22.21% 🤔 $11M~ 2.04% Bing Paid $3M~ 0.61% ? $160K~ 0.29% Perplexity $6K~ 0.001% Gemini $400~ 0.00007%
10. Where the Money Comes From? Channel Results % of Total Direct $160M~ 30.07% Google Paid $240M~ 44.80% Google Organic $120M~ 22.21% Bing Organic $11M~ 2.04% Bing Paid $3M~ 0.61% 🤔 $160K~ 0.29% Perplexity $6K~ 0.001% Gemini $400~ 0.00007%
11. Where the Money Comes From? Channel Results % of Total Direct $160M~ 30.07% Google Paid $240M~ 44.80% Google Organic $120M~ 22.21% Bing Organic $11M~ 2.04% Bing Paid $3M~ 0.61% ChatGPT $160K~ 0.29% Perplexity $6K~ 0.001% Gemini $400~ 0.00007%
12. All the hype… for $160K out of $500 million in total revenue in that That’s 0.029%, less than a rounding error.
13. Direct is the second‑largest revenue source, driven by brand demand. Google + Direct = 75%+ of all revenue. AI search barely registers compared to brand‑driven traffic.
14. Findings in The Data ChatGPT conversion rates (1.05–1.22%) are half or less of Google/Bing search. Revenue per visit (RPV) is 2–4x lower than top search channels. This shows AI search users are often still in research mode, they’re not clicking through ready to buy at the same rate as Google or Bing.
15. Will AI search be the future? Yes, it will develop into a new, robust channel. But you haven’t missed out on revenue yet.
16. AI Traffic: Mar–Jun Snapshot Revenue per session up: $1.27 → $4.09 (Mar → Jun). Likely tied to ChatGPT shopping launch. If the pattern holds, RPS and sessions rise. Trend is volatile, seasonality like Christmas and Black Friday to review in Jan 2026.
18. Source: https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/we-compared-eight-ai-se arch-engines-theyre-all-bad-at-citing-news.php Columbia Journalism Review ran a study in March 2025 across eight major AI tools (ChatGPT, Perplexity, CoPilot, Grok etc. for a information retrieval task and found that LLMs were wrong more than 60% of the time.
19. Source: https://github.com/vectara/hallucination-leaderboard - Updated October 16th Vectara’s hallucination leaderboard show’s Gemini 2.0’s hallucination rate is at 1.1% and ChatGPT 5 sits at 1.4% This proves that accuracy improvement has been modest.
20. Source: https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/state-ai-search-optimization/
21. There is a HUGE mindset divide in the industry - and SEO’s have done a terrible job in communicating to the outside world
22. AI SEO AI Search GEO LLM SEO LLMO AIO AEO E-I-E-I-O
23. https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overviews-reduce-clicks/
24. https://www.similarweb.com/blog/marketing/seo/chatgpt-monthly-visits/ ChatGPT.com scaled from 2.6B to 5.7B monthly visits (+117%) during the last 12 months and 6% MoM.
25. Brodie Clark / Similarweb For the month of August 2025, 95.3% of ChatGPT users visited Google, while 14.3% of Google users visited ChatGPT. Search is EXPANDING.
26. What is the difference? Google SEO Backlinks Volume-based keywords SERP rankings Anchor-text optimization Meta descriptions Link equity CTR optimization AI SEO Embedding-based relevance Conversational queries Retrieval Augmented Generation Concept clarity Extractable snippets Community mentions Semantic depth
27. SEO is Foundation + AI Layer on Top Crawlable pages Clear heading hierarchy Fresh content Schema markup Internal linking Fast pages High-intent content There's a ton of fear out there, and yes some brands will be hurt by a change in if they haven't put in the time and focus to prepare.
28. How Does ChatGPT Work? User Inputs Prompt ChatGPT Breaks This Down Into Tokens Analyzes & Predicts Next Token To Generate Response This process repeats sequentially word by word Model continually refines its output based on context
29. How Does AI Mode Work? Breaks down user query into sub questions Runs them simultaneously across various sources Uses query fan out and retrieval-augme nted generation Synthesizes this information into single answer Adds (some) links to sources
30. The concept of tokenization isn’t completely new - passage indexing is almost the same thing.
31. Remember these?
32. And spam works in AI search
35. Strengthen your SEO fundamentals and add AI-specific optimisation. This combines the proven drivers of revenue with R&D for future performance.
36. Step 1: Track What’s Working in AI Search You cannot leverage what you can't measure right now Here’s how to surface ChatGPT referrals using standard GA4 tools: 1. Navigate to the Right Report • Go to Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition • Change the primary dimension to Session source / medium 2. Filter for Chat GPT • In the search bar above the table, type: gpt • Press Enter • You should see session sources like: ◦ chat.openai.com / referral ◦ chat.openai.com / (none) This shows you the number of sessions, users, engagement metrics, and conversions driven by ChatGPT. 📊 Bonus: I’ll share a free Looker Studio dashboard to make this dead simple.
37. This shows you the number of sessions, users, engagement metrics, and conversions driven by ChatGPT.
38. Step 2: Build Topic Coverage To become a trusted source, cover your topic from multiple angles. How: • Support product pages with high-intent blog posts like: → “Best desks for small apartments” → “How to fix your posture at home” • Interlink between posts and product pages to create topical clusters • Use consistent language and synonyms (e.g., “TV unit” + “entertainment console”) • Add comparison tables, visual guides, and FAQs for decision support • More subpages = more semantic signals = higher chance of being featured in AI answers Tip: Think like the AI, anticipate sub-queries, answer facets clearly, and structure your content.
39. Shopify Example
40. What is Query Fan-Out? Query Fan Out is when AI Mode / AI Overviews breaks down a user's question into related sub-questions. This helps explore all angles and provide a richer, more complete answer Why It Matters Deconstructs the Question Instead of just answering the original query, AI systems: Real Example You ask: "Best Bluetooth headphones for comfort and battery life?" AI fans it out into questions like: 1 Search multiple angles 2 Pull info from different sources 3 Synthesise into Answer 4 "Most comfortable Bluetooth headphones" 1 "Bluetooth headphones with longest battery life" 2 "Over-ear vs on-ear for comfort" 3 "Battery life comparison: Sony vs Bose" 4 Then it pulls answers to each and merges them for you.
41. Credit: Aleyda Solis
42. Find Product Questions with Reddit Answers
43. People always ask how to build a killer topical map. Here’s the fastest way to do it: 1. Pick a competitor that’s outranking you. 2. Type site:competitorname.com into Google. 3. Note every page they have, especially blog content. 4. Create every page they have that you don’t. Add in those questions w/ answers. 5. Publish them
44. Step 3: Earn Off-Site Mentions AI Actually Trusts AI platforms weigh citations as well links from authoritative sites. 🛠 How: • Engage with Reddit threads or blog posts where your product category is discussed. • Pitch inclusion in "Best X" roundups or explainer content • Partner with creators who publish searchable content (blogs, YouTube, TikTok) • Monitor mentions using brand alerts • Digital PR can earn your brand citations and links from publications. Aim for mentions in places AI crawls and trusts. Use digital PR to build up relevance and citations in your niche.
45. Digital PR for Brand Mentions Digital PR earns high-quality backlinks and brand mentions from trusted publications, podcasts, and industry sites. Instead of ads, you create stories, data pieces, or expert commentary that others want to feature. It helps in three ways: - Quality backlinks increase authority and rankings. - Mentions on reputable sites build credibility. - Content often spreads through news, social, and AI platforms, feeding both traditional and AI-driven search.
46. Developed data-led campaigns tapping into trending travel pain points: • Over-Touristed Destinations: Spotlighted Australia's busiest tourist areas based on resident-to-visitor ratios. • Airline Hidden Fees: Exposed the true cost of travel by analysing hidden airline charges. • Best and Worst Times to Fly: Produced new insights from over 100,000 flights, helping travellers optimise their airport experience. Targeted top-tier national, regional, and lifestyle media for maximum reach and SEO impact.
47. Over-Touristed Destinations Press Release Compared international visitor numbers to local resident populations across Australia's top tourist hotspots. Key Deliverables Airline Hidden Fees Press Release Analysed add-on charges (seat selection + 20kg baggage) across Australia’s 10 most popular airlines. Best and Worst Times to Fly Data Set Tracked flight punctuality and airport traffic across five major airports over 30 days. Best and Worst Times to Fly Press Releases Identified the best and worst travel time slots for national and regional airports based on delay and congestion data. 🧭 ✈
48. • 20 pieces of media coverage across major Australian and travel outlets, including Nine.com.au, Yahoo! Finance, Escape, and The West Australian. • Highest acquired DR backlink: DR 92. • Average backlink DR: 62, with 14 clean DR40+ links. • 1465% increase in new referring domains (December 2024 – March 2025). • 1200% growth in overall website authority (DR). • 138% surge in global organic traffic and 112% national traffic growth (Australia). • Campaign directly contributed to significant SEO uplift and increased commerce visibility. Results
49. Coverage Highlights
50. Reddit for Brand Sentiment LLMs and Google use Reddit heavily. 1. Spend time in your niche subreddits and study what gets traction 2. Answer questions and provide value before promoting anything 3. Use conversations to spark blog posts, guides, or video ideas 4. Share links only when they genuinely help the thread 5. Build your own subreddit once you’ve earned trust and have an active audience
51. If you can get Wikipedia page, get it:
52. 3 Ecommerce Strategies
53. 1. Feed into the Google Shopping Graph To increase your visibility: • Use structured data (schema) for products • Upload accurate Google Merchant feeds • Get featured in trusted third-party sites (reviews, comparisons) • Ensure product pages are crawlable and clearly written • Support with helpful YouTube content More places online which share the right and relevant data in Google's systems. The Shopping Graph is how your products show up in Google AI Mode. When a user asks, “What’s the best [product]?”, Google runs sub-queries across the web. The Shopping Graph determines which sources are trusted enough to show.
54. 2. Review Your Product Pages Most product pages are built to sell, not to inform. For AI SEO your pages need to be structured, specific, and full of clear, extractable answers: Use a Captivating H1 Don't just say "Walnut Standing Desk" - get specific like "120cm Walnut Standing Desk". Add a Compelling Intro In 40-60 words, answer what the product is, who it's for, and why they need it. Organise with Clear Headings Break up the content with real H2 subheadings that provide direct answers. Showcase the Specs List the product details in plain, easy-to-scan HTML. Include an FAQ Add a FAQ section with real customer questions and quotes. Make each page able to answer a user's question about the product (think Reddit).
55. ChatGPT merchants was announced recently:
56. 3. Prepare for Agents We tested this on our ecommerce brand Kadi: 1. Went into ChatGPT and open Agent Mode. 2. Asked it to interact with kadiluggage.com, attempt to purchase a carry-on, then stop before payment. 3. Then ask it what it experienced. 4. Got a report on challenges, friction points, blockers, and fixes.
57. 3. Prepare for Agents
58. Strategies For Every Niche Content audit to understand extractability & relevance 1 Work on your site’s E-E-A-T 2 Gain more brand citations and references 3 Test, test & test again 4
59. Here’s the mindset shift all brands need to make to improve their overall marketing, not just SEO.
60. Cut Open the Shoe -> Do Things That Don’t Scale A vivid content format that answers curiosity in a direct, visual way. Shows how small but sharp content ideas can break through.
61. If you zoned out the entire time and just want one takeaway Do SEO.
62. Credit: Mike King, IPullRank
63. Scan for Your AI Search Toolkit • AI Search Toolkit (Traffic Report + Templates) • AI SEO 45 page white paper