Navigating The Era Of AI-Powered Search

This presentation looks at how AI is reshaping the way people discover information online. Search engines no longer rely only on keywords or backlinks. They now read context, understand intent, and learn from user behavior. That shift changes everything about how content is created, ranked, and delivered.

It breaks down what this evolution means for anyone working with SEO. AI-powered search rewards clarity, structure, and genuine usefulness. It filters noise faster and highlights content that directly answers real questions. This means the old strategy of keyword stuffing and surface-level optimization doesn’t stand a chance.

The presentation also explores practical ways to adapt. It shows how to build content that AI can recognize, interpret, and recommend. Things like improving topical depth, aligning with search intent, structuring information cleanly, and strengthening credibility signals all matter more than ever.

What this really means is that visibility is now tied to how well your content meets human needs and how well AI can understand it. This new era s about creating work that stands out in a smarter, more intuitive search ecosystem.

Transcript

1. Navigating The Era Of AI Powered Search : by Stephen Akadiri http:/ /linkedin.com/in/stephen-akadiri
2. Hallo, I'm Stephen Akadiri Hallo, I'm Stephen Akadiri International speaker Organic Growth Specialist
3. GEO LLMSEO AEO AISEO SGE There are several acronyms out there for AI search...
6. RAG Passage Retrieval Query Fan- Out Vector Embeddings Cosine Similarity Buzzwords! Buzzwords! Buzzwords! Buzzwords! And lots more...
7. 7 Search is no longer a single- engine behaviour
9. 9 Me when I started SEO:
10. 10 Finding information once meant typing a few keywords into Google and skimming through links.
12. Today, AI mode & AI overviews answer most informational queries without the need to click.
14. 14 Massive adoption of LLMs
15. These platforms have expanded the scope of search
16. 16 Does that mean it's the end for search marketers?
17. Users now search through evolving prompts, not one- off queries. 17
19. SEO has evolved beyond SERP rankings; it’s now about showing up wherever people choose to ask their questions. 19
22. Search behavior is shifting towards quick, direct answers over lengthy result pages.
23. Your SEO, content, and brand strategy must evolve.
24. So, how do we optimise for AI search ?
25. First, we need to understand how AI search works 1. Semantic Parsing & Content Embeddings AI converts your content into embeddings and analyzes semantic structure, topical depth, and contextual coherence. 2. Trust & Authority Scoring Models evaluate expertise, source authority, factual reliability, authorship signals, and cross-platform consistency to assign credibility weight.
26. 3. Relevance & Utility Scoring AI applies intent, response matching, answer completeness checks, and utility scoring to determine how useful your content is for real queries. 4. Intent Pathways & Interaction Reinforcement AI links content to user intent clusters and boosts retrieval using interaction signals like clicks, dwell time, and citations.
27. AI understands context, meaning, and intent. 27
29. AI understands how topics connect, so your content must form a clear and interconnected knowledge structure. 29
30. The question no longer “How do I rank?” but “How do I earn AI trust?” 30
31. 1. Google is still the king 👑 2. Most ChatGPT users also still use Google 3. AI Search is a modified form of E-E-A-T & reputation management 4. AI Search overlaps basic SEO principles
32. “AI Search currently drives less than 1% of traffic to most sites. Google is still dominant.” GLENNGABE All hail the king, Google 👑
33. Most ChatGPT users still make use of Google.
34. AI Search is a modified form of E-E-A-T & reputation management 34 It measures your reputation, not just individual pages. It evaluates your Expertise, Experience, Authority, and Trust, through content consistency and real-world signals. It prioritizes trustworthy sources with strong long-term signals over one-hit pages.
36. Traditional search treats each query as a standalone request. AI Mode and most LLMs operates on context retention. We must optimise for both search methods to evolve effectively.
37. Content and Site Optimization Best Practices for SEO & AI search
38. Add structured data for context. 1. Organize content in logical categories. Keep entities and naming consistent across the site. Optimise titles, metadata, header structure, and schema.
39. Ensure fast load times, clean HTML, and proper canonicals. 2. Maintain tight technical hygiene. Use clean, descriptive URLs. Monitor robots.txt, sitemaps, log files, and structured data validation.
40. 3. Ensure your content is properly indexed, and structured so AI can accurately retrieve and cite it. 40
41. 4. Refresh content frequently with updated stats, expert insights, and facts. 41
42. 5. Use tools like Profound and Promptwatch to monitor where and how your brand is mentioned in AI summaries. 42
43. Define AI-specific goals and metrics (performance vs. branding KPIs). Track AI visibility: grounded vs. model-generated answers. Format for readability: tables, lists, Q&A blocks, and summaries. 6.Optimize and Measure Accurately
44. 7. Watch the paths users take and decisions they make independently.
45. 8. Authority is shifting toward sources that show consistent topical leadership, not just occasional high- performing pages.
46. Get my step-by-step AI Search Optimization checklist for free
48. What’s Coming Next 48
49. 49 Predictive search will change how people find information. AI now anticipates user needs before they even ask. Applications - web search, ecommerce platforms & enterprise solutions.
50. Personalization will dominate, every user’s search journey will become unique. 50
51. Multi-modal search: Voice, visual will fully define how people discover brands. 51
52. “Prompt influence” will become a measurable marketing metric. 52
53. By 2026, Google may evolve into a middleman, curating AI summaries rather than ranking web pages. 53
54. What This Means for Marketers 54
55. Your brand’s value will be judged by how understandable, trustworthy, and verifiable it is to both humans and machines. 55
56. Marketers must now think like information architects. 56
57. 57 How Do I Future-proof My Strategy?
58. 58 Build for multi- surface discovery, connect experiences seamlessly across devices and platforms.
59. While AI search is evolving and taking dominance, remember it leads to organic search. AI search and Google search will constantly overlap, so don't abandon your traditional SEO strategy.
60. Key takeaways 1. AI has transformed search into multi-platform behaviour, not a single engine action. 2.AI SEO still piggybacks on traditional SEO 3.Strong entity signals (consistency, credibility, context) drive visibility across AI tools. 4.Optimise for ecosystems, not algorithms. 5. Decentralise your strategy. Ensure your brand is discovereable across platforms.
61. Search has outgrown the search bar in an AI-powered world. Our job is to show up wherever curiosity happens.
62. Thank You! 62 Stephen Akadiri