Date: 29/04/2025
Subject: Artificial Intelligence
Author: Ryan Walsh
There is a tremendous amount of conversation about how Chat GPT and Google AI Overviews are changing SEO. Many digital marketing agencies are sitting up and noticing how the SEO landscape is changing, probably forever.
AI is making more of an impact on our everyday lives, and for those who have used Chat GPT’s latest language models and Google Gemini, they are imposing.
So, how do SEO agencies adapt?
This article will explain how AI changes shoppers find information and how we can help.
Chatgpt is growing
Looking at some of the latest statistics when writing this article, we found one which stated that Chatgpt has amassed a whopping 556 million unique visitors within its first year. As AI becomes better and better with time, we predict that more and more people will use Chatgpt.
What exactly is Chat GPT search?
Chat GPT has a range of different language models, which are becoming increasingly sophisticated as time goes on.
As we will come a little later, these language models get to know you. So, for example, if you’re researching a lot about how to make a nice curry, and you like cooking, the whole platform can start learning about your cooking habits. So, for example, it may begin to make suggestions, come up with suggestions for other dishes you might be interested in.
Now real time
It used to be the case that Chatgpt was trained on text that was read and learnt from. However, there would be a cut-off point beyond which it wouldn’t have any knowledge. However, Chatgpt can now obtain real-time information. It’s therefore now being used as a search engine for news events, for example, and to gain up-to-date information.
Like a fine wine
Just as a fine wine improves with time, so does Chatgpt at this SEO business. We were very early adopters of the Professional version. We have seen, for example, how Chatgpt has become increasingly good at creating pictures. Once you could easily see they were AI-generated, but things have changed substantially, and now the pictures Chatgpt generates are incredibly realistic.
Referral Traffic
Ask any good SEO consultant worth their salt about how most people find a business, typically via organic SEO or Google AdWords.
There were also social media and direct visitors, which may appear in your Google Analytics account.
However, for most businesses, or at least those we work with, almost all of their traffic comes via organic search engine optimisation.
However, things are changing, including many things, like how useful, helpful, and accurate Chatgpt answers are. Now that the system has gone live in terms of obtaining up-to-date information, it can offer you advice from the internet. However, it’s even better than that; if you ask Chatgpt a complex question, it can collect multiple answers from many websites. It then blends the advice to offer an informed and accurate answer.
This is fantastic for those who need a quick answer and don’t read multiple websites to get the required advice.
Sam Altman
Sam Altman is the current CEO of Chatgpt, and he is reported to have said, “AI systems that get to know you over your life and become extremely useful and personalised”.
Therefore, there is the suggestion that AI is not serving a generic answer to a mass population, that the answers are becoming personalised.
They will get you, and perhaps your buying habits, and maybe even suggest products in the future.
ChatGPT, Gemini and future of SEO
AI has many SEO companies up and down the land and globally in a slight panic. That AI will take over, and as SEO experts, our roles might be somewhat reduced.
However, we see things differently.
AI helps us save time in terms of finding answers to questions.
However, people will always want to read more in-depth answers; they want to be pointed towards a website where they can buy that product or service.
So what does this mean for search engine optimisation?
Well, it’s the same as before; you, as a business, compete on the quality of the content marketing you produce. In terms of how you can make your business, the answers you create should be better than those of the competition.
Businesses that produced half-baked answers were removed or had reduced visibility from Google a long time before AI came on the scene.
Think about Google Panda, Google Helpful Content updates, and Google EEAT.
Before Google EEAT, it was Google EEAT, a slight variant of the Google update.
So, helpful and useful answers are now critical. Yet we would argue that they are now more important than ever because we think that people who use Chatgpt and other AI language models often ask more long-tail keywords.
This means the shopper’s questions are longer, so businesses should concentrate on producing content marketing with a very high Google EEAT score.
Thin content offers hardly any advice or helpful information; that type of content marketing stands next to no chance of being used by Chatgpt and Google.
However, if the work is detailed, has a very high Google EEAT score, is well written, and has abundant quality links, then it is the work that the AI language models are likely to use and reference. This is therefore how referral traffic is obtained from the AI models, as people want to go to the source of the information to read the entire blog post or page from start to finish.
How does Chat GPT change search engine optimisation?
This is undoubtedly a question that so many businesses have asked and will continue to ask, as Chatgpt grows in popularity.
However, here’s the thing: Chatgpt is a new way for a business to obtain more referral traffic.
Yet to obtain that traffic, we must follow existing advice published by search engines such as Google.
Therefore, the content marketing should have the following criteria:
– Have a high Google EEAT score
– Have a lot of quality backlinks
– Be useful
– Must be well-researched
– We believe that a page which ranks organically high on Google could be used more often as answers by the AI programmes.
– Therefore, SEO is still important.
How can I encourage Chatgpt to recommend my website?
We think that the content marketing needs to have the following qualities:
Be long form
We know from previous Google updates that Google weeded out content-thin pages from its index.
With billions upon billions of pages from which Google can choose, why would it choose a page that offers hardly any information?
Therefore, the page needs to have a lot of helpful information.
We always thought it was better to structure your content marketing in an FAQ-style question-and-answer format at this search engine
optimisation company.
And why is that?
Well, it simply helps the bots, such as those used by Googlebot and other search engines, understand that the piece of content marketing answers that question.
And when you answer related questions, it does show that you, as a business, are trying to offer helpful and comprehensive answers to a question.
And as you rise the authority of that page, by perhaps building quality links to it, it’s more likely to be read by more bots. Also, we think a page on Google’s page is much more likely to be used as a rich snippet or an answer used by AI programmes, and therefore, it is much more likely to offer more traffic to your company website.
Are AI overviews reducing CTR for some businesses?
We would say most certainly.
As Google and the other search engines answer queries directly in the SERP, shoppers and people looking to find an answer to a question often don’t have to click through to a company’s website.
Instead, the answer is right in front of them, within the search engine results pages.
This, therefore, reduces the click-through rate.
However, some search engines will detail the source of the information. Therefore, the company that regularly supplies that answer could obtain more referral traffic.
However, as an SEO agency owner, I would say that the CTR will likely be lower for some businesses. However, there could be some winners as well. For example, when someone asks a very exact question, they usually know precisely what they want.
For example, the best winter boots will stay waterproof even in a deep puddle.
Now this is a very long search string.
It’s very long and exact, but it also shows that the shopper knows exactly what they want, whether they have asked this on Chatgpt or Google. They see the product they want and the characteristics it should offer. Therefore, they are more likely to make a purchase.
Therefore, if Chatgpt refers the shopper to your website, that means that person knows exactly what they want, and is more likely to make a purchase.
How can my e-commerce business increase sales from AI, such as Chatgpt?
The same rules apply to organic SEO.
What we mean by that is Google E-EAT has said for a very long time that what it wants to see is a quality answer; to do that, you must show you have real-life experience and expertise on that product or service.
This is the same with optimising for AI.
AI will want to supply a quality answer to a question. Therefore, the businesses that push the boat out and provide an in-depth, quality answer are the ones that are likely to be used by AI.
Is regular SEO now dead?
No, most certainly not.
Shoppers will be using search engines such as Google in the billions. Therefore, AI is not a replacement for search engines.
Why is it important to make my business’s writing style more conversational?
So, for a long time now, many SEO companies have used FAQ style answers and questions.
Therefore, content marketing often needs to be more conversational and in-depth, and it is almost as though you are offering that advice in person.
Why do we think original statistics and data are more critical than ever
When you think about it logically, just as an AI programme would, it needs to base its answer on relevant information and data.
Therefore, your business publishes reliable, unique data. We believe that your business at this agency has a much better chance of being used and cited on artificial intelligence programmes such as Chatgpt.
Let’s give you an example.
Let’s say your washing machine has had its day. Someone asks, What is the most energy-efficient and reliable washing machine available today?
Well, let’s say that you are an electrical retailer and have published a table of the top 100 washing machines in terms of efficiency. This might go on to be cited by numerous other websites, plus you have answered the question by offering data.
Therefore, we believe that the AI models, such as Google’s Gemini and Chatgpt, are more likely to cite your data. Perhaps cite your company, such as saying ABC Limited published data in 2025, citing the top 100 washing machines, and this model comes out as top of the list.
Why your business needs to stand out
Here at this agency, and for many other leading marketing companies, they fully appreciate that old tactics are dead.
It’s not about quantity, it’s all about quality.
Therefore, publish less content marketing, but the work that you do publish is more in-depth, adds some original perspective, and original data, from perhaps market research that you have carried out.
Why your content marketing needs to be original
Be original, and here’s why improving your local and organic SEO is essential.
Think of how Google’s algorithms work for a second.
They have billions of pages that they can offer to answer any query.
Therefore, the pages often selected for placement on page one of Google will be the pages with a high Google E-EAT score.
To have a high Google E-EAT score, you must show original perspective, you must show why you’re the expert and your experience with that product or service.
Whether it’s how to repair a classic car or check whether the gold is high purity, an expert will often lend original and straightforward advice.
This advice means that the page often has a high dwell time. The bounce rate is usually low because it has a high dwell time. The page is generally linked to many pages with a high DA score.
Therefore, the page is likely to be ranked high on page one of Google. Because of this, the information and advice will be deemed high quality.
Therefore, other AI programmes are likely to cite this work.
How our agency can help
We are the SEO experts here in Cardiff.
Our wealth of knowledge relating to SEO is the best you will find in the U.K.
We say that because of Ryan Walsh.
He now has more than 10 years of experience, mainly working with Welsh businesses and well-known companies in the South West of England.