Author: Ryan Walsh
Date: 08/07/2025
Subject: AI & SEO

Google’s relatively new AI mode is perhaps the most significant change Alphabet has made to its search engine in a very long time. Although many in the U.S are enjoying its benefits right now, here in the British Isles we will have to wait just that bit longer.

However, for those impatient among us, here’s how we think Google AI mode will change the game:

– More zero-click searches
– More shoppers are asking more detailed product questions because of the “query fan out technique”
– Fewer clicks (CTR), yet perhaps shoppers with more purchase intent, as they have decided to click past the Google AI Overview answer

The actual release date of Google AI is thought to be late 2025 here in the U.K.

However, there’s still enough for us to talk about right now, as Google AI Overviews are already eating into the number of organic visitors many businesses are obtaining through their Google Analytics account.

Follow-up questions

One of the reasons we think ChatGPT has soared in popularity is quite simple: we believe it’s more conversational- it allows you to ask follow-up questions easily.

It’s like sitting in a room with a real-life salesperson; you can ask follow-up questions. For example, the conversation might go a bit like this:

– I want to buy an electric car, which models are below 60k?
– (follow-up question) Okay, shortlist the ones which have won awards for innovation and design
– (follow-up question) Which cars have the best safety rating?
– (follow-up question) Which cars offer over 300 miles in range

You get our drift.

This is not how search algorithms on Google work currently.

Previously, you would have to type a new question every time the query varies.

Quite labour-intensive.

Google Gemini and Google AI Mode enable these changes.

The script is flipped; now it’s like having a virtual salesperson at your side, where you can ask questions until you receive the answer you need.

However, we in the marketing industry must adapt.

 

Content marketing

The content marketing that will win, that will surface to answer more questions, will be the work that offers a more comprehensive answer.

Displays more original thinking, and we think backlinks still have to play a pivotal role in deciding how authoritative that page is.

So, in terms of SEO signals, nothing changes for those Cardiff businesses that have been on their A-game when it comes to SEO.

It makes it a piece of cake to ask follow-up questions, refining your question until you get a rather satisfactory response.

Marketing companies refer to this as the “fan-out query” method.

The LLMs, or large language models such as ChatGPT, allow you to keep asking follow-up questions until you’re blue in the face. Therefore,

Google AI mode will offer the same sort of functionality.

Which means you may not even know which movie you want to watch, so you ask Google Gemini for an answer:

Yet, after a series of questions, such as “which films Jason Statham featured in between 2020 and 2025?”.

Then, you can later refine your decision based on subsequent questions, such as which films received the best movie critic response and generated the most revenue at the cinemas. This allows you to find a Jason Statham film that you most want to watch.

The point we are making is that incorporating query fan-out into AI mode is a significant development and a substantial change to search marketing.

The shopper can continue to ask follow-up questions. This allows them to find the exact product or service that they were looking for.

 

Content marketing and AI

How can we adapt our content marketing for this new era of AI search?

Well, we think the content marketing must have the following qualities:

– Strong Google E-EAT
– Detailed, more in-depth guides
– Be kept up to date
– Written conversationally so that chunks of text can be presented as an answer in, say, Google’s AI Overviews
– Split the text using a lot more titles, so the AI knows that the section is relevant to an exact question it’s being asked.

 

Links from Google

The answer that Google AI Overviews often provides is often presented as a “synthesised” answer, simply meaning it could be a combination of answers pulled from multiple pages.

However, Google AI mode should still provide a link to a website stating where that answer was gathered.

This therefore helps the shopper if they want to click the link to read the whole article.

This is where the problem lies:

That is the answer that is often provided in the SERPs, resulting in even more “zero-click searches”, which is a problem for us marketing companies.

The reason is that we will have to work harder for fewer clicks; it’s as simple as that.

Therefore, less organic traffic often means fewer conversions.

Consequently, businesses that will survive and thrive are those that offer superior quality content marketing, which provides more AI-driven answers.

 

 

Unique content marketing

Google’s algorithm currently does not favour duplicate content marketing.

However, this dislike for duplicated content marketing, or uninspiring content marketing, which doesn’t hold much personal opinion in our view, will not be mentioned too often in the AI mode results or the Google AI Overviews either.

The reason is that, in reality, Google will blend information from just a few select businesses to be displayed as a Google AI Overview answer.

Therefore, out of the literally billions of web pages out there, Google is unlikely to select duplicated content marketing.
Google E-EAT is likely to become increasingly important as time passes.

 

Google intends to make AI Mode a ‘core search experience’

We must, therefore, as SEO companies, keep a very close eye on Google AI mode, because it appears to be on the verge of replacing Google as we know it today.

An advanced version of Gemini 2.5 drives AI Mode.

Gemini 2.5 is impressive; it has been rolled out on some of Google’s latest handsets.

This model of AI is believed to be the one that will power Google’s search shortly.

Write long and detailed content marketing

Make sure you incorporate Google E-EAT into your business’s content marketing

Ensure that you split your text into sections, using H1 through H6 titles or an FAQ-style approach, so that search engines can better understand your content marketing.

Answers rather than links

Here’s how search engine optimisation is changing: we are now moving into an era of answers rather than your traditional 10 blue links.

Could the shopper view clicking on links in the search results as a tedious task in the future?
Possibly?

That’s because Google’s AI is already good at answering queries in the SERPs.

 

Buying intent

Therefore, although you do hear a lot of conversation regarding whether SEO is dead, we don’t think it is; instead, quite the opposite.

Organic visitor numbers will decrease; we think that’s a certainty.

Therefore, could the traffic that comes through from Google AI mode have more purchase intent?

That’s because they will have already been supplied with an answer in the SERPs (by Google AI Overviews); therefore, by clicking through to the website, it shows they are interested in reading even more about that item.

This means that the shoppers who do come through may be fewer in number, but they may have more purchase intent.

 

In summary:

We are going to see a decline in click-through rate

This is enviable in our view, as more and more questions get answered in the SERP’s, it will reduce the overall click-through rate.

As Google AI Overviews become more common, shoppers will expect Google to answer more questions directly in the SERPs.
Topical authority

Google has rewarded businesses that publish high-quality content marketing, which demonstrates Google’s E-EAT criteria: experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.

Now, this is nothing new, which is why we tell our clients in the Cardiff area who are panicked by the AI changes that nothing significant is changing in terms of how we do SEO.

The content marketing still should be written by humans, and not just any humans, but people who know about that product or service that you’re writing about.

Therefore, copywriters and staff must carefully consider Google E-EAT more than ever.

This is to show that you’re not a robot, but instead that you have experience and expertise in what you’re writing about.

Whether you’re a top lawyer, hairdresser or builder, reflecting your real-life experience in content marketing and on your website is more important than ever. In a sea of AI-generated content, well-written content marketing with a high Google E-EAT score will most likely be ranked higher.

So is SEO dead?

No, it’s just going through a period of readjustment.

Come to the experts

Perhaps your business is based in Cardiff; alternatively, you could be based further afield.

We would like to hear from you.

If your business needs to generate more sales, we are the company to call.