As the world of search rapidly changes, we aim to change with it. Rather than focusing primarily on keyword optimization and word count, we have shifted our efforts to making sure that each page and article is satisfying to the user, answers questions the user might ask about the topic, and organized in a way that search engines can easily understand. Simply adding more FAQs into an article has contributed to many clients getting sales as a result of showing up in AI search results. We also are more focused on building topical and brand authority for clients.
Over the past few months, we've been adapting our SEO strategy to align with answer engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews. One of the first things we tested was adding social share buttons that make it easier for LLMs to summarise and reference our content and we've seen measurable growth in AI-driven traffic since. We're also optimising content around Google's new BlockRank framework, focusing on stronger context blocks, concise answers, and schema alignment to increase inclusion in AI snapshots. On the backend, we use Claude MCP connected with DataForSEO to audit sites, detect topical gaps, and build structured content trees. Together, these steps help us capture both search and generative visibility while keeping quality high.
In 2025, SEO has evolved into structuring information for machine interpretation, not just ranking. The focus now is on clarity, credibility, and connectedness, to ensure that entities, authors, and sources are semantically aligned so AI systems can verify expertise. Traditional tactics like keyword density or backlink chasing don't translate into AI visibility. What's working is creating content that functions as structured data that is cited, contextualized, and easy for models like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other AI search tools to trust and attribute.
At Wild Creek, we shifted from ranking for keywords to earning citations from AI systems. Our SEO strategy is built around structured data, contextual authority, and human-readable clarity. We optimize content not just for Google, but for ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other LLMs that summarize rather than link. What's working is entity optimization - making sure our clients are contextually associated with the right topics, brands, and authors across trusted sources. What is not working anymore is chasing long-tail keywords; answer engines pull from depth, not density. Our metric has evolved from clicks to presence in AI-generated answers.
Honestly, I don't see Answer Engine Optimization as something separate from SEO, it's just SEO evolving. What's been working for me lately is keeping content clear, structured, and answer-first. I start every page or section with a short, direct answer before diving deeper. Tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity pick up those concise, well-formatted responses more often, especially when they're backed by FAQ or HowTo schema. I've also noticed that off-site signals matter a lot like mentions on Reddit, niche blogs, and Quora make a big difference in how often brands get cited. What's not working anymore? Keyword stuffing or chasing exact phrases. AI systems care about clarity and context, not repetition. So my focus now is simple, make content easy to understand for both humans and machines.
It was a revelation to me that websites with almost no traffic from traditional search often get significantly more traffic from AI search (ChatGPT, Perplexity, and so on) than sites with high traffic from Google and Bing. For AEO, what matters much more is how your site is mentioned across different sources. And the authority of those sources is less important than it typically is in traditional link building.
The entire SEO industry is predicted to undergo a radical change in 2026 owing to the fact that AI-based applications like ChatGPT and Perplexity will be accepted and used by a large number of people in their daily work. Tribe Digital will entire body the semantic SEO approach, bringing forth the content that will not only satisfy the user's need but also share it in an entertaining and well-structured manner. Our markup, FAQ, and expert opinion snippets make our content so clear and accessible that even AI spiders can understand it easily. The most amazing experience for us was being able to help our clients to secure the power positions - not only as content creators. What could be the downside of it though? It is a difficult thing to envisage the visibility when clicks are not the main KPI. Hence, we are counting mentions, citations, and the company's presence in AI-generated summaries to make sure our visibility is converted into trust and engagement.
We're treating answer engines like new discovery platforms, not just traffic sources. Optimising for conversational intent, structured data, and concise, citation-worthy answers has been key. What's working best is publishing expert-led content with strong topical depth and schema — it consistently gets referenced by AI models even without traditional backlinks.
We are redesigning our SEO workflow to align with conversational AI trends. Traditional keyword mapping has evolved into intent segmentation that captures how users phrase questions naturally. ChatGPT and Perplexity thrive on precision and trustworthy information, which makes credibility a strong ranking driver. For example, short educational posts that simplify campaign ROI now attract more AI-driven visibility across answer engines. Our focus is on clear formatting, verified facts, and active voice to support instant comprehension. Answer engines process context quickly, so readability has become a key performance factor. We also invest in schema enhancements, conversational phrasing, and fact-based storytelling to strengthen authority. It is a complete shift from optimizing for bots to optimizing for human understanding and contextual accuracy.
CEO at Digital Web Solutions
Answered 5 months ago
Our SEO mindset now centers on creating "AI-ready content." ChatGPT and Perplexity rely on structure, tone and clarity to decide what to present. We simplify our marketing insights into practical takeaways, ensuring each piece answers a specific question. For example, we publish concise breakdowns of social media trends that rank high in conversational outputs. We also focus on how our content performs within AI summaries, tracking its visibility and relevance in addition to relying on traditional SERP metrics. This shift has helped us understand what AI tools value most, such as clear intent and trustworthy information. Consistency and credibility have become our guiding principles across every campaign. In 2025, the content that educates fast, reads naturally and builds trust is what truly stands out.
We're adapting our SEO strategy in 2025 by focusing on clear, structured answers that cater directly to answer engines. What's working well is breaking down complex topics into simple, skimmable sections. Using schema markup for FAQs and how-to content has improved our visibility in featured results. We've also shifted our blog strategy to prioritize high-intent questions and layered content that speaks to both new visitors and returning customers. Pages that directly address niche packaging topics are gaining stronger traction, even without high click-through rates. What's not working as well? Traditional keyword-stuffed pages. They're getting buried unless they offer real value fast. The takeaway: focus on clarity, context, and being the most helpful result—whether someone clicks or not. www.bluesoftdesign.com
Managing Partner and Growth-Marketing Consultant at Great Impressions
Answered 5 months ago
For me personally, my main focus right now is on revamping content. I've started by providing clear and direct answers to user queries right at the beginning of each blog post — it immediately grabs attention and improves engagement. I'm also implementing schema markup across my website, including both organization and article schema, to help AI engines understand my content more accurately. On top of that, I'm working on building strong citations and maintaining NAP consistency throughout all PR campaigns. These strategies are truly paying off — my website is now getting recognized and mentioned across several major AI engines.
I've been shifting my SEO focus toward building strong citations and doing more PR submissions. What I've noticed is that answer engines like ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity tend to pull data from trusted sources and listings rather than just ranked web pages. So even if your site isn't on page one of Google, you can still show up in AI answers if your brand is mentioned consistently across credible sites. The key seems to be having no confusion around your entity, with the same information and story everywhere. I'm also putting more effort into structured data and digital PR to reinforce that credibility. It's definitely a learning curve, but it's exciting to see results coming from beyond traditional search rankings.
International SEO Consultant, Owner at Chilli Fruit Web Consulting
Answered 5 months ago
Me and my team had to restructure our entire SEO process around answer engines like ChatGPT and Perplexity this year. When writing content, we now start each page with a 60-word direct answer, then expand with context and schema so AI models can quote or summarize easily. What's working is precision: clear facts, verified sources, and entity tagging through structured data. Clients now see consistent mentions across AI tools even without getting clicks. Topic clusters still matter, but I'd say phrasing matters more than keywords now. We write the way people actually ask these systems questions - that's super important. One thing we also started doing is tracking AI reuse, how often our exact phrasing shows up in generated answers.
About half of my new content now aims at answer-based searches instead of classic long-tail keywords. The goal is to write pieces that tools like ChatGPT or Perplexity can quote word for word. So I start each page with short factual summaries that can stand alone, then add quick context after. Because of that, those pages keep getting more visibility across discovery tools even when they don't show up high on Google. What's working is building small question clusters around each topic and keeping things short. If an answer feels easy to lift and makes sense without editing, it tends to appear more often in snapshots or citations. Over-optimized pages full of keywords and filler drop fast. So the content that performs best is clear, structured, and useful enough for both people and AI to trust. Josiah Roche Fractional CMO, JRR Marketing https://josiahroche.co/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/josiahroche
In 2025, our SEO strategy has evolved from keyword density to answer design, focusing on user questions posed to AI models. Articles now feature concise summaries, structured data, and author attribution. Success is measured by impressions and citations rather than traditional click metrics, emphasizing AI-driven visibility.
In 2025, I'm treating "answer engines" as an overlay on classic SEO, not a replacement. What's working: answer-first pages with question H2s, concise summaries up top, and FAQs marked up with Article + FAQ schema. I keep key facts in clean HTML (not hidden behind JS), add author bios with credentials, and interlink topical clusters to build entity authority. We track referral traffic from AI platforms like ChatGPT/Perplexity using GA4 (Here's a guide for that: https://measuremindsgroup.com/report-ai-traffic-ga4) and expand pages that get referenced. What hasn't worked: chasing hacks or blocking non-Google crawlers. We observed improved inclusion in AI Overviews and LLM answers after removing crawler blocks, optimizing Core Web Vitals, and aligning copy to natural language queries. The playbook is simple: semantic coverage, EEAT signals, and distribution across trusted sources so engines can quote us. Classic SEO first, then optimize for retrieval.
In 2025, we will align our SEO strategy with Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), focusing on how AI tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews interpret and summarize online content. What's working for us is structuring every article around conversational intent rather than just keywords. We first identify actual user questions and then deliver clear, factual answers backed by data and schema markup for better machine readability. We've also shifted our metrics, tracking AI citations, entity recognition, and brand mentions instead of just organic clicks. The biggest lesson? Long-form content alone isn't sufficient anymore; clarity, authority, and structure are essential for making content "AI-friendly" and easily discoverable in today's search landscape.
At MAX Digital, we're focusing our answer engine SEO strategy on entity optimization, semantic depth, and third-party authority signals. Traditional keyword targeting is losing influence since AI models like ChatGPT and Perplexity pull from multiple trusted sources rather than individual pages. What works best for us right now is publishing expert-authored, well-structured content, supported with schema markup, strong internal linking, and consistent brand mentions across reliable websites. We monitor where and how our content is referenced in AI responses using both tracking tools and hands-on testing. What no longer works, however, is churning out shallow content or focusing on volume. AI rewards clarity, credibility, and cross-source validation, so it's not just about ranking on one platform; it's about recognition across many.
Our SEO approach in 2025 is centred around structuring information for machines, not just readers. We've made schema markup a core part of every content rollout, using detailed FAQ, How-To, and entity schema to help answer engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity understand context and relationships between topics. We've also started breaking long-form content into modular, self-contained sections, aligning with Google's BlockRank model so each block can serve as a standalone, retrievable answer. Combined with internal link mapping and better use of structured data, we're seeing stronger placement in AI snapshots and summaries. The biggest shift has been moving from keyword-first optimisation to context-first optimisation, ensuring our content is both machine-readable and user-trustworthy.