Why SEO Still Matters in the Age of AI: How to Increase Your Visibility Across All Platforms

Gartner famously predicted a 25% drop in search volume by 2026 due to LLM and Generative AI adoption. At the same time, Google's AI Overviews now appear in 9%–12% of searches within business-related industries, further reducing click-through rates to websites. In 2024, "zero-click searches" (where users get answers directly from search results without visiting websites) rose to 58.5% on Google according to SparkToro. With these shifts, is SEO dead (once again)?

 In short, no. Despite the rise of LLM-driven search, Google saw 21.64% annual growth in searches. Research from Datos indicates that Google processes 373 times more as many searches than ChatGPT, the leading LLM platform. This underscores the continued importance of SEO in a rapidly changing landscape. So where should marketers with limited budgets invest their resources to stay ahead?

The Case for Combining SEO & LLM Optimization (LLMO) 

When brands appear in AI Overviews, their organic click-through rate (CTR) increases from 0.74% to 1.02%, and paid CTR rises from 7.89% to 11%. Studies show that ChatGPT’s brand mentions are largely influenced by organic rankings rather than domain authority or backlinks alone. The data is clear: businesses must maintain both strong visibility in traditional search and adapt for emerging LLM platforms. 

Regardless of where people search—Google, YouTube, Reddit, or AI-driven platforms—visibility hinges on strategic optimization for both search engines and LLMs. Implementing these key tactics will ensure discoverability in an increasingly zero-click environment.  

10 Prioritized Tactics for SEO & LLMO 

Small businesses will not be able to implement all of these tactics at once nor should they. We’ve prioritized the following tactics in priority order from foundational to more sophisticated projects for larger teams.  

1. Optimize for high-intent keywords. Conduct in-depth keyword research to target high-intent, relevant terms. Recent studies showed a strong correlation (~0.65) between LLM mentions and Google organic keywords.  
    
2. Focus on a few strategic medium-tail terms for your brand. AI Overviews typically populate for informational low volume long-tail keywords, so targeting medium-tail phrases—typically 2–3 words—remains an effective way to drive search traffic. Additionally, platforms like Search GPT, Gemini, and Perplexity pull answers from live search results. In fact, over 87%+ of citations in Search GPT come from Bing’s top results. By optimizing for lower-volume medium-tail terms, you increase your chances of appearing in both LLM responses and higher in traditional SERPs.
   
   
3. Use exact match brand language. Large language models associate words based on frequency and proximity in training data. Ensure your brand is accurately referenced by using your primary keywords across team bios, LinkedIn profiles, job postings, and other external sources. 
    
4. Optimize for your customer FAQs and PAA visibility. Incorporate frequent sales questions and People Also Ask (PAA) questions and structured data to enhance your chances of appearing in featured snippets. Securing the #1 spot increases visibility, making it essential to dominate all brand-related PAA entries. 
   
   
5. Allow search engines and AI crawlers to access your site. Ensure your site is not overly aggressive in blocking AI crawlers, otherwise your site will be invisible. Maintain a balanced approach to bot access. 
    
6. Improve website structure and HTML optimization. Properly structured HTML helps visitors, search engines and LLMs understand your site and stay engaged. Using standard heading hierarchy, clear and compelling meta data, semantic elements, and scannable lists can improve click-through rates, time on site, as well as conversions.
   
   
7. Create proprietary and high-quality content that is not showing up in AI Overviews. Content featuring proprietary data, research, expert quotes, and authoritative insights aligns with Google’s E-E-A-T principles. Long-form guides, checklists, videos, charts, and templates are valuable to users and less likely to be included in AI Overviews. 
    
8. Optimize site speed and user experience. Slow websites which take longer than 3 seconds to load risk being ignored by AI crawlers and search engine crawlers. A fast, mobile-friendly experience is essential for visibility, engagement and conversion rate optimization. Use Google's Page Speed Insights to analyze webpage speed and performance.
    
9. Invest in PR and brand mentions. Earned media, content syndication, guest posting, interviews, paid sponsorships, reviews, listings in software review platforms such as Software Advice and G2, and third-party roundups are frequent sources of LLM citations. Continue building your brand authority and credibility to increase web brand mentions for key topics you care about. Look at your competitor’s performance in LLMs to benchmark your visibility.  
   
   
10. Expand entity listings. LLM training data is also based on entity listings that include books, news articles, social media/UGC, academic papers, government databases, open databases, and Wikipedia. Not every business can publish a book, but holding a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) with one of your brand’s founders or subject matter experts could go a long way toward expanding your brand entity.  
    

Measuring Success Beyond Traditional Metrics 

In this ever evolving landscape, small businesses need to track new metrics beyond traditional SEO measurements. While rankings, organic traffic, and organic leads remain important, consider monitoring these additional KPIs using tools such as GA4, Google Search Console, and SEMrush. 

• Brand mentions in LLMs: Use tools like Originality.ai or run regular prompts in AI platforms to track how often and in what context your brand appears in AI responses. 
   
• Brand impression share: Use tools like SEMrush to monitor the percentage of relevant queries where your brand appears in both traditional and AI search results. 
   
• Zero-click visibility: Track your appearance in featured snippets, knowledge panels, and AI Overviews for key terms. 
   
• Traffic source diversification: Measure the balance between organic search, direct traffic, social referrals, and AI-driven referrals. 
   
• Assisted conversions: Analyze how many conversions involved multiple touchpoints across different channels before completion. 
   
• Brand search volume: Monitor increases in branded search terms, which indicate growing awareness regardless of click-through rates. 
   
• Share of voice: Compare your brand mentions across all digital platforms against competitors to gauge relative visibility. 
  

For small businesses with limited resources, focus first on tracking brand mentions, organic traffic trends, and direct traffic growth as baseline indicators of your combined SEO and LLMO effectiveness. 

SEO is Adapting, Not Disappearing 

SEO is adapting, not disappearing. The rise of AI-driven search means businesses must refine their strategies to remain visible in both traditional and AI-powered search environments. By optimizing for both Google and LLM platforms, brands can ensure they remain discoverable, authoritative, and competitive in the AI age.