3 ways to use AI for SEO wins in 2025

AI is reshaping SEO, but the core principles – understanding your audience, optimizing your site, and leveraging a skilled team – remain essential.

In other words, the more things change, the more they stay the same. 

As we move into the new year, remember these three principles to harness AI for SEO wins.

1. Strong SEO foundations are key to succeeding in AI Overviews

This year, we experienced another massive shift in Google Search with AI Overviews, which is changing the way people engage with the search results – again.

Here’s a simplified version of how AI Overviews work (if you’re into the more complex version, see Google’s documentation on generative summaries for search results): 

• Receiving the query: The search engine user submits a search query, and the system captures it. 
• Retrieving relevant content: The system searches its index to find documents and webpages that are relevant to the query.
• Generating a summary: A large language model (LLM) processes the retrieved content to create a summary that addresses the user’s query.
• Selecting supporting links: The system identifies sources from the retrieved content that support the information in the summary, providing users with access to more detailed information.
• Presenting the summary: The generated summary and supporting links are displayed to the user. 

In a win for SEO, data suggests there is a strong correlation between ranking in the SERPs and the links featured in AI Overviews. 

A study done by Rich Sanger and Authoritas found that:

• About 46% of the documents linked in the AI Overviews summaries were from the top organic search results for the exact match query.
• A link in the first position of the SERPs had a 53% chance of appearing in AI Overviews. The probability decreased to about 36% for position 10.
• When combining direct match queries with reformulated queries, there was an approximate 61% overlap between the links in AI Overviews and the top search results.

So, do sites that rank outside the SERPs’ Page 1 get included in AI Overviews? Yes.

Is it common? No. 

This is why everyone needs to know that SEO is not dead – again. 

As for how AI Overviews work exactly, we will never know 100%, and that’s nothing new in SEO. So, I’ve always said that we need to beat the competition, not the algorithm. 

In 2025, we need to double down on the SEO strategies we know work right now to make our sites the most relevant pick for any number of queries. 

We need to analyze the competition and do better. 

There will be research that suggests what we can test. For example, the Sanger/Authoritas study concluded that people could:

• Focus on direct match queries where content can rank on the first page.
• Target related and reformulated queries to access less competitive opportunities for inclusion in AI Overviews.
• Use Google’s People also search for feature to discover relevant queries.
• Create and optimize YouTube content with clear, descriptive titles and detailed descriptions to align with AI Overviews’ preferences.

My advice? Go back to the basics. 

• Strengthen your brand’s online reputation. 
• Make sure your technical SEO is sound. 
• Focus on creating a fast, easy-to-use site. 
• Create good content that helps people on their search journey. 
• Don’t forget the basics of on-page optimization, including schema. 

There will always be some major event in SEO that throws us for a loop. 

Stay grounded in proven strategies while keeping an eye on the future.

Test, learn, adapt, and grow. 

2. Use AI as a strategic tool, not a complete solution

AI is disrupting the workforce in a way that has not been seen since the Industrial Revolution. While there will be job losses, AI will also create more opportunities.

While 85 million jobs may be displaced by automation in 2025, 97 million new roles are projected to emerge, per the World Economic Forum’s prediction.

AI can automate repetitive tasks, analyze vast datasets, and streamline operations. 

However, it cannot replicate human workers’ creativity, strategic thinking, and emotional intelligence – all of which are key to effective SEO.

As we think about how to adopt AI tools and systems into our SEO programs, we need to consider how it will impact the quality of our strategies.

If AI can streamline processes while retaining the quality of our work, it’s a win. 

And there’s no scenario I can see where AI should replace any one function of SEO without human oversight.

So, as we head into 2025, there are two major shifts that companies will face:

• Adopting AI tools: 72% of companies have already adopted AI, according to McKinsey. There’s no shortage of platforms offering AI solutions in the SEO industry. The key is to find the tools that enhance what your team is doing without sacrificing strategic thinking or quality.
• Reskilling or upskilling roles: The “average half-life of skills is now less than five years, and in some tech fields it’s as low as two and a half years,” per the authors of the HBR article “Reskilling in the age of AI.” This is why many leading organizations are already investing 1.5% of their budget in upskilling to stay competitive. 

While reducing payroll or contractor investments may be alluring, the key is boosting efficiency while maintaining human oversight for quality and innovation.

Here’s how human oversight must evolve in the era of AI:

Focus more on strategy 

Shift human resources to high-level strategies like identifying brand content strategies, setting priorities and personalizing AI outputs.

For example:

• In content creation, AI can automate tasks like research, topic ideas, and first drafts while humans manage the AI prompts, refine content ideas, adjust the tone, carry out the strategy, and uphold the messaging.
• In data analysis, AI can identify winning keywords, while humans develop SEO campaigns that align with specific brand goals and audiences.

Adopt while remaining ethical

Those that don’t embrace AI will fall behind quickly. 

However, adopting it recklessly without adhering to search engine guidelines and user expectations can be equally as damaging. 

Create ethical AI guidelines, monitor for plagiarism and misinformation, and ensure your content strategy has human oversight to uphold relevance and trust. 

For more on this, check out my articles here on Search Engine Land:

• Is using AI-generated content for SEO plagiarism?
• How to survive the search results when you’re using AI tools for content.

3. AI unlocks new ways to understand and anticipate customer needs

In Walter Isaacson’s biography, “Steve Jobs,” Jobs said that “our task is to read things that are not on the page.” 

It’s the ability to give customers what they want before they know what they want. 

In 2025, the brands that succeed online will not just be those that integrate AI efficiently. They will be those that use AI to understand and anticipate their customers’ needs. 

SEO has always been rooted in the bigger picture of audience behavior and insights. 

Queries only tell half the story, but knowing what your potential customers want and need is the key to creating helpful, quality SEO and content strategies.

With AI, we now have a powerful tool to better understand user intent, audience behavior, and preferences, allowing you to be ahead of the game.

Say you’re an ecommerce brand that wants to boost online visibility and sales for seasonal clothing lines. But, you struggle to align your content strategy with customer interests.

AI-driven predictive analytics could analyze historical data, search trends and consumer behavior to forecast demand for specific products.

You could then create and optimize content around predicted high-demand items, targeting relevant keywords and aligning with trends.

That’s just one scenario. AI’s ability to analyze large amounts of customer sentiment and preference data allows brands to uncover more insights about their audiences than ever before.

For instance, you can use an AI-powered analysis to review customer feedback from surveys, website interactions, market research, and more to identify themes and preferences that can inform your SEO strategy.

In 2025, consider the following:

• Invest in AI tools that provide sentiment analysis, customer journey mapping and predictive analytics.
• Train teams to interpret AI insights and translate them into creative and strategic actions.
• Regularly audit AI-generated outputs to ensure they align with your brand values and your audience.

Evolve with AI, stay grounded in fundamentals

AI is changing the game, but SEO fundamentals remain the same. 

When you focus on solid SEO foundations, smart AI adoption and understanding your audience, you can continue to compete in the coming year and beyond. 

Test, learn, and adapt. Make 2025 your year to win with AI.